An Arizona Wedding: Birthday in the Airport

Howdy blogging world! 

It's been a little quiet around these parts because Ian and I just spent the last four days traveling to Scottsdale, AZ for his cousins wedding. The plan was to travel to Arizona early Friday morning (which also happened to be Ian's 25th birthday!), spend the day there with his family before the wedding on Saturday, and then fly home on Sunday. A quick weekend, but we would pack as much into it as we could.

However, things turned out a little differently, and we ended up spending Ian's entire birthday in the airport. 

Maybe we should have known that traveling on Friday the 13th was bound to come with some hiccups, so at 6am when we were sitting on the plane ready to go and the captain came on the announcement system and said that the plane was broken and we weren't going anywhere, we shouldn't have been surprised. So it was back into Reagan International Airport we went to sit in our own city, fifteen minutes away from home, for seven hours while we waited on parts to be flown in to fix our broken plane. GREAT.

I thought taking self portraits of my angry face was the best way to cope.

We weren't projected to leave until 11 am, well after we would have hopped on our connecting flight in Atlanta, so Ian joined the hoards of angry travelers trying to get on one of two other flights into Atlanta with no luck. We were told to wait until they called our flight to Phoenix to make accommodations, so when they called us and Ian was in the bathroom, I just about burst into tears when the woman told me that since we were going to miss our flight in Atlanta, the next one into Phoenix wasn't until 9:00 that night.

 "Really? There is NOTHING before then?", I said, my voice wavering.

"Nope", said the unsympathetic airport woman. 

I was about to stomp my foot and say "But it's my husband's BIRTHDAY!"

Unfortunately, there was no special birthday plane that flies in especially for us decorated with cake and sprinkles, so we finally boarded our plane to Atlanta to become very well acquainted with the Atlanta airport. For nine hours.

First things first, we were told that we were being compensated by receiving free round-trip flights to anywhere in the US for  a future trip. Then we went to the AirTrain desk and told them our sob story and were upgraded to first class for our flight to Phoenix as well as our flight home. With meal vouchers in hand, we decided it was time to make the best of it and we were going to have a fun birthday celebration in the airport. 

It was off to Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint, where we enjoyed some amazing BBQ brisket, drinks, and complimentary shots of moonshine.

We lingered over our drinks at the restaurant and played Words with Friends on our phones for probably longer than necessary before setting off to explore the fine world of airport shopping. Ian slept for a little bit, I bought a stack of magazines, and surprisingly nine hours of eating, drinking, and people watching went by pretty fast.

9:00 rolled around, and we boarded the plane to be wined and dined in first class. I sure didn't hate it.

Before we knew, Ian's birthday was almost over. But there was one more birthday perk we were going to finagle....

A Ford Mustang rental car. Nice work, birthday boy.

Stay tuned for the second installment of our trip: The Smoke Tree Resort, our home for the weekend with a vintage feel.

Grown Up Easter

Well friends, this Easter marked the first official holiday hosted in the Brodie Abode. 

It was strange waking up here in Virginia and not having a trail of plastic eggs to follow to the Easter Bunny's presents. Nope, you know you are a grown up when you wake up and your immediate thought on Easter morning is the brunch that you are preparing for your in-laws. 

I thought I had it planned to a tee. I pre-baked the pie crusts for the quiche and mixed up the pineapple stuffing. After church, we returned home with Ian's parents and it was time to work my magic. 

So for my first trick, I had the pie crust with eggs, cheese, ham, and cream overflow in the oven, which quickly turned our basement apartment into a smoky inferno. I thought it was just a little bit of bubbling over, but when I noticed that there was a steady stream pouring into the bottom of the oven, I got really hot, my bangs started sticking to my forehead, and I was officially in freak out mode. 

With some quick thinking, Ian helped me put the quiches into glass pie plates which temporarily stopped the overflow and for the time being, all was well again.

Until about five minutes later, when the pan of oil sitting on the stove waiting for the hash brown potatoes got really, really hot. I had visions of a flaming pan starting forest fires in Virginia, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of orange as Ian poured the potatoes into the pan. A freaking potato ignited.

After cursing very loudly in front of Ian's parents (sorry....!!) I commanded that Ian take the pan outside and set it on the ground before dumping the rest of the potatoes in it. It didn't take long for those suckers to be done, but the quiche was still bubbling away in the oven. Taking much, much longer than it was supposed to.

So we had our first course--hash browns and pineapple stuffing--while I checked on the oven every five seconds. What a feast.

Finally, the knife came out clean when I stuck it in the middle and we had ourselves some delicious ham and cheese quiche. (If you're wondering, I made the recipe from Taste of Home and it turned out amazing. Minus the overflow...)

The smoke dissipated, I started breathing again, and although my bangs might have been a little more curly, everything turned out great.

Of course, an Easter basket filled with movies, candy, and a giant peanut butter meltaway egg sure was a highlight.

Reflections and Chocolate Eggs

Do you ever sit back and think about how much your life has changed in a short period of time? I sure have, and I am on this chilly morning in VA with my hot cup of coffee as I was clicking back through some of my old blogs from this time last year. 

Last year, when I was bragging about getting married to the man of my dreams in 97 days. When we were trying to plan an awesome and cheap wedding on our college (and parent's) budgets. When I was trying to balance graduating from college with worrying about finding the perfect vintage cake topper while wondering if I would ever find a job and heck, where we would even live when we got home from our honeymoon. We certainly had options--would it be Annapolis? Virginia? Or our good 'ole hometown in PA? 

As I sit here in our quiet apartment as Ian sleeps (because the lucky bugger is on spring break) I'm pausing to count my blessings, as Ian always tells me to do when I've had a rough week. You know those weeks when it just seems like you don't know what your purpose is? When you feel tired, mopey, and completely uninspired? Like PMS, but not? 

Maybe instead of thinking about things in my life that I'm not so content with at this point in time, I should think about the fact that I have a salary. I work at a job with people I enjoy, I come home to my best friend every night (and sometimes to Greek food!), and I live in one of the most fun places ever. 

So despite the chilly morning, I'm going to suck it up, put my hair up, and enjoy life. And probably eat a Cadbury egg....

On Top of the World

Yesterday was one of those days where I felt on top of the world. The sun was shining, I reached my goal at work, and I had a great hair day. For the above reasons, I needed a power-woman, executive-looking, "I Don't Know How She Does It" outfit. 

Yes...it was a LBD day.

This is probably one of my favorite thrifting finds ever. (Do I say that about every thrifting find? I think so.) I got this at the State College Goodwill several years ago for a few bucks, and after a little hemline shortening action by my mom, it is absolutely the perfect little black dress for any occasion. Modest enough that it works for the office, but it hugs in all the right places to still be a little bit sexy. With my favorite pair of snakeskin pumps and a necklace that my mom passed down to me, I felt like there was no stopping me. 

I also dyed my hair yesterday. It's totally one of those dye jobs where people don't notice unless you tell them, but I can tell and that is all that matters! Not to mention I am absolutely addicted to the way that special conditioner that comes with the box dye makes my hair feel. 

Come to think of it...the purse was also handed down from my mom. If you can't tell, she is a very stylish woman! I love having a mom to share clothes with.

What outfits make you feel on top of the world?

The Thirsty Games

So obviously seeing The Hunger Games was the big to-do for everyone in the world this weekend. Ian purchased our tickets online earlier in the week, and I was ready to be completely surprised as I had absolutely no idea what the story was about. You might say I hop on bandwagons. And I might say you're right.

We arrived at the movie theatre on Friday night with twenty minutes to spare, and spent those twenty minutes (plus about twenty more) driving around the parking lot looking for a place to park, dodging other fools who didn't get to the movie an hour early--Heaven forbid--having numerous near-death experiences as we fought for parking spaces. It was like The Hunger Games, Parking Lot Edition. I told Ian that driving around in a parking lot and not finding any space was probably what Hell is like.

Anyway. We FINALLY found a space after stalking a family right after they exited the theatre all the way back to their car, awkwardly waiting in the lane and blocking cars behind us so that we could shimmy on in there when they pulled out. Having already missed the first fifteen minutes of the movie, we ran inside and handed our printed out tickets to the lady at the counter.

The machine beeped at her when she scanned Ian's credit card. It beeped when she tried again. She called over her manager, who looked at the tickets with a frown.

"You didn't actually buy the tickets."

"WHAT?!"

The guy leaned over and pointed to where it said in big bold letters: 'YOU ARE ALMOST THERE! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!'

Oh gosh.

Naturally, I burst into giggles, even though I knew it wasn't funny. Ian frantically scanned his emails on his phone to see if he had actually clicked here to purchase. Turns out....whoops.

The movie theatre folks tried to find us extra tickets, but the movie was, unfortunately, completely sold out.

We could have sulked and gotten in the car and gone home. But we had spent forty minutes in that damn parking lot. That space was prime real estate, and unless some bumbling fool was about to pay a hefty mortgage, we were staying put.

So we went and had some drinks. And thus, the Thirsty Games commenced. 

BB Cream--Love It or Leave It?

By now, if you haven't heard of BB Cream, you probably don't watch TV or use the Internet. Or you're a boy. 

Since I'm always quick to jump on a blogger bandwagon, I saw that Garnier BB Cream was on sale at CVS this week for $10.00, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I had heard fantastic things about BB creams in general--their 'miracle skin perfecting' properties, claiming to be an all-in-one sunscreen, foundation, tinted moisturizer, and skin tone even-out-er. Um....yes please!

After I bought it, I decided maybe I would read some reviews of this particular brand (because doesn't that just make complete sense? Read reviews after you buy?) and it turns out, this particular brand of BB cream that has made its way to the US, isn't that great. People complained about the smell, the orange-tint it seems to leave on their face, and that it was overall  underwhelming. GREAT!

So I might have gone into it with a biased mindset. You know how when you read a negative movie review before you go see it, then you're naturally inclined to see everything awful about the movie that you might not have noticed if you went in with a clean slate? I really didn't want this to happen. Since I spent more than a movie ticket on it.

The verdict? Not great, but not bad. Let's do a before and after shot, shall we? (And yes, this is me posting for all the internet to see a photo of Bren sans makeup. Egads.)

What do I love? I love that it's a tinted moisturizer and I can use it instead of foundation, which I tend to feel adds a layer of greasy cake to my face. I love that it has SPF so that I don't fry my poor skin when I'm outside taking walks on my lunch break. My face tends to be very oil-prone, and surprisingly after a full day at the office, my oil was pretty manageable. However, I did set it with a layer of sheer powder, which helps. It provided nice coverage to my zits, and I think added a nice glow coming out of these winter months.

What could I do without? Definitely the smell. It smells like Garnier shampoo, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I kind of feel like I'm rubbing shampoo on my face which is weird. I could see how it could come off a little too orange if I used too much, which is why I only use a very small dab. Overall, my skin tone really isn't too uneven to begin with so I didn't notice much of a difference on that. 

I'm not sure that I would buy this at full price, but I'm definitely happy with it for now at the price that I paid for it.

Have you tried any BB creams that you love? Do you think they are worth the splurge?

Kiss Me, I'm Irish! Czech Me Out!

I think that it's safe to say that I have absolutely zero Irish blood in me. Despite a few rounds of dyeing my hair red-ish, having a keen appreciation for beer, and enjoying flicks such as Disney's Luck of the Irish, I am totally one of those 'wear green once a year for Saint Patty's Day' folk.

Actually, no. I was never really into the whole hype. Going to Penn State kind of made me immune/adverse to hype of any sort, so I tended to avoid scenes were there were more people than usual acting stupid. (Just read my blog post from last year!) 

What changed this year? Being in a new place? Having a new appreciate for days to let loose? Who knows. I don't even like the color green. But Ian and I decided that this year, we were going all. out.

Which started with an light Irish brunch of Ham and cheese paninis with fried potatoes and Guinness.

Followed by forking over a ghastly cover at three in the afternoon to watch Irish dancers at a local pub and drinking an overpriced pint.

And having our photo taken by a patron who had been there much longer than we had.

With a little extra jig in our step, it was back home for Ian's Irish creation #2: Dublin Coddle.

And more Guinness. Obviously.

What is Dublin Coddle, you ask? Close your eyes with me and imagine the heartiest, most delicious, flavorful stew exploding in your mouth and there you have it. It's simply potatoes, carrots, parsnips, bacon, and Italian sausage boiled in beef stock until it makes an amazing stew-like substance. (Descriptive enough for you? They should pay me to write this stuff.)

For the evening, it was off to the Clarendon Ballroom to meet some friends in our very dressy green T-shirts. You might say we were a bit underdressed. But hey...at least I had beads. From Georgia the landlady.

And if you're wondering about the title....I was original and said "Kiss me, I'm Irish" to Ian on the way home that night. To which he replied a much more funny and creative (and more accurate) saying: "Czech me out!" Because I'm Czech. Get it?! That's why I married him, folks.