Titanic: The Unsinkable Ship {at the Franklin Institute}

Howdy lovelies! Have any of you missed me?

On Saturday, Bill and I took and adventure into the city with two of my friends, Allison and Joanna, to go to the Franklin Institute to see the museum and (most importantly) the Titanic Exhibit.

Driving into the city

When we first got to the Franklin Institute, the line to get tickets was so long, so we ended up going to TGIFridays for lunch...which of course I forgot to take pictures of. Instead, I have pictures of us waiting in line to buy our museum tickets and figuring out what we were going to do about our pups, since the tickets we had to the exhibit were for the later time. (Shout out to Christine for feeding and walking our pups on such short notice! You really saved the day ♥) 

[Left] Me and Bill, waiting in line. [Right] Me and Joanna trying to figure out our tickets.

The Franklin Air Show room was actually really cool. It had a lot of air-science related things (of course). In the picture of Bill and Allison, there's a wall of sparkly disks and various things pointing at them for you to play with. Giant drums, fan-like things, and noisemakers. The various sounds let out air and cause the sparkly things to move! It was pretty cool. And in the this picture, Bill is trying to inflate a balloon bigger than I did with a thing that was like an accordion bellow for fires.

[Right] The Original Wright 1911 Model B Flyer 

In the "Sir Isaac's Loft" portion of the museum, there were all sorts of cool things to do with...uh, Sir Isaac Newton. (I'm bad at science.) There was a giant contraption that looked like the game Mouse Trap which Bill, Allison, and Joanna told me the game Mouse Trap was based off of... So how about that! There were also these pulley seats that you see Joanna and I sitting in. We were racing to see who could get to the top first. (I won!) Sorry Joanna ;)

The pièce de résistance... The Titanic Exhibit! Unfortunately the only two pictures that I have of it are the one outside the entrance and a picture of the picture we got to take on the staircase "inside" the Titanic. This time it's not because I forgot! Going in, there's a sign with all the rules and "no photography" was one of them, sadly. 

It was really cool! Upon going in, they give you your "boarding pass" where you go through the exhibit and get to find out if you lived or not at the end. Joanna and Bill both died (Joanna, a second-class woman; Bill, Isador Strauss. Otherwise known as the old guy in the movie who dies with his wife in their bed). Allison and I, though, both lived, woo!

And of course, no trip is complete without pictures of me making ridiculous faces or poses. In the first picture, I have magnetic finger puppets of Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton. I'm not really sure what's going on in the second picture... Bill took that one. ;)

After all was said and done, we dropped Joanna and Allison off at home, came back to our house to take care of and see the pups, and then made a Chipotle run! No better way to end a night that with a burrito, right?

Thanks for reading, and sorry I've been gone. I'll try to get back to posting more regularly. xoxo

{Weekend Recap} + Monday & Tuesday! So Late...

{Friday}
Friday wasn't all that of an eventful day. But I did get a new purse from Target! I love it. I had a panda purse/satchel thing prior to this, and I used that off and on for the past three years. As much as I loved it, though, I definitely will admit that I was a little embarrassed to be bringing that to the bowling league every week, as well as to this one office related function that Bill and I went to for his work. And thus! A new purse was born!

{Saturday}
Saturday was actually the busiest of days for us.

Starting off Saturday...by going bowling! I actually didn't do too bad for myself, either. I pretty much hit something every frame, which was nice, actually. (I'm a really bad bowler.) Here's an action shot of Bill bowling...most likely a strike.

After bowling, we went back to my hometown here in Jersey to pick up mail from my old house. (Mail is surprisingly still being sent there...) Since there was also mail for my mom, we stopped at the Rita's that I used to work at to get some custard before heading over to Philadelphia since they just opened the day prior. It was so great to see my old bosses! I miss them so much every day. Sadly, I didn't get to see their sons, though. Oh well, next time! If I had to pick out of all my jobs who my favourite boss was, it would definitely be my bosses from Rita's.

We didn't stay in Philly very long. Just enough for me to give mom her mail and to get mine, and say hello to the dogs. We wanted to avoid rush hour traffic, as well, but sadly that didn't happen.

By the time we got home, we both decided that neither of us wanted to cook, so we had Arby's for dinner! Oh my goodness, it was so delicious. When I moved to Philly, there wasn't an Arby's anywhere nearby, so I was deprived of it for a while. Even now, I still savour it every time I have it!

Not too long after we got home from that, my friend Allison came over to hang out with us and we made homemade Shamrock shakes. They weren't bad, actually. Maybe next time I should leave out the cookies, though...

{Sunday}
All we really did on Sunday was our usual grocery shopping. A few days prior, my eyeliner pen ran out, so I picked up a new eyeliner or two and a mascara while we were out. Normally, I get the Revlon eyeliner pen, but admittedly, I got Loreal because I had a coupon! Hahah. Thanks, coupons, for getting me to try new things. So far, I actually really like it!

Do you have a specific day you go grocery shopping? A specific budget? Let me know in the comments below. And if you'd like, I'll do a post all about how we made tackle our grocery shopping and week of meals.

{Monday}
Mondays, for the record, are league bowling nights for Bill.

This week was especially exciting/nervewracking because the first game...he kept hitting strikes. Frame one, strike. Frame two, strike. Frame seven, strike. Frame ten, strike.

If you know anything about bowling, you know that the 10th frame has three turns. First turn, Bill strikes. The next two? He does not. And that's how he missed his 300. When you get a 300, the USBC sends you a ring. But that's okay! He can always try again next week.

{Tuesday}
Tuesday, we had my friend Allison over again, and her boyfriend Shane. Allison made Crockpot Cheddar Beer Chicken Tacos from How Sweet It Is found on none other than... Pinterest. :) They were delicious.

Bill and I made chicken fried rice. I made the chicken and the rice before Bill got home, and he put it all together afterward. It was combo Mexican and Chinese night!

Allison also jetted me over to the library so I could return some books and pick up some new ones! (I'm already halfway through Bossypants by Tina Fey and I just started reading it yesterday evening.)

After dinner we played Clue, which I haven't played since I was like ten... It was really confusing for me to figure out at first, but once I did, it wasn't so bad. Sadly, by them time I had figured it out, Allison, the Queen of Clue, won again.

{And that brings us to today...}
Yesterday wasn't too eventful. I cleaned the rest of the house, and pre-cooked dinner for my mister (and so that I could have some to take to my mom's house) before I left for three days. I'm back at mom's house, petsitting until tomorrow night. I have to say, I really miss my mister. (Hi Bill, if you're reading this! <3)

Not too much going on. I'm blazing through Bossypants. Actually... I think I'll get back to doing that right now... :)

Sorry for the massive post dump! It's totally my fault for not just sitting down and making myself do it. I need to get back on the ball!

{Good News} For Once

Moments ago, I got a phone call from my doctor's office. My bloodwork came back fine! They said the enzymes in my liver were normal again, so that's good. But that makes me wonder what was even wrong with my liver in the first place!

Whatever, I guess. Now I can drink all the alcohol and eat all the carbs I want!! J/K, I can't drink all the alcohol I want, that's illegal. But nothing's stopping me from consuming ALL THE CARBS.

Also, Christine sent me this today to try and cheer me up (prior to the good news). Click on the picture to see it, full size.

I am in love with pandas and I also just discovered Sebastien Millon and am kind of now obsessed with his artwork and how cute it is. I think I'll spend the rest of the afternoon looking at his site...

{Doctor's Visits and FroYo}

Well, yesterday I had my followup visit with the doctor about my bloodwork. Everything came in with flying colours, 100% healthy...except for, strangely, my liver. The doctor even cross tested for hepatitis, and I came back negative for that. Oh and I'm a little low on Vitamin D. But that can be fixed.

So, while the doctor was telling me all about my bloodwork, she then sprung on me MORE BLOODWORK. I was not impressed, to say the least. Hurt just as much as the first time, too, if not more :(

That was fun. And then afterwards, we went to Bill's mom's house to drop off some stuff and got surprised with dinner at Applebee's! It was nice to hang out with his mom and brother, as well as his brother's fiancée who is here visiting right now. Bill also took me to this froyo place nearby. To be honest, I actually didn't want the ice cream until I found out they were stabbing me with more needles. :X But it was still nice to get :3

I just feel overall blah almost every day, today included. It's icky out (was supposed to snow but is kind of just wet and really windy), and I want nothing more than to just cuddle in bed with my mister. But alas, he is at work, and I have housework to finish.

How are things with you today? What's your weather like? We're gearing up for a pretty nasty blizzard...

{Southern Sweet Tea Tuesday}

I love me some sweet tea. Growing up, from the second the weather started hinting warmth until almost Thanksgiving, there would constantly be a jug of my mom's southern sweet tea in the icebox. But, since I no longer live with her, I had to figure out how to make it myself. Casey from The Aslan's Auspicious Albany Adventure also asked me how to make it, so this one's for you, Casey!

I remember my mom always boiling a pot of water on the stove, but since the coffee pot was not in use for coffee, I figured why not make it a "tea" pot!

I start off by putting five tea bags into the coffee pot itself. I tried putting them in where the filter goes before, but it just doesn't work that well. Fill the coffee pot water reserve to about the 10 line.

Follow that by filling up your container with sugar. I put in about a half-inch deep amount of sugar (I don't measure, I just eyeball it). I also put a little sugar in my Contigo so I could just pour some tea right in there. I make extra so I don't have to take it from the pitcher I just made.

I also use another pitcher just to fill up the coffee pot with water.

After the first pot is done brewing, I pour that into my Contigo (and what's left from that) into the big pitcher with the sugar. I leave the tea bags in the coffee pot and three more to what's already in there. Fill up my water line to about ten/eleven, brew, pour.

Add two more tea bags to the pot, add more water, brew, pour. If you still need more tea to fill up your pitcher, just brew over all the used tea bags and let sit for a few minutes after it's done brewing.

Close up your pitcher (I have one with a sealing lid), turn upside down, and shake until there is no sugar on the bottom. And voila! Southern Sweet Tea, a la Heather!

{March Madness}

Well, look at that, March is upon us!

Things to remember to do in March:

• Get a Shamrock Shake from McDonald's
• Beware the Ides of March.
• On the Ides of March (March 15th, for those of you who don't know what that is), get a Caesar salad and stab it 23 times before eating.

And that's about it. I like to think I'm funny.