Cruiser Bruiser!

So this post is being written only two weeks post-trip, but at least I'm finally getting around to writing it. Two weeks ago Brian and I took a road trip to St. Louis for his cousin's wedding. It was such a fun trip! We drove in my car, and my goal was to stay awake for the entire car ride since I am notorious for falling asleep really easily while riding in a car. Towards the last few hours of the trip I had to find ways to occupy myself beyond reading Cosmo (side note I was so disappointed to see how sexually focused that magazine was until I tried finding a worthy article to read and discuss with Brian! They were all about sexual things, so needless to say no worthy articles were found), doing crossword puzzles, and finding hidden words in word searches. I then came up with the brilliant game of Cruiser Bruiser! Basically the first person to find a PT Cruiser got to playfully hit (obviously we're not violent people or anything ha ha) the other person. I dominated at the game, but Brian says that it's an unfair game to the person who is driving. I say he just doesn't like to lose.

Upon arriving to St. Louis we stopped off at Union Station for food! Union Station is a really neat place that is a collection of a hotel and a ton of restaurants with like a little pond surrounding it that you can enjoy. We chose the Hard Rock Cafe for food, and it was delicious. Here are a few pictures of Union Station for you to enjoy:



Obligatory "self-portrait" that I take everywhere we go:


Once we checked into the hotel (Brian's parents were nice enough to let us stay in a Suite with them, so in the end I got to be roommates with Brian's sister Jenny) we found that Brian's family was all congregating in the hotel's lobby. I got to meet a majority of the people I had never met before, and it was fun to do so since my family is so small and Brian's is so large.

The next day was his cousin's wedding, and it was held in the church on St. Louis University's campus. It was a gorgeous church, and a great ceremony. They tied in some cool and unique traditions that I think have a Spanish background. I know I'm not a great photographer, but here is a picture of the outside of the church:


Here is another obligatory "self-portrait" of Brian and I waiting outside of the church between the ceremony and the reception:


The reception was held in the basement of the church. Now I was curious as to what that would be like since usually church basements are dark and drab and very cement like. This church basement however was GORGEOUS. It was made to hold receptions and it was very well lit and bright and just awesome. It was a good time, and I even made Brian slow dance with me once. After the reception was over we went back to the hotel and ordered a pizza and played Phase 10 with Brian's cousin Rob and his wife Anna.

On Sunday we trekked our way back to Wisconsin, and stopped off somewhere in Illinois to mini-golf and ride go-karts. It was so fun to mini-golf and I only lost by 2 strokes! The go-karts were fun too, but Brian kept getting bumped and turned around by some jerk so that was not to great. I'm just glad I was tall enough to ride them :)



All in all it was a great trip, and I can't wait for our next vacation to Utah/Las Vegas!!!

12-Month-A-Versary!

Yesterday was Brian's and my one year anniversary of dating. It's been the best year of my life, and in some ways I can't believe it's only been a year that I've known him, and in other ways it seems like it's been forever (in a good way ha ha).

We had originally tossed around the idea of going out of town for a night or two, but seeing as we're going to St. Louis next weekend and that Brian's friend from Florida would be in town this weekend, we scrapped that idea. We ended up having a great day and it was the best 12-month-a-versary ever.

First Brian was out by me visiting some clients of his in the mental hospital, and surprised me by saying he was free for lunch! I let him choose between Pizza Hut (one of his favs) and Mexican food (which Brian loves, but its one of those things I'll eat, but it's not something I crave or anything). He chose Pizza Hut and so we went and had the podunkiest buffet ever...which is sad since we've had some Pizza Hut buffets in some pretty podunky towns in Northern, WI. It was still fun cause really I enjoy any time spent with him.

In the afternoon he had to go back to work, and I ran errands around town. When I got home there was a ginormous box on my porch addressed to me! I love getting mail of any sorts, but seeing as this was a giant box I was extra curious. Upon opening the box I found these:



I was extremely shocked that Brian sent me flowers!! Not only that but they're my favorite flowers in my favorite colors. I was so surprised and happy I cried. I took this picture right when I took them out of the box so it doesn't do them justice at all. After being in water for a few hours, plus my mom doing her expert arranging, they looked much better.

Brian told me that we had dinner plans that night but wouldn't tell me to where. I got all cute and dressed up, and mi madre wanted to take a picture of me dressed up with my flowers, so here you go on the picture of that cause I really like this picture ha ha (I'm so vain):



We ended up going to dinner at The Melting Pot, which really was awesome! We had the three course meal with a mexican cheese fondue, a wine based fondue meat course, and then a chocolate crunchy peanut butter dessert fondue. It was so yummy, minus the fact that I tried lobster for the first time and I wasn't a fan (side note, in the span of a week I tried crab legs, duck, and lobster for the first time and hated them all, but at least I tried). We kept laughing because the people in a booth near us talked the whole time about how their waitress had so many similiarities with a soap opera tv character, and literally talked about soaps and the soap network the whole time.

Here are a few pictures I took during the meal. The first one is of the aftermath after we ate all the meat, but you can see the creepy lobster tail shell that the lobster was served on. I made Brian turn it over at one point so I could see the underside, and it creeped me out so bad I almost threw up ha ha. I know its a pointless picture, but I think its fun for posterity's sake.



The second is an attempt at a self portrait that I cut myself out of...but I think Brian looks cute with his cheesy smile so here you go.



It was a great night, and a great way to celebrate the past year. I'm so happy and grateful to be with Brian, and he constantly makes me feel like the luckiest girl alive. He's awesome, and I'm so proud of all that he's accomplished with his law business and other things. Yup, I say these things a lot, but it's only because I mean them and I can hardly believe how wonderful life is sometimes.

I won't be a Blue Angel afterall...

So like two posts ago I said I was going back to school in the fall, and unfortunately that isn't the case anymore. I didn't get any federal financial aid due to the fact I already have 2 bachelor degrees and very little assets. I would have to take out $60,000 in private loans to pay my tuition for the 3 years, and after factoring in interest (for a grand sum of $50,000) I would then be over $100,000 in debt. So, I decided that it wasn't really worth 100 grand to get the dietetics certificate, especially when the ADA is considering requiring you to have a masters degree before taking the RD exam.

Someone told me today that I should just be grateful I am able to live the life I have and that I'm healthy, not living off the government and food stamps like so many unemployed/underemployed people, and I have a family and boyfriend that love me. I have to agree with that, so for now I'm going to be grateful for all I do have.

30% off coupons!!

So I posted this on facebook, but I have 30% off coupons for the Gap/Baby Gap/Gap Kids/Banana Republic/Old Navy/Piperlime. It is our friends and family sale at the company, and 5% of the proceeds go to the employees charity of choice. The charity I chose was Feeding America, which "provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 25 million Americans each year, including 9 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks operate 63,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms." So not only are you buying great clothes for you and your kids, you're also helping people all across the US!

If you want one of these fabulous coupons (delivered via e-mail) please leave me a comment with your e-mail so I can send you one. The coupon is good for July 30-August 2, and there are already tons of fall clothes to purchase for when the weather gets cooler! Oh and you can use the coupon online or in the store or at the Gap or Banana Republic outlet.

I Just Couldn't Stay Away...

I keep forgetting to blog about some sort of big news! As of August 31st I will be a college student once more! I mean having 2 bachelor of science degrees just wasn't enough for me. I am going to be in a post bachelors certificate program in dietetics at Mount Mary College. I am so excited because although it means I'll be in school for forever, at the end I can take the RD exam and then become a Registered Dietitian, which is pretty much my dream job. I am stoked, and I'm also very grateful for Brian who is totally supportive of this. He thinks he'll get more work done now, but little does he know that my school being less than 30 blocks away from his office means I'll be using his conference room as my own personal library. Just kidding babe...or am I? I feel grateful that I have such a great college nearby that I can attend, as Mount Mary has a reputation of being an amazing school. In retrospect I should have listened to my mother who told me to go there when I was 18, but hey I needed to get out of Wisconsin to experience life.

Mount Mary is a small catholic women's college in Milwaukee, and it actually is a pretty campus. The best part is the mascot...first I was a Viterbo Hawk (a v-hawk if you will), then I was a Thunderbird at SUU and now I am a Blue Angel (and no, not like the airplane, we're talking real angels). Hell yeah, best mascot ever. I couldn't find a picture online besides this one of the logo but seriously you all need to just sit there and laugh about the fact I will be a Blue Angel.

(courtesy of the Mount Mary Website).

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this adventure will go. My first semester I have 12 credits, which is the smallest course load I have ever taken. I'll have:

-The Profession of Dietetics
-Principles of Management
-Organic and Biochemistry (ok let's talk about how at SUU you have to take 2 semesters of O-chem to take the one semester of bio chem, and at Mount Mary it's all only one semester ha ha, well unless you want to go onto grad school).
-Yoga (I have to be full time and my required classes only equal 8 credits)
-Spanish 101 (again, I had 3 free credits and I figured it probably is in my best interest job wise to learn spanish)

It should be exciting to see how this all plays out, but my goal is to get a 4.0! I'm seriously hoping that my trip to vegas/utah for a week in October won't affect my classes that much, but I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

My needs

Ashley tagged me to do this, so here I am doing it :)

Here's what you do: Go to google.com, then type in "... needs".
That means I typed in "Stacey needs". Then you post the first 5 things that pop up!
Here's what I need:

1. "Stacey needs...to be amongst people of her own age, and to be stimulated (this can be taken a couple of different ways...)." this is kind of scandalous I think...
2. "Stacey needs...someone she can rely on" I already have people I can rely on! thank goodness!
3. "Stacey needs...to bake her daughter a cake". I always knew I had illegitimate children somewhere...
4. "Stacey needs...you help to fulfil her Olympic dream" Yes! I'm going to be a gold medal ping pong player! Or rhythmic gymnast!
5. "Stacey Needs...is on facebook" man I feel bad for the Stacey Needs who gets googled a lot from this tag...poor thing.


Now... time to find out what you need! I tag anyone who wants to do it!

Fourth of July

Yesterday I spent the 4th of July at a wedding with Brian. His best friend Mike's little sister Amanda got married. It was way fun, and I finally got to hear Brian play his trumpet! He's an amazing trumpeter, and yesterday he played in a song or two for the wedding ceremony. I want to learn how to play the trumpet now too, and I'm going to convince him to teach me how.

We had fun at the reception dancing a bit(it was the first time we really slow danced together, minus like dancing in the kitchen or what not), and I decided my favorite part of weddings is just people watching :). We left early, and I'm glad we did because we got to see some fireworks over the tree tops! I was so worried that we wouldn't get to see fireworks on the 4th of July. We then drove back to the hotel and then walked to applebees for some drinks, and I got a super yummy daquiri that was in a ginormous glass as big as my head! It was a really fun night, and I can't wait to go to St. Louis in a few weeks for Brian's cousin's wedding. It is destined to be good times indeed! Plus I love the getting dressed up aspect of weddings, so that's definitely another perk of having a bunch of weddings to go to this summer.

Here's a fun picture I took of Brian and I at the reception, really showing off our personalities.


Yes, we're totally perfect for each other.