Airports Suck

Sitting in a airport has got to be up there on the "least favorite things to do ever" list.  I would probably place it in my top 5.    

Here's why I hate airports: 

1.  You have to pay money to check a bag.  Your telling me that my 400 bucks that I payed for the ticket isn't enough to include a bag with a week long clothes worth?  It frustrates me.  

2.   8/10 times your flight is either delayed or cancelled.  I totally made that stat up but it just seems like what always ends up happening.  This means sitting in the airport even longer and all you want to do is be sipping on a cocktail in the Caribbean which is where you should be by now, but no you're still sitting in the airport. Which brings me to ...

3.   Most likely you are killing time at the airport bars.  You might as well be in New York City at one of the hottest clubs because the drink prices are the same.  Your usual 4.99 glass of when is going to cost to 12 bucks.  It's expensive.  Even McCrapcrap is pricy.  

4. Airports are so inconsistent. One could be super comfy with lots of outlets to charge your phone and others your fighting over the one outlet on the floor with about 5 other people.  Then they just stare at you in disgust because you one the fight.  

5.  Some are so dang big that it takes hours to get from one side to the other.  Which now means that you are running to your gate with an oversized carry on bag because you didn't want to spend the $30 to check your dang bag not to mention the luggage size purse you're carrying to keep you entertained. 

6.  They are crowded. I don't like crowds. That means more of an obstacle when you're trying to run to your gate that's a million miles away. 

7.  You have to take your shoes off to go through security.  A majority of the time I'm wearing flats because that's my go to shoe and now I have to walk barefoot across the cold floor where millions of people before me have walked on.  It just isn't right.  

8.  Time always seems to go slower then your 110 year old grandpa.  I get so bored even with my luggage size purse bag that has books, magazines, music, board games, iPad, phone and whatever it is that you travel with. 

9.  Is it just me or are most of the employees just the most miserable people you have ever seen?  I mean I know they deal with some pretty pissed of people but still, I'm nice, why so rude?  Although I have to say the women at the ticket counter in Indianapolis on our way here was one of the nicest people.  But that's rare like a pack of wolves in 1915.  (Just learned that in my new book called The Genius of Dogs.)

End rant. 

So yes, Airports are not my favorite place.  But I do love traveling so I just have to remember to not dwell on how much I hate them and remember to have good vibes because it's part of the adventure. 

The good thing about them is that they are the connection to the destination that you desire.  Not sure if that makes sense but hopefully you get what I mean.  You could be going home to visit your family for the holidays, maybe your flying to Napa Valley for a Ladies weekend, or you heading to South Africa on your honeymoon.  

If you have had a amazing experience at an airport please enlighten me because I would love to look at airports in a different light.  

And im a belivever in miracles because I was actually productive on the plane and wrote a post. Or maybe it was the Heineken that the cute man in 32A purchased for me.  I guess I'll never know. :)

Anyways I'm going to get back to drinking XX's with my bestest!! See you ladies in a week! 

                                 

Boating, Boozin, and Bikinis

Boating, Boozin & Bikinis are the only thing on my mind right now.  

Warning:  This post is random. 

I like to call this the 3’B’s.  Yup, I’m really creative.  The 3 B’s are on my mind because tomorrow I will be flying into Florida with the bf for a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean with the family [Mom and Stepmom's first cruise] and my bestest.  Going on vacation is the best way to start off the year.  Apparently I like to end the year that way too.  I’m totally fine with it though.

Yup, I’m not useful at the office today at all. 

I have less than an hour left at the office and then I’m bolting my lil tush right out of here to go get my eyebrows threaded.  There is no way I’m spending vacation with two ginormous trees above my eyes.  I swear it looks like a jungle on my face.  I really need to take better care of them. 

Then I have to go clean the house before Philly gets home from a work trip.  I don’t really have to but I’m trying to go for the best girlfriend award so you know it’s kind of a necessity.  Plus I haven’t even finished packing.  Talk about waiting till the last minute.  So you can see why I have to bolt out of work faster than a lightning bolt.  Eww Meghan, just stop right now.  I can’t believe I just said that.  But like I said my brain is preoccupied about boating, boozin and bikinis.

The best bonus about this trip is that I will be seeing my dad and his wife.  He lives in Fort Lauderdale and will be picking the bf and I up from the airport.  They are taking us to one of their favorite spots for dinner and cocktails.  We will meet up with the rest of the group on Sunday to start loading up on the boat for our 7 day party binge!

For the next week you can probably find me with Erin, stuffing my face with a drink in my hand, maybe even double fisting.  I might need to remind myself that I am not in college anymore.  

Anyways, I won't be around these bloglandia parts unless under some miracle I write a few posts on the airplane.  Don't count on it though.  See everyone when i'm back and sunkissed. Oh wait I already am from Christmas in St. Thomas! :) See ya on the 21st for sure! 

#FlashbackFriday.  Cruise Jan 2011.  And Mr. Kim! 

Who Says You Can't Have Adult Snow Days?

I've been consumed in puzzle land for the past three days, which also accounts for my whereabouts.  I had every intention to spend my snow day catching up on bloglandia.  Guess what, it didn't happen.

Instead I spent snowpocalypse being 100 percent unproductive.

On Sunday the bf and I entered into puzzle land.  I even decided to whip up a baked ham. I say whipped up a ham in the sense that I had no idea what I was doing but just decided to go with it.  And it was a huge success because the bf and I couldn't stop eating it!  We even had it for breakfast the next morning.  It had a lil peach preserves, brown sugar, mustard, thyme and of course had to throw in some Riesling.  Honestly, would you expect anything less?  Didn't think so.  If you want the recipe, let me know.  I would be happy to pass it along.  

After we ate our weight in ham the bf suggested we take the pups for a walk.  I was all for it and I'm pretty sure so were the dogs because they were jumping in the big snow piles.  I swear they even had smiles on their face. No joke.  

Then I got the best call ever,  our office closed on Monday.  Happy dance! Normally I would have gone to bed but since I no longer had  work on Monday I got crazy and stayed up a lil bit later working on the puzzle.  I know, I'm such a bad ass.  

Slept in and snuggled with Dragon.

Made Mango Roll-Ups

3 Mangos

Peel

Puree

Spread thin on wax paper.

Bake at 175 degrees for 3 hours or until no longer moist.

Kept an eye on the dogs since you know it was -40 and all.  They so badly wanted to play but just couldn't handle the cold.  

Watched Pitbull and Parolees.  It's Dragon's favorite show and her bf was on the tv.  Love.

Drove around with the bf to check out all the snow.  Do a few donuts.  Ya know typical winterish activities.  And yes the roads were not plowed. 

Took Naps. :)

Had snack time.

Ended our day in puzzle hell.  Seriously, this puzzle was hard.  

I also took Tuesday off because it was way to risky for me to drive.  I work an hour away from home.  Yea I know, its not ideal.   I wasn't trying to spend my day in the ditch.  This morning it took me an hour and 40 minutes.  Yowzers.  Pure ice and driving = not a great time.  I was cruisin at a high speed of 25 mph on a 70 mph highway.  Just fyi. Don't try it.  

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Bloglovin!

2013 Yearbook

I can’t believe it’s 2014. Like seriously.  It’s really here.  I have to say 2013 was good to me.  It was full of exciting new things.

If I had to sum it all up in one word I would use “growth”.  It truly has been a year of growth both personally and in my relationships.  Personally because I feel like I am actually becoming a women and not a girl.  I kinda feel grown up.  I asked for kitchen things for Christmas.  Come on.  Who am I?  In my relationship because we are making a life together.  I’ve never been at this level with anyone before and we learn from one another everyday.  He pushes and challenges me and vice versa.  I think it's healthy in a relationship to have that.  

I decided to join the train and do a look back at 2013.  I will thank myself later for doing this one day.  Probably in 10 years when I’m telling stories to my kids. It's also a good way to get to know me since I'm newish to these bloglandia parts.  

The bf and I had just spent Christmas in Upstate NY with my family and had such a good time with them.  Unfortunately, when we got back I got sick with a major head cold and was sick for New Years.  We had already made plans to have friends over to bring in the New Year so I sucked it up and took lots of supplements.  And it was a really great low key night with friends. 

Phil and I got floor seats to the Pacer’s game.  Not going to lie it was awesome.

At the end of January we went to Columbus to visit friends for the weekend.  This trip was good and bad.  It was fun.  But I clearly couldn’t control my alcohol and had way too much to drink.  I embarrassed myself.  I passed out at the hockey game.  I don’t recall being there.  Got in a fight with the bf.  Yup, not my proudest moment. 

My best friend Kristen and her now fiancé got engaged!  I am so so happy for them and can’t wait to be part of their special day in 2015!

February was a crazy month.  I ended one chapter and opened a new. 

I left a job where I was being taken advantage of.  I believed in the people and the company and turns out they just cared about themselves.  I’m proud for standing up for myself and leaving the business.  It was the best decision for me.  Though I didn’t have a job to fall back on I was thankful to have a supportive family and bf to help me get through it.  This was probably up there for the hardest time for me financially and emotionally. 

I moved out of my apartment in Indy and moved in with the bf of 5 months.  What? Am I crazy?  It was exciting and scary all at the same time.  We were busy making room for myself and getting used to living with one another. Thankfully,  I only fell in the toilet twice from the toilet seat not being down.  Yea it was an adjustment for both of us.  I moved in on Valentine’s Day.  Kinda sounds cliché. 

We got a dog.  A very crazy dog but we didn’t know it yet.  We named her Dragon after the band Imagine Dragons. 

My dad and his wife came to visit.  This was also the first time the bf met the father.  I would say it went pretty well.

Officially booked our cruise for January 2014 which is now less than 2 weeks away! Happy dance!

Philly’s birthday month.  We went down to Indy to celebrate.  We snuck into the St. Patty’s festivities and had a few green beers and met Philly’s cousin and gf for dinner at St. Elmo’s.  We have made this a tradition between the four of us to eat at St. Elmo’s for each of our birthdays.  The shrimp cocktail is to die for. 

I got employed with an Architectural Firm in Fort Wayne!  Yay.  I still had a few more weeks to enjoy doing absolutely nothing. 

Our friends got married!  I had so much fun taking pictures in the photobooth!

My mom and her partner came to visit and as always had a blast. We celebrated my sister in law’s birthday with lots of drinks and food. Duh! :)

I had lots of fun with the pup before I had to go back to work.  I officially started work on the 8^th.  I was excited to start something new and actually be productive. 

I had one of the best day dates in my life with the bf in Indy.  I can’t even remember what we did but I know a lot of laughing was involved and that’s what I remember.

This picture was from that day!

One of the saddest things about 2013 was the passing of one of my family dog's Scout.  She became very sick after a routine shot and somehow her white blood cells started attacking her red ones.  The worst was not being able to see her or say goodbye. 

The month ended on a good note because it was my birthday and the bf and I went to Chicago to celebrate.  We even had a suite.  Yup he is too good to me!  We did what I do best eat and drink oh and of course some site seeing!

I shot a gun for the first time and was actually pretty good.  I even did better than the bf but I try to keep that one to myself.  Don't ask what guns I shot because I have not a clue.  

We kept our tradition alive and went to St. Elmo’s to celebrate my birthday!  I always have so much fun here with them.  We even went to a Cigar Lounge afterwards, which was a first for me. 

The bf, his dad and I went golfing.  I did more drinking and driving the golf cart because that was just more fun.  I felt like I was back in middle school driving the cart thinking it was the coolest thing ever. 

One of my favorite parts of May was the fact that I became a bad ass.  Yup you heard me right.  I started boxing.  It became one of my favorite workout’s ever and I got close with one of the bf’s friends and she is now one of my closet friends.

Philly and I drove down to Biloxi, Mississippi to visit his Mom and Dad on their boat for memorial weekend.  This was also the time that I discovered that I LOVE GUMBO.  Holy cow is it good down there.  I have a love for seafood in general so I did a lot of eating, which shouldn’t surprise you.  We got to explore Biloxi, take the boat out to an island for the day, see a live band and visit New Orleans for the day.  We went to lots of great restaurants and one of them was called Mary Mahoney’s, which is my grandmothers name so I thought that was awesome.

The bf had to go to NYC for work and decided to tag along so I could spend time with my best friend/sister Erin. Lots of sangria and Mexican was consumed. If you know anything about Erin it's that she loves Mexican. We even go to play in Central Park and eat ice cream cones. 

I went to the zoo with my nephew.  He is just the cutest thing ever and so glad he is semi close to me. By semi close I mean an hour and a half away.  His favorite thing was by far petting the goats and it was just too adorable watching him.  

I had a rough time in June.  I was struggling with myself and what I was doing with my life.  I felt unaccomplished and down on myself.  I was at my heaviest weight.  I didn't feel good about myself.  I hadn’t found my niche.  I’m sure many of you can relate to this.  I had thought about seriously moving to Thailand for 6 months to try to find myself.  Doing that in a relationship though is really hard.  I went back and forth for weeks because things with the bf were beyond amazing and I couldn’t imagine being away from him for so long.  I also knew though that I needed to do something for me.  Which brings me to…

The month that I started my blog and 101 Things in 1001 Days List.  I decided to not run off and to instead make a list of things that I want to do, places I want to visit, goals I want to accomplish, and challenges I want to undertake. I thought it would be a good way to hold myself accountable.  This could be a way for me to feel like I am doing more with my life and really and enjoy life at the same time.  It’s been a slow start but it’s a work in progress just like myself. And I have found some great blogs that I can relate to.  

We spent the weekend at our friends lake house and seriously had one of the best weekends.  We even brought the dogs so It was our first lil family weekend away (Read more here).  I got to cross off the second thing on my list because I went skinny dipping!   Sorry Mom and Dad. 

August was super busy. 

We had been having some serious issues with Dragon.  Read here to catch up.  The gist of it is she was suffering from sever separation anxiety.  She was breaking out of her kennel and destroying everything in the house.   I started taking her to Puppy Daycare and she loved it.  Plus I had a buddy on my commute to work so that was a plus. It ended up not working out and she was getting several bad notes sent home.  We were honestly thinking of bringing her back to an animal shelter (where she would probably get put down).  It broke my heart to even think about it.   Our last hope was taking her to an animal behaviorist, which saved our lives and hers.  With a lot of work she has made an 180 turn.  We love her and our so happy that we didn't give up on her.  

One of my favorite parts of August was going to Kentucky for the weekend.  This was my first time in Kentucky.  I loved every minute of it.  We spent the day doing a bourbon bus trail visiting Maker’s Mark, Barton 1792, and Jim Beam.  I do not enjoy bourbon but I still had a good time and managed to get most of it down.  We went site seeing around Louisville with my Little (sorority little sister) and her bf.   She is just the best person ever and always have so much fun with her.  On the last day we drove around to this great breakfast spot and then drove around Old Louisville looking at all the brick homes. 

Phil and I had an amazing date night at Joseph Decuis.  It’s a farm to fork restaurant and the food is so freakishly good.  

Wedding Time!  Phil’s half sister got married.  I just love weddings period.  Plus we took one of my favorite pics of the bf and I.

One of the highlights of 2013 was getting to witness my Mom and her partner of 12 years get married. It was a special time and I was happy to be part of this day with them.   I even got out of my comfort zone and gave a toast and it went better than I could have expected. Laughter and tears is a win in my book.  It was a such a good time home especially since I got to see my bestest.  We hiked the Watkins Glen Gorge, hit up a few wineries, went hot tubbing, and got to spend lots of time with my family. 

Went to my first NFL football game with the bf and his family.  I was surprised at how much fun I actually had watching football.  Maybe it was the beer. 

The bf and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going down to Indy and shopping, having beers at the place we had our first date, and then eating at our favorite restaurant, St. Elmo's for dinner.  It was a huge milestone for me and can't say how happy I am to have him in my life. This day was supper special to me and loved that we were able to look back at some of our most memorable times together.  

My Mom and her wife came to visit and they actually came up to Marion (which is the town I live in).  They had only been to Indy which is where my brother lives.  It was super existing to have them see where Philly and I live.  I showed them around, we went shopping, sampled pumpkin beers, and laughed a lot.  You can read more here. 

The time I went to the best concert ever, Twenty One Pilots with friends!

Health wise I knew something was not right but didn't really know what was going on.  

It wasn't until my hair started falling out that I finally went to see a doctor and learned that I have hypothyroidism.  I was happy to finally know what was going on but also crappy that there actually is something wrong.  

Went to visit Purdue for the weekend for a fun filled weekend with friends.  Irish music, drinking, and a tailgating was involved.  

The bf and I hosted our 1st Annual Friendsgiving.  Everything about it was fun from the crafting, decorating, cooking, the friends and just seeing it all come together.  I worked hard to put this together and I cannot wait for next years!  

My dad came to visit and we got to celebrate a 2nd Thanksgiving!  He gave us a belated house warming gift of an Irish pitcher and glasses.

And now here we are in December.  

We had my niece and nephew stay with us for the weekend.  It kept us super busy but it was worth it.  Had so much fun with these two! We went to Science Central in Fort Wayne, played with Phil's old matchbox cars, went to bdubs for dinner, watched Thomas the Train, danced, played in the fun zone area at the mall, and finished the night seeing all the Christmas lights on the Marion Walkway of Lights! 

Phil had his work Christmas Party and we got to dress up as Jack and Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Which now brings me to Christmas.  I had the amazing opportunity to spend Christmas in St. Thomas with Phil's family.  I can't wait to share about my Christmas with you because I haven't had the chance to write my post about it yet.  But stay tuned.  

2013 was definitely an unforgettable year filled with many firsts and lots of growing up.  I'm so thankful for everything that happened in 2013 and for everyone in my life.  I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store because I have a feeling that it will be even better than 2013! 

Wishing everyone a kickass New Year's and a happy