MMA trainee/ Birthday Celebration

Nick has signed up for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes at a local MMA fight club training site. He came home this past Monday after his first class, and I had to take a picture of him wearing his attire.

I'm excited to see the progress he makes and hope to watch a class sometime.

June 17th, we celebrated Nick's birthday. I made reservations at Chima, Brazilian Steakhouse in center city for dinner. We've been talking about trying it out since we've moved here. I decided that turning 27 years old was a great reason to book a date there.

The food was amazing! I love filet, the kind that melts in your mouth, and that's what we got.
Creme brulee for desert was the perfect way to finish off the meal.

Little Sis, Big World

So Danielle starts her post college real world job later this month. Over the holiday weekend, her and her roommate moved into an apartment in center city. Nick and I stopped by to help hang her curtain rods and curtains.

They landed a nice place, in a better part of the city. I'm excited to spend some girl time there. (Yup, I'm inviting myself over).

Gone are the Days

I don't know why I continue to hope the weathermen are correct when they are predicting tons of snow. I think to myself, "Yes! Bring it! Bring it all!" When it finally arrives, I get the snow day I wanted, a day off from work, only to be up and outside shoveling for hours, then sleeping the rest of the day to relax the over worked muscles.

Whatever happened to the days when school was cancelled, and we got to sleep in and not worry whether or not the roads or driveways were cleared? The days we had no where to go, except to the living room to play the Atari, Nintendo, or Super Nintendo; maybe hit up the yard to go sledding a couple of times, and return to the TV or video games.....when our parents still went to work and we had the house to ourselves?

For some reason, I still have hope that maybe "this time" it will be that way again.

Gone are the days.

Our last snow storm brought lots of heavy snow.

The snow blower decided not to start that day.

Nick, wishing he was done already.

The snow does look beautiful in the morning, when the roads and driveways are untouched. For a second, it's peaceful.

Becoming Opposite Schedules

January begins a new shift for Nick at work. On Monday he started evening shift....11 hours. He works 12:30pm-11:30pm. So he's still lying in bed when it's time for me to hit the road in the morning. I come home to an empty house, and go to bed before he gets home. I never notice when he actually crawls into bed because i'm a deep sleeper.

Nick will continue this shift for the next month, until he is then switched to the shift he was originally hired for: 10pm-9am. At least from here on out, he has Fridays off, making a good 3 day weekend to catch up from what we experienced over the week.

New Years Resolutions....

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011. It's going to be hard getting used to writing ..."11" at work.

So...it's about four minutes until the ball drops, and Nick, Nina, and I are sitting in our living room discussing the year 2010.
Nick: "2010 was a really weird year for me..."
Me: "why?"
Nick: "Well, i did get married."

Five minutes later...

Nina: "My New Year's resolution is to be more positive."
Me: "I really want to work on paying off the bills."
Nick: "Making babies."

Whoa! Wait just one minute. Ha Ha. Did my husband just say that?....Again? I know his paternal instincts are starting to kick in, but that almost threw me off the couch. :-)

For those who may be wondering, "when do they plan to have kids?..."
I am still on the "five year plan;" however, there has been discussion about possibly one to two years from now. We'll just go with that for now.

Post Holiday Slumber

After being on the go for what feels like forever, it will be nice to finally have a weekend to sit around and do nothing. New Years will most likely be spent at home, or somewhere with in an hour's drive.

Thank goodness for three day weekends! I am looking forward to sleeping in and doing whatever I feel is necessary...maybe some laundry, since i've been "washerless" for a few days; Awaiting the delivery of the new one today. What a bummer when unexpected expenses arise, but awesome to gain NEW replacements!

Boathouse Row

Please enjoy the above picture. One of the many beautiful attractions Philadelphia has to offer. At some point in the near future, we will be purchasing a panoramic picture to hang in our house; OR when I finally get an upgraded digital SLR camera, I'll be taking my own pictures.

Christmas Seasons

As Christmas quickly approaches,  we are finishing what needs to be completed for a low stress celebration. One week before Christmas. Are you ready?

Decorate the Christmas tree.....check.
Hang stockings....check
Food.....check (minus a few perishable odds and ends)
Mail out Christmas cards.....check
First snow....check (it was here, now it's gone)
Bake Cookies and test cookie batter.....check and check (several times over)- Russian tea cakes, Press cookies and the family traditional Chocolate Balls.
Awaiting to be in the presence of family.....check
Wrap gifts.....This week's to-do.
Write Santa a letter.....Christmas Eve's to-do. (Don't worry Santa, I won't let you go hungry or un-humored!)

What are you seasoning Christmas with this year?

Going "Green", Going "Real"

Last weekend, was the weekend. With some family here, Nick and I decided it was time to go get our Christmas tree; and just when I think I know everything about Nick, I keep learning more. Nick has never had a real tree for Christmas (sometimes Nick doesn't have a good memory, so if he's wrong, feel free to call him out)

The entire time we've been together, we've always had a fake tree; with renting at first, then having a new dog, a fake tree was more ideal for the safety of our pets. This year, I put my foot down. With the exception of the past 7 years living on my own, my family and I have always had a real tree. I think its the excitement of going to the tree farm, walking around the field of trees, finding the perfect tree to fit our house, cutting it down, and making it OUR Christmas tree that year; that gives me the feeling of Christmas uniqueness.


Absolutely no offense to those who have "fake-ies," for as much as they can be absolutely beautiful, it's just not the same to me. I love to walk into the house and smell the fresh scent of pine, to water the tree and try to prevent as many pine needles as possible from falling off; it's like a game to me; and making a non perfect, non symmetrical, charlie brown tree.....well....PERFECT.

Scheer tradition continued:

 Find a tree you want; put a glove on top of it so no one else can claim it, while you go tell the sellers you've picked one out.

Blue Spruces are my favorite

Insta-tree!

Brasky is so ready to open his presents!

Caught on Camera

I logged onto my facebook account the other day, and found a new picture posted with both Nick and I tagged. I couldn't help but laugh, and re-realize how much I love my husband, and his goofy personality. I look forward to him officially moving in this weekend, so we can truly start the beginning of the rest of our lives together.

Many Things to be Thankful For

This year has been full of many things we are thankful for; each other, friends and family and their love and support for our wedding; new jobs (Nick accepted an offer for the IT dept of a financial firm!), new house, our crazy animals...and the list continues.

On Thanksgiving, we trekked to the Poconos for our yearly turkey dinner at my Uncle's house. It's fun to see the same people you saw a year ago, and catch up on life, and see how people have changed or grown in the past year. I'm thankful my brother and sister-in-law were able to make the trip with their newborn Natalie.

Karen and Mom

Paige, Carley, and Lindsay

As a yearly tradition we always take a family portrait outside, in the same spot. After doing this for the past 6 years, its fun to look back on previous photos and see have we've changed.

"Been Busy" is an Understatement

We finally did it! We closed on our new house November 5th. After closing, i returned to work for another hour to finish up. Nick and I picked up the new house, vacuumed and cleaned out cabinets and got ready for move in day on saturday.

Saturday morning came so quickly, after a night of driving back to Williamsport. We picked up the Uhaul at 7:30am an preceded to start loading. By 1pm, we were ready to make the drive back to Boothwyn, PA. Thank you to the friends and family that took time out of their day to help us with our big move.

Old house in Williamsport

Uhaul packed and ready to go

New house, Boothwyn, PA

Bet your booty we took a soak at the end of the day :-)

On Sunday, I didn't waste anytime. I was up at 7am to start painting the kitchen.

The yellow had to go

Welcome my favorite color!!

Since Sunday, I have painted an accent wall in the master bedroom, and painted the hallway bathroom. Pictures yet to come. With out any internet access, i've had ample time to not be distracted by emails and blog updates; but on the other hand, I have felt disconnected from the world. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law who live 5 minutes away, i can access what i need when i'm there.

When Life Throws You Lemons...

It's crazy how life can be so unpredictable. I guess we just have to learn how to "roll with the punches"...

Let me back up:

Nick and I left for our Honeymoon October 2nd. A long awaited vacation for some quality time, and no distractions. Secrets Silversands Resort in Riviera Cancun couldn't have been more perfect to spend a memorable celebration together!

So serene.

A romantic dinner for two, on the beach, was just what we needed.

Proof that Nick really does have love for animals :-)

After a week in Cancun, we preceded to end our honeymoon in Napa Valley, where Nick's sister Brianne would then tie the knot. When returning to the hotel after the rehearsal dinner 10/9/10, I found a missed call on my phone; my Gram had suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, and was in ICU unresponsive.

Gram has always been there for me, since my parents separated, and we formed a very close bond. She taught me how to cook and yard sale!  That's the thing to do at Gram's house...cook, eat, and shop the streets and flea markets, always tons of fun! (I wont hold the suspense) Gram is doing better now; She's been placed in a nursing home for rehab with physical, occupational and speech therapy; a long road ahead; but at least there's a road.

After only a few hours of sleep, I woke up to a picture text message from my brother:

Natalie Grace

 My third niece was born 3 weeks early! 7 lbs 7 oz. What a way to turn around my mood and start the beginning of a beautiful day! 10-10-10.

Brianne's wedding was gorgeous. The ceremony and reception took place at a winery, nestled in Napa Valley; very intimate and unique. The whole event screamed "Brianne!" After following her blog for the past 1 1/2 years and watching her post about ideas and projects, it was so  nice to see it all pulled together in real life!

It's also nice to see my husband all dressed up and getting his groove on.

Pardon me, while I go make some Lemonade!