Boo!

Andy and I aren't super into Halloween. I'm not sure why. It may be the fact that most costumes for adult women aren't something I would wear outside the bedroom, it might be that until this year we lived in an apartment and therefore didn't have a whole lot to do, but that changed a little this year. This year we have a house and that means we get to hand out candy. Well Andy gets to hand out candy while I work, but still it's exciting. Trick or treat for our neighborhood is tonight and while I'm sad I'm not going to be here I'm excited for Andy to sit out on the porch and see all the kids dressed up. He is even going to have some little helpers:

Murphy's costume is fitting to his personality recently.

Pepper looks so evil but she's such a good girl! Yes that is my wand from Harry Potter land in the first Pepper picture, don't judge.

Hopefully they all enjoy trick or treating and Andy remembers to take some pictures! So what is everyone else doing for Halloween?

Just dance..

...gonna be okay, da da doo doo mmm...

Just kidding. Sort of. Anywho, today I thought I would share some of the music that is near and dear to Andy and I as a couple. These are songs that remind me of very special moments and when I hear them always bring a smile to my face.

"Let's Stay Together" - Al Green



Why? Andy use to sing this to me when we were laying in bed together during the early days in our relationship, I don't know why, he would have to expand on why that song always popped to his head.

"Everything" -Michael Buble


Why? Andy claims he sang this the first time he ever met me at Karaoke. I have no recollection of this. Still every time I hear it I think about that.

"Somebody to Love" - Queen


Why? Multiple reasons, I was singing this at karaoke when Andy came in the first night we actually spoke. The day after we got engaged we were driving to Hershey Park, Andy and I had a CD with this song on it and we rocked it out in a duet. Reason three, it was the song I walked down the aisle to, though it was the Vitamin String Quartet version

"Give Me a Kiss" - Van Morrison

There is no video for this song, which makes me sad, but it was the song we danced to at our wedding. Google it. You won't be disappointed, it's awesome.

"Why Don't We Just Dance?" - Josh Turner



Why? It's our life. This song is how we are every day we spend together. We've been known to break out into silly dances to the record player any given night.

So there you have it, this is by no means the complete list of songs, there are millions of them, but these are probably my top five. So what songs remind you of your significant other? What's the reasoning behind that song?

The SalTals Do Disney: Day 4

The last day of our trip was pretty laid back and awesome. We got to meet up with our friends Pat and Beth who were in town to run the Food and Wine  half-marathon, which was the night before. Since they didn't get done with the marathon until around 2AM and were sleeping in, we hit up Hollywood Studios in the morning to walk around a bit and see what we could see. We checked out Jedi training (little kids fighting Darth Vader = adorable) and the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground and just kind of walked and relaxed. A little after noon we called up our friends and we met at Downtown Disney and had lunch at Bongos, after catching up for a bit we headed over to Blizzard Beach for a round of mini golf at Winter Summerland. The theme here is that Santa's elves created two courses, one that captured the vacation fun in the sun (Summerland) and one that captured the winter fun (Winter). We opted to play our round through the winter course. There were some signs that were suppose to be clues to do well on the hole and some were, shall we say, a little dirty (or we may just be 12). I'll let you decide:

After mini-golf we parted ways and headed over to the Magic Kingdom to meet my parents for our dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern. We had a scrumptious dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans, mac and cheese, and flank steak. It was delicious. We decided to go back to the room for a little bit and then head to Downtown Disney for some ice cream and last minute shopping. It wasn't an eventful last night but it was a nice way to end our trip.

So that's pretty much it from start to finish our Disney trip. Just an FYI after reading this post you may want to go back and take a look at previous posts since I will be adding the pictures into those posts. Regular whatever-comes-to-mind-posting will commence tomorrow.

Newlywed Problem: Couple friends

Before I dive into this post, I first have to say that I am loving my new job. It's been a great few days there and I am so excited that I don't feel like I'm going to work. Never in my entire work life (for the past 10 years) have I had a job where I don't feel like I'm actually working because I enjoy it. Now, I realize it is still pretty early in the game so there is time to get into it a little more a realize that I don't enjoy it. However, when I talk to everyone there and hear how they have been their for years and what a great place it is to work I feel pretty hopeful. Now I will get back to vacation recaps on Monday but today something else came up.

Andy and I have encountered our first dual snag as newlyweds: the friend issue. I'm not talking about him spending too much time with his friends or me spending too much time with mine, I'm talking about not having many friends in our new town in general. First, I will say our situation has a lot to do with it, the fact that we moved to a new city, away from the majority of the people we hang out with has a lot to do with it. However, I think another problem we face is where we are in life, a lot of people we know are in different stages of life than us. There are people with babies, or people that are single and living it up. Which is cool, I love babies and I love to party, but we are somewhat in between all of that. We're newlyweds, not quite ready for babies but we are for sure over the party all the time life. There are a few people very near and dear to us that are great friends, they are also 3 hours away. We are spending a lot of time together, which isn't a bad thing but we both realize that having some friends nearby that we could hang with during the week or just call up to go out with would be great. Problem is that the people we work with aren't really in the same stages as us and other than work there aren't a lot of ways to meet new people. So what to we do? How to we find some peeps to hang out with? We have joined a class (I will get more in depth on that at a later time), which is a start but I know it's going to take some doing to find people that we have stuff in common with and get along with.

Has anyone else had this problem? What did you do to try to rectify it? Any suggestions?

The SalTals Do Disney: Day 3

Day three was glorious because we finally got to sleep in and just kind of chillax in the morning. We had done most of the things on my "Must Do" list so we could take it easy and basically do whatever we felt like. We decide to mosey on through EPCOT because the International Food and Wine Festival was in full swing. Well, that was...uhh, interesting. Let me explain a little first for the Disney novice, EPCOT is broken up into two separete areas, one is Future World where there are attractions focusing on technologies and advances in the future and the other is World Showcase where 11 different countries are represented around a lagoon that you can walk through and see similar architecture, foods, goods, and even people from those countries. During the Food and Wine Festival little stands are set up around the lagoon (this year there were 28 stands) each representing a specific country offering samplings of food and beverage from said country. It's pretty epic, it's also very crowded. It also gets pretty stupid. When people set up drinking teams whose main goal it is is to consume alcohol at every stand, the festival kind of loses it's charm. I don't find people slobbering drunk at 2 in the afternoon that much fun to be around. I'm all for drinking and all that jazz but with kids in strollers nearby and families trying to enjoy their vacation it doesn't seem like the most appropriate venue.

Moving on, we decided to head over to the Boardwalk to catch the boat to Hollywood Studios where we had dinner reservations at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We had a bit of time before we had to be at dinner so we walked around a bit, cruised the shops and tried to ride the new Toy Story Ride but the wait was 70 minutes, yeah, thanks, but no thanks. Dinner was amazing, I had pot roast and my dad was spoon fed at the table by our waiter, ahh, memories. I'm sure some of you are confused, but the premise behind the restaurant is that it's set up like a traditional 50's kitchen. It has old TV sets that play clips from shows at the time and your waiter is some sort of relative (Mom, Dad, Uncle, Cousin etc.). You have to set the table, keep your elbows down and finish your meal if you want dessert. Well, as you can guess my dad didn't finish so our waiter spoon fed him a bit off his plate. It was hilarious, I should have recorded it.

The rest of the night was relaxing and more window shopping downtown.

Up next: Day 4 and some dirty signs.

The SalTals Do Disney: Day 2

Day two at Disney was an early one, like, the-sun-isn't-even-up-yet early, I know some of you out there are thinking why the heck would you do that, you're on vacation, aren't you? Well, we had breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace. For those of you not in the know, Crystal Palace is actually in the Magic Kingdom, which means if your reservations are before the park opens, you get in early and get to see the place basically deserted, it's awesome. Besides the early bird benefits this place has some memories for me, my family goes there for breakfast every visit to Disney, it's tradition. It's also a character breakfast with Pooh and friends so they come around to your table while you eat. Obviously, we started this tradition when my sisters and I were younger and enjoyed that, but I'll tell you a little secret I still do.

So after we had our delicious breakfast (all buffet style, so I had a bit of everything), we headed into the park to check everything out. The benefit of being there so early and being deeper into the park when it opens means no lines. We literally jumped on everything right away. This meant that Magic Kingdom was basically done by noon. Awesome really, but I was at a loss as to what to do the rest of the day. We ended up going to Downtown Disney and having some Ghiradelli ice cream and walking through the shops. After that we had a nice nap/lounge around time at the hotel for an hour or so and then Andy and I headed to Animal Kingdom to check out the park and grab some dinner.

Animal Kingdom had extended hours that day so they were open until 7 instead of 5, it was the perfect amount of time to ride Dinosaur and Expedition Everest. Unfortunately, both rides disagreed with Andy's constitution so he was feeling pretty sick for the rest of the night. After Animal Kingdom, we caught a bus to EPCOT to meet my parents for the fireworks, which was an awesome end to the night.

Up next, day three! EPCOT and Hollywood Studios!!!

The SalTals Do Disney: Day 1

So I'm a day late, that's actually pretty good for me, admit it. Okay, so our vacation was, in my humble opinion, awesome.We had a really great time and I think I have convinced my husband that Disney is not just for children.

The question is where do I start? Probably at the beginning, that seems best. On Thursday morning at the absolutely ass-crack of dawn (there really is no polite way of putting it, seriously it was 3AM) we got up, got ready and headed to the airport. You know it's an early flight when there is no one even at the desk yet to check your bags. So anyway, we're up super early and waiting for our plane at the gate, it's about a half hour until we are scheduled to depart, so I took a Xanax, yeah, I'm a nervous flier. I'm telling you this because it didn't kick in until about a half an hour into the flight, which was a half an hour too long for me because we experienced some turbulence. After nearly breaking Andy's hand I couldn't take it anymore and decide another pill was needed, which means I don't remember too much from Atlanta to Orlando, but it's probably better that way.

We arrived in Orlando about 10:30 and we hit the ground running. I am telling you what, the pills wore off and I was ready to go. We caught a taxi to Universal Islands of Adventure to go check out Harry Potter Land leaving our luggage to be safely delivered to our room at Disney thanks to some very convenient tags. We got to Universal and I was nearly dragging Andy to the back of the park where the Harry Potter portion was located, I had to remember that he had never been there before and we had the time to slow down and take a look at everything.

Fresh off a flight at Suess-Landing

Finally, oh, finally, we were in Hogsmead and it blew my mind. I felt like I was walking into the pages of my favorite story, like someone had taken images from my own mind and created them in reality. I must say, if you are a fan of the movies or books this is just a must see. It was fabulous. We walked the stores and streets just admiring everything, which was really all that I desired to do. I only wanted to ride the ride in Hogwarts which is the only ride we did, thankfully because that was nausea inducing, worth it but we were both very sick afterward. After the ride, we hit up Ollivander's to get my wand, because I am that much of a nerd. That experience was really cool. However, I think that the design engineers behind that idea could have expanded the shop a wee bit and had more than one person handle the wand choosing. As it is right now, you wait (depends on the time of day, we waited about 30 minutes) go into Ollivander's with a group and only one of you gets the wand choosing experience. I think they could have had about 10 stations to do the same thing and let a few more kids have that special experience. (If you are reading this Universal Design Engineer people, please find a way to expand that shop) After Ollivander's we hit up the Three Broomsticks for some yummy lunch, I had roasted chicken and Andy had a Shepard's pie, he sampled the Hog's brew and I had a frozen butterbeer, which was tasty. After that we bought any other little trinkets that we wanted and walked through the rest of the park. We ended up spending probably about 4 hours there total.

 (from top to bottom: Gates of Hogsmead, Hogsmead, Gates of Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Me in a Ravenclaw Robe, Ollivander's Wand Choosing, Zonko's, Three Broomsticks, Me with a tasty butterbeer)

We then hopped in a taxi and took our exhausted selves to our hotel Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Once we got there all Andy had to do was flash his I.D. and we got our welcome packet and keys and headed to our room, where our suitcases had already been delivered. We then headed to the food court to see my parents for a minute and grab a drink then we decided to take an hour nap and try to catch dinner with them. I'm so glad we had dinner with my parents that night because it was fabulous. They had reservations at Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada at EPCOT. It was fabulous. I ended up having a fillet  (only the second steak I have ever eaten in my entire life, but it was to die for) with cream cheese mashed potatoes, for dessert a s'mores brownie sundae. Uh-maz-ing!!! Best part, it was basically free because we were on the Disney Dining Plan which was free with our stay at Port Orleans. We scored a major deal with that, and honestly, highly recommend adding and paying for the plan to anyone going to Disney, it's really easy and more than enough food. After that meal, Andy and I were basically ready to pass out, so we headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Gosh, writing it all out makes me tired, I have no idea how we did all that. Anywho, I have pictures for all of this but I need to format them into blogger, which always takes time. I'll let you know when I add pictures in, promise.

In other news, I got a job at the library!!! Isn't that fantastic? Now I just need another job and I'll be set, but I'll fill you in on all that later.

Stupid pictures

The vacation post is on hold since all my pictures aren't in blogger form and take forever to load. I'll get on it this weekend, promise.

In the meantime, I have found the coolest website in the world and I am now making a To-Do list for Andy and I that include making us a bed and some outdoor furniture for ourselves. Check it out. I am completely in love and can't wait to make our Farmhouse bed. It's going to be awesome. But first, we must clean out the garage so that we have the space to make this stuff. I'm excited to get my DIY on again, it's been way too long since I've gotten crafty. We're talking pre-wedding, which is almost 6 months ago (where did that time go?). Tell me, how have the rest of you kept the DIY going after the wedding? What projects have you taken on? Fill me in please, I'm dying to do some crafts.

Have a good weekend!!!

Back to reality and news

Ugh, you can bet your bottom I am not happy to be home at this instant. I mean the puppy kisses and cuddles got me through last night but today it's really hitting me, vacation is over, winter is coming, blah, blah, blah. I want to move to Florida. Anywho, vacation was wonderful, it was crazy and very busy but I loved spending time with my parents and my wonderful husband. I don't have pictures loaded yet because I'm not entirely sure how to use Andy's computer (yes, my computer cord has yet to be fixed/replaced) but I promise to get him on it tonight when he gets home.

In other news and good news at that, I left my job. No, seriously, that's fab news. I was having multiple anxiety attacks/crying episodes and both Andy and I were concerned for my emotional well-being. I can't handle that type of customer service. I hate admitting it, but it's true.It takes a very special person to be able to handle the name-calling, criticism, and emotional turmoil that goes on in a position like that, especially when dealing with something as life-affecting as electricity. It was especially difficult for me because I like to be able to help people, I like to assist and please people, I like to do good in other people's life, and my skin isn't very thick, I tend to take things personally. I couldn't do that at my job, at least not in a capacity that made me feel good. Now don't freak out and think I was a complete idiot, I didn't leave without a safety net. I had an interview for a part-time position last week and was basically told that barring any adverse information found in my background check I could start in two weeks. I do feel like I am jumping the gun a little bit because I don't actually "have" the job, but Andy and I both felt comfortable enough with the information we were given Thursday for me to stop my current job and wait for this other job to start. In the meantime I will continue looking for another job either full or part-time and hope for the best. Wish me luck peeps!

I promise to post pictures and a detailed description of vay-cay tomorrow!