Jessica

My local radio station was bashing DC last week big time as being a dirty, crime ridden city. I've only been there once, but I hear you on the traffic thing. I am used to driving in NYC, but I was breaking out into a major sweat driving in DC. I'm pretty sure I know that 3 highways/1 road deal you encountered. I got sooo lost and my GPS is yelling 50 different directions to me at once. I think I almost cried. I also ended up getting lost in a not so great part of the city as well. But driving and parking aside, I did enjoy myself. I loved the free museums and the zoo.

Looks fun!! And I agree, those are great photos! I love the third one down.

I was going to say the same thing as Alyssa about trying to look up their registries. I think a baby gift and a gift card is fine. I don't think it's tacky at all. In fact, I think it's really thoughtful of you and they should appreciate any gift you send, no matter how small.

Sent you a PM Jenny.

"My sons father stole money from me, I assume for drugs because he became a drug addict when my son was about 5-6." Umm, I think it's the chick who is on the drugs! "In any case I do not know how much you paid because Paypal has no record of payment" bullsh!t. What a nutcase. I'm surprised you engaged her as long as you did. I would have just gotten my refund and not even bothered communicating any further. Talk about drama.

We're a bunch of cradle robbers over here!

Ok, so the very first time I went tanning was last year so I could get some color before the wedding. I really want to go to a tanning salon for about 3-4 sessions just to get ome color so I'm not all pasty white when I go to the beach. Unfortunately we moved and the tanning salon I went to last year is a little further than I want to travel for a 12 minute session. I'm debating between a locally owned tanning place and Hollywood Tans. The deal breaker will be the price. I guess since it's a franchise, each branch makes up it's own pricing. But I'm wondering on average how expensive it is. Can anyone give me an idea of what they pay per session or monthly at Hollywood Tans? (Ps. I guess I could call but I'm being lazy! Plus I'm pretty sure they are probably closed right now anyway!).

Looks like you guys had an awesome time. And you did have a lot of guests. That's great!

Does anyone go to them? I went to my very first one the summer before last, but didn't really get to enjoy it too much because it was a work trip and I had 6 clients with me. But I thought it seemed cool from what I was able to take in and wanted to go back. Aiden and I went to a really small local one that was kind of disappointing because when I say small, it was really, REALLY small. So not worth the $ I paid to get in. So, I decided that we are going to go to the PA Ren Faire in August (the same one I went to with work). I'm excited! I'm trying to decide if I really want to be a dork and dress up though. I'm usually not big into dressing up, but everyone else in costume looked like they were having so much fun.

That's terrific! Congratulations. He's adorable.

I usually don't do anything with it. I always take it out and set it aside. I hate lemon flavored beverages. But you are totally right about it being gross because they don't wash them. It probably feel on the floor a million times and all this other gross crap. Actually anytime you eat out you risk some really nasty crap happening to your food. I try not to think about it because if I did, I'd never eat out!

Welcome back. It looks so pretty!!!!

I'm 4 years older than Brian. It's really never been a factor, except when we first met I was old enough to get into bars and he was a few months off from being 21 and would get so jealous that I went out a lot without him. But that's it!

Congratulations! That's great.

I'm all for living together before marriage. Hell, I'm all for living together INSTEAD of marriage.

Thanks girls. It did go by really fast! Actually I'm going to hop in the shower in a few minutes. The in-law's are coming over and taking care of Aiden for the day. THE WHOLE DAY! Yay! Brian and I are going to Six Flags (an amusement park) for our anniversary. Ok, not typically romantic, but I'm big into rollercoasters so I'm excited!

Love all the drunk pictures Laura. We miss you!!!! You need to check in more often. And your wedding is coming up so soon! We definitely need to see pics on that, particuarly of little Rayden in his cool outfit!

DH is a paramedic/firefighter. He brought in $85,000 last year after taxes.

Quote: Originally Posted by NYJen Does Fresh Direct deliver in your area? Maybe you should try them. I have no idea, I should look into that. I get abnormally pissed when I go to the market. I think I need to start doing some meditation or something. I've been way too on edge lately. But anyway, when we got married, we had groceries delivered to our villa and oh my god, it was the best thing EVER.

Alyssa - We go to Shoprite. It's always sooooooo packed. It's crazy there. But even though we live off a major highway, there are really limited grocery store choices unless we want a serious hike. When we lived in our old apartment, I used to go shopping at like midnight at the 24hour Acme that was near us because it would be nice and empty. But I stopped when I was pregnant because Brian works most nights (7pm - 7am) and although we lived in a good neighborhood, I wasn't too keen on the idea of shopping that late by myself when pregnant. And now with Aiden, unfortunately, the times I can go shopping are limited to peak hours Boo. Xandrafaye - glad to know you can relate. I feel like I'm being such a b-tch. I get annoyed way too easily!

Aww, that is really nice. It is good to take a break from all the superficial stuff we fill our lives with. I usually freak out when there's a blackout. I'm so technology dependent. Recently our water was turned off for awhile while a broken pipe was fixed. I got all dramatic like I was going to die. Brian turns to me and says "You know Jessica, for some people running water is a luxary. You can survive without it for a few hours." I am so spoiled

You know, as opposed to road rage? I hate, hate, HATE grocery shopping. It's not the actual act of food shopping that irks me as much as the other people in the store. OMFG! Today there was this couple in the market that was in like every aisle I was. Without fail, every time they would leave their f-ing cart in the middle of aisle while they pondered their food choices like it was freaking quadratic equation. By the fourth time this happened I seriously wanted to jam their cart into them while screaming "GET THE F--K OUT OF THE WAY!" Then there are the kids running up and down the aisle's knocking sh-t over. Annoying. I hope I never have to take Aiden grocery shopping with me because if he pulls that he is going to be in so much trouble. Don't even get me started on the old people. I love the elderly, don't get me wrong. But I always, always, ALWAYS get stuck behind the slow shuffling old lady who walks her cart smack dab in the middle of the aisle so I can't get past even after saying "Excuse me" 10 times. I also always find myself behind the "Wait, are you sure that's $3.99. I thought it was on sale for $2.00. Can you double check that?" person in the checkout line. UGH. Grocery shopping stresses me out. I'm going to give myself a heart attack.

Whoa, she is a tiny thing! Beautiful photos. And you started a blog... Yay! If I ever get married again, you are so going to be my photog!

Being a SAHM, I make NADA!!! Although apparently the estimated amount for my services is averaged to be something like $134,000 annually. PAY UP BRIAN!!!!!! When I did work, I made a decent income, but like Laruen, living in NJ basically sucks up every penny of our paychecks. So I didn't get to enjoy a lot of my salary, but I was by no means broke. Now that Brian is the sole provider, we live comfortably, but there's not much room for error if you know what I mean.

That's funny! They are also having this show on in the fall called "i love money" or something, for all those flavor of love, rock of love, etc contestants. it's basically like a "we know you aren't looking for love and just want the money, so fight it out on this show" show.