Blogger-Land

Sometimes I am really thankful for this blog.

I have met some fabulous people and made some amazing real-life friends.

I try to make it clear to all my friends...I'm here for you, no mater what.

But I guess I could put it on my blog more, even if I don't "know" you...I'm here for you.

I think the same could be said about most bloggers.

We are always here for each other.

This morning I woke up to a few entries about one of my favorite bloggers.

Then I got to her blog.

I've read that authorities have been contacted.

There are comments saying she is "fine."

But please keep Jessica in your thoughts and prayers.

Jessica guest blogged for me in the past

about the Hardest Job in the Military.

To all my bloggy loves...I am always here for you.

Margs, Bars, and Rants!

Time for a real post!

Since I've been in Boston I've been keeping busy! Thursday me and my sister headed into the airport to pick up Betty. And we've been non-stop since!

Thursday night we went to Margaritas. A huge group was supposed to go...but all by one bailed on me (another post for another day!) and we ran into my cousin and his wife there. It was a small but very fun group! I can't remember if I had three or four margaritas....which means I probably had four!

Me and Betty are apparently awful packers. So, we spent all day Friday at the mall with my sister. We got some super cute outfits for our Boston nights!

Friday night was Betty's first Boston experience! We started at Beerworks, froze on the walk to Hong Kong (no jackets for us....) and then danced the night away at Hennessys. It was my sisters first night at the Boston bars too...and I think they both really liked the band! We had so much fun! And, of course, took a ton of pictures!

We spent Saturday resting up our livers. Then we headed into Boston with my family. We had dinner at Jacob Wirths, I had super yummy German food (even though everyone said it looks gross I swear it was delicious!) Then we headed to a comedy show...Wayne Brady! It was so funny. I had to pee twice just so I wouldn't pee my pants! I thought he was hilarious! We only managed to get one picture because we were forced to put all cameras and phones away. I wish I had a picture of my outfit...it was so-damn-cute!

After the show we headed to a Chinese restaurant near home. This is where the drama unfolds. I am 25, with a military ID, with my entire-freaking-family....and they would not accept my ID. I ordered a pina colada, not exactly a super potent drink...was asked for my ID, handed it to her...and she walked away. She came back and said she could only accept a MA license. So, I was angry and started ripping out random cards from my wallet....none that she would accept. Little-Miss-Manager came over and was like NO. So, we go up front and I pulled the "our husbands protect our country" line...and was still refused. I go to the bartender, he looks at me like I have ten heads and says "of course we accept it." I was pisssssed. Wasn't even that I wanted my drink but seriously...accept my effing ID or we are going to cause a scene. [end rant]

We still have so much planned while Betty is here! We have one day of completely free stuff in the city. Tomorrow might be a resting day after our super busy weekend! Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

The "About Me" Post

 

I like to do this every once in a while when I notice I've gained a bunch of new friends. Let's face it...no one is going to start from the beginning to read everything about me! (Actually I did get an e-mail saying that a reader did...that's dedication!) So, in order to catch everyone up and make sure we are all on the same page....here's some stuff about lil ol' me! And some seriously photo-overload!

I'm Nicole. I'm 25.

I'm from Massachusetts.

I graduated from FSC with a degree in History in 2008.

In June 2009 I randomly moved to Carrboro, NC to live with a friend.

Shortly after that I met Danny.

Five months later I moved out of my house and in with Danny's parents.

Me and Danny got married on March 13, 2010.

Hubby is a Marine.

We live in Jacksonville, NC. And I love it.

We travel alot and love one-tank-trips!

We have a shepherd-mix puppy, Miley.

Danny has a 6 year old son, so that makes me a step-mom! The term makes me oddly uncomfortable for some reason.

I love traveling!

I've been to England, France, and Ireland.

St. Thomas, Aruba and Jamaica.

Disney atleast 8 times!

And every state that touches the Atlantic Ocean. 

I love food. I haven't met one that I don't like.

I love beer, wine and margaritas.

I also like cover bands...and pretending that I know how to dance!

I have amazing friends all over the country...mostly thanks to this blog!

I have met fourteen girls because of our blogs! I bet you're wondering who? Well, I'll tell ya!

Click the pictures to go visit their blogs!

Katie from Like Sunshine After Rain

Breanna from Forever Yours, Semper Fi

Reina from Semper Gumby...the Return of Sunshine, Amber from Goodnight Moon and Jordan from Southern Hospitality

Allie from My Marine and Me

Carmen from We See the Same Stars

Mrs. P and Ari from A Little Pink in a World of Camo

Jennifer from Colwells in Carolina

Jacque from Life Along the Way

Bonnie (and her kiddos!) from The "Sometimes Single" Mom

I don't have pictures to prove it but I've also met Lauren from Young But Not (Completely) Dumb, Anna from Showtimes and Dog Tags and Mrs. Gambizzle from Life as a Sailor's Girl (but that's okay because we're spending two weeks in Boston together soon!)

What else do you want to know?

I'm a lefty.

I once broke my sisters collarbone..while practicing a NSYNC dance move.

My first concert was NSYNC, the last concert I went to was Paul McCartney.

I've seen Kenny Chesney 16 times. And met him once....in Best Buy.

I've literally bumped into David Copperfield in NYC.

And I've dined next to Maya Angelou at the Mesa Grill.

I sell Avon. Just like everyone else in Jacksonville.

I have seven tattoos and want more!

And currently....I'm craving Chinese food.

Want to know more?

ASK!

Day Two of Vacation: Sea World and Downtown Disney

On Saturday the 12th we got back into the car and finished our roadtrip to Orlando! It took four hours to get from Savannah to Sea World...a short trip, if I lived in Savannah I would want to go to Disney all the time!

I was super excited for Sea World. At first we weren't planning to visit, but on a random concert search a few weeks ago I found out that Huey Lewis and the News was going to be playing for free. And thanks to Hero Salute we got in completely free...and bonus I met up with my bloggy love, Bonnie! You have no idea how excited I was to meet her and the two munchkins! Seriously, she has the most adorable kiddies...the only ones that could ever give me baby fever! (Like, a low grade fever that only makes me skip something important and doesn't require medicine...know what I mean?)

  

We spent the whole day at the park with Bonnie, Noah, Gracie, and their friend Tina. We had lots of fun with Noah navigating, looking at sharks, dolphins, fish..and lots of other stuff. We avoided the water ride like the plague...it was pretty cold out! I was thanking God that I made the last minute decision to pack a hoodie! We did ride the new coaster, Manta though. You lay on your stomach...awesome!

It was Danny's first time at Sea World, so he didn't notice that Believe was noticeably shorter...thanks to the little incident with a killer whale. The Budweiser horses aren't there anymore...and neither is the free beer! Sad, sad day!

After a fun filled day with everyone, me and Danny headed to the concert. It was so fun! Huey Lewis sounds just like he does on CD's...but you could tell it was live. Little to no talking, awesome music, accapella, it was perfect! Perfect but freezing!

When the concert was over we headed to our hotel. We stayed at the All Star Music Resort. We got anniversary pins, I was given a pretty rose, and Mickey was waiting for us on the bed! We got dressed, boarded the bus and headed to Downtown Disney for the night. We ate at Fulton's Crab House...Danny had crab legs and I had sauteed mussels and pasta. We walked around for a while, went in some stores and soaked up the atmosphere. But it was so darn chilly and crowded!

I can honestly say I slept like a baby in our huge bed! And I miss it already!

Fun Filled Weekend!

This was such a great weekend! Friday night I had all the girls over for a Fondue Night. I made a cheese fondue and we had homemade sourdough bread, veggies and apples to dip in it. Then for the chocolate we had marshmallows, pound cake, gorilla bread, strawberries and raspberries. Then, of course, I just had to make some other finger foods...so I put together a cheese tray, chips and dip, and pigs in a blanket with chimichuri sauce. And everything was mmm mmm good! Girls night out might have been an excuse to use all my Food Network serve-ware! But can you believe I didn't take any pictures of the food!? I was having too much fun chit-chatting and enjoying some wine with the girls.

But in true-Nicole-fashion....I did get a photo of all the girls!

I spent Saturday in the kitchen making a homemade ragu...and then transforming that into 18 stuffed peppers (halves.) Holy crap, that's a of stuffed peppers...but we only had 5 leftover! The in-laws came over for dinner, we had the stuffed peppers, salad and homemade Amish bread that Jacque brought over. Miley was super lazy and cuddled with everyone on the couch. She is so exhausted when we bring her home from daycare....and she got groomed too!

I need to step up with my picture-taking. Apparently I'm the only person who gets a new camera and stops taking pictures. Just wait until Disney...I'll need to bring an extra memory card for all the pictures I plan to be traking!

2010 in Review

Can you believe today is the last day of 2010?

This year flew by.

Here are some highlights of this awesome year!

January

We were in Boston to ring in the New Year!

February

I was living in Cary, NC with Danny's family.

We bought a car. Celebrated Valentines Day at CiCi's Pizza (classy!)

And I went back to Boston to finish planning our wedding!

March

I had an awesome Bridal Shower and Bachellorete Party!

    

We were married on March 13, 2010!

You can read all the wedding posts here! 

After living with Katie for a little bit we were finally able to move into our first apartment!

April

We celebrated our first Easter together.

I got another (hippie) tattoo.

We brought a super cute puppy home!

May

We discovered our favorite restaurant, The Chelsea.

I took some tests for Danny. 

Miley went to the beach for the first time!

 

 Lindsey came to visit! And we saw a comedy show in Wilmington with Breanna.

Miley was spayed....and we went to Ohio!

June

Kaleb visited for two weeks!

We went to Boston for my Uncle's wedding!

And I complained about Call of Duty.

  July

 I complained about my neighbors.

We watched an airshow on the 4th of July in New Bern.

Miley discovered the bathtub.

I hungout with bloggy loves Reina and Jordan!

And the best part of July? My sister came to visit and we saw Paul McCartney in concert! We got tattoos. And we went to Myrtle Beach!

  August

I met three bloggy loves...Amber, Carmen and Allie!

 I bitched about homecomings. 

Me and Danny went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.

We went to Myrtle Beach..AKA The Vacation from Hell.

 September

 Danny turned 28...and I made him lobster.

I cut all my hair off and trashed my wedding dress!

My Mom and Nana visited while Danny went to Pennsylvania to "work."

 

And we went to the Wine Festival!

October

I had a couple Girls Night Outs and met bloggy loves Rachel, Jacque and Jennifer!

My parents came down for a visit!

We went to Beerfest with Carmen and Mike!

We had Katie's Bridal Shower!

  And we went to a Halloween party at Jennifer and Dustin's!

 

November

 An Xbox fell on my head.

We went to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Myrtle Beach!

Danny was on TV!

I went to Boston for my Grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary!

We went to Ohio for Thanksgiving.

December

I turned the big 2-5!

And we spent 10 awesome days in Massachusetts for the holiday!

 

That was a little longer than I intended...

but I loved looking at all the pictures!

And I'm crossing my fingers that 2011 is as amazing as 2010 was!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Why is it that Monday through Friday d-r-a-g but the weekend flies by. I swear the twenty-four hour rule doesn't apply to weekends...the universe knows that people are having fun so time is magically shortened. So, to the universe...please stop, I really like weekends!

You can add this weekend to the list of "great weekends." Friday night was supposed to be girls night, but it ended up being a group thing. And it was awesome. Ten of us went to the hibachi and had some good laughs and a lot of fun. Our chef of the night who calls himself Bob was awesome...and I've never seen so much rice in my life. Ten people sure can eat a lot of rice. I swear I had a large order all to myself.

The fun didn't end when we left the restaurant. My new friend Stephanie came over, so I chilled a bottle of wine...or three. Danny and Justin got some beer...and then the Gambizzles came! We stayed up all night drinking wine and chit-chatting. Three bottles of wine, thirty-six beers later, and a failed attempt to make the guys walk Justin home...it was finally time for bed.

Saturday morning the Gambizzle's had to be up early for a photoshoot. I couldn't believe it...but Miley actually let us sleep past 10:00. HOLY CRAP! And thank goodness for that...I wasn't feeling very human-like when I finally did get up. I think I took a long shower at 11 and then refused to get dress until 1. My head was pounding. It was definitely one of those "never-drinking-again" type of days.

Except we planned to go to the winery for dinner. It was probably a good thing it was closed for the night. Instead we went to Front Street Brewery...not for the beer, but for the amazing nachos! The four of us really showed our "old age" when we decided not to go bowling...but watch Toy Story 3 instead. So, that's how we spent our Saturday night. And I must say....I kinda loved it!

I didn't know Bojangles was a North Carolina place. We spent a good portion of our weekend talking about the "best kept secret" and how they should "share the goodness." The four of us had breakfast there this morning..and we were so under dressed. That's right...under dressed at a fast food place!! It's apparently the happening place to be after church.

While the guys played Black Ops (Danny can't wait for Christmas, he just had to rent the game....) me and Marie went on base. I think it's insane that things don't open until 11AM in the south. So, we paid Katie a little visit! It was nice to have a little girl time and just hangout. And I must say...I'm getting so excited for Katie's wedding. I can't believe it's a little over six weeks away!

And now...it's Sunday. I hate that the "daily-grind" starts on Sunday for us now. I also hate that I took one picture this weekend. I have zero proof that the Gambizzle's were even here! So, you know what that means? We are just going to have to do it again!

Edit: Just an FYI - Bojangles was founded in Jacksonville.

Halloween with the Colwells!

Last night me and Danny dressed in our finest and headed to a Halloween party at Jennifer and Dustin's house. Jennifer 110% outdid herself. She made an amazing Apple Pie in a Jar, Halloween bars, pumpkin cheesecake, mummy-dogs, and a taco dip.

Jennifer even had a costume contest. And can you imagine I won for sexiest costume? And Danny swears he didn't vote for me. It makes sense though, voting took place after tequila and everclear shots. Jesus won for best costume, funniest costume went to the Mexican, and scariest costume went to the "gay guy." And I'm pretty sure he wasn't in a costume!

Costume parties with couples are always fun. I love seeing what everyone comes up with! Here are the costumed-couples!

The Mexican (aka Mike) came prepared with tequila...and shot glasses. When that was gone, the everclear came out. Let's just say...boys will be boys! By the end of the night Jesus turned the Roman into a devote follower, plans for poker nights were being made, and they were begging to go to the Waffle House.

The party was over when the boys started bargaining with us..."If you don't bring us to the Waffle House we're going to do MORE shots." Carmen and Mike brought me and Danny home, and my night was over when Danny passed out on the couch...and I claimed the bed for myself...complete with no dog!

We had such a fun night with friends and can't wait for the next time we all get together. Jennifer and Dustin, thanks so much for having us over!