Saturday, July 12, 2008

What I've Been Doing .. A Weekly Recap

12 July 08

So I have been home a week now .. and this is what I have been up to:

Friday I got picked up at the airport and after a long wait in customs for my luggage (ok maybe it wasn't such a long wait - but it felt like it) I finally pushed all 6 pieces through the Customs doors and over to where my cousin (and BFF) Kim were waiting for me. We headed off to my Mother's (where I now live) and had some good catching up time in the car and when we got home. Had to do a Taco Bell run around 10ish as we were starving !! Loved it like the old times :)

Saturday we hung around in the morning then went to lunch with my brother and his fiance along with my Mom. Was nice to sit and visit and catch up with them. They are in the midst of major wedding planning so I was getting the details on what is new and exciting in that dept. After lunch we spotted a dress shop across the street so we all went over there to look for a dress for my Mom. We found a few things we all liked (including her) but when her husband came to look, he squashed all of them. :sigh:

Sunday morning I headed to Philly (well the Philly 'burbs) to see friends as well as go to some of the routine appts - Dr, Vet, hair salon, etc. Went to my friend Kir's house first, to drop off my dog Mugsy, and pick her up. We had a nice lunch the first day with my friends Kelly and Kevin and their twins, Abbey and Bryce. They are 6 months old, but since they live in NC, I don't see them often. She had them right before I left for the ship - so I never met them before. They were up visiting her parents who live in Delaware, so it was convenient for everyone. We went to the Cheesecake Factory (yum!) and had a nice afternoon with all of them.

Abbey and Bryce:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.7wi9igpn&x=0&y=4ovaw5&localeid=en_US


Monday was the beginning of the appts; my Doctor, then lunch with some friends from my last job, and visiting the office. Then dinner with my friend Michele and her husband Tony. (if you read my blog religiously, they are the "parents" of Elvis, who passed away a few months ago and who was a wonderful doggy companion to me) It was quiet without him, that is for sure :(

Tuesday - Mugsy had a vet appt at 8, then a grooming appt at 9; then I had a perm appt at 9.15. I didnt know when else I could schedule it for and it is always tight in the beginning anyway, so it will give it time to loosen up a bit before I head to the ship in a few weeks. After I picked Mugs up from his appt, we headed back to NY and straight to my Dad's house as I hadn't seen them yet (they were away when I came home). They made me a really yummy dinner (seafood stuffed shells, salad, garlic bread) and even dessert (chocolate pudding pie!) I stayed over that night and then hung out with my Dad and youngest brother (Darin) on Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon I went back to my Mom's house (she and Dad only live about 20 mins from each other) as she wanted to go dress shopping again. We went to a shop about a half hour away that supposedly had some really nice things. In the end, she *finally* picked a dress!!

Mom's dress:
http://www.cmcouture.com/collection.asp

Its the one in the middle. It has a cute, lace bolero jacket as well. And instead of the ivory underneath the lace, she got hers in copper. It is VERY pretty!! And thank goodness she got something she loves, as she was starting to panic that she was running out of time .. whew!

On Thursday I did .. NOTHING. It was actually really nice. I chilled out at home; read a little, napped a little; organized a little; watched tv, played on the computer. But nothing really.

Friday was the big shopping day! Liz (my stepmom) and I were going dress shopping .. for the both of us! She picked me up at 10.30 and we hit 2 places in that area; there were some dresses that I liked, but nothing exciting and more expensive than I wanted. Liz found a really gorgeous dress at the first place, but dammit if we can find it online! We think it might be a last season dress. But oh well - at least we know it looks good and where we can get it. She found something at the 2nd place, but I don't like it as much as the first. She really likes one she saw online, but we can't find anyone who has it; the second one she saw is similar, but not the exact same.

Here is the one she likes online, can't find in the store and is similar to dress # 2:
http://www.jovani.com/evening-dresses.php?col=evening&seq=15

(I like this one better than dress #2 - but I have to see it on her to decide if I like it better than dress #1)

Anyway - after a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday .. we headed to Estelle's which is a FAB place for all sorts of dresses and such. I found a few I liked - one black and white one in particular, but I wasn't making any decisions yet. I had seen a dress online at David's Bridal and that was what I wanted to look at before buying anything else. I might go back to Estelle's as they had some really nice formal seperates .. depending on how formal the dress is on the new ship. I sent an email to the girl who works on the Crown Princess to ask what she wears on formal nights.

From Estelle's we went to Davids Bridal - I hit the jackpot there (I always do!) there were quite a few I really liked .. including the one I saw online. But I ended up with something different. Isn't that always the case? The dress I got has a sweep of the material to the side waist and it is slimming and hides EVERYTHING! And it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the other dresses (sorry Mark and Camille - its got nothing to do with you guys, it is the low income I make these days!)

My Dress - in Peridot - with a bolero jacket:
http://davidsbridal.com/bridesmaids_bycolor_detail.jsp?stid=1575&sid=6579&cfid=4

And the jacket:
http://davidsbridal.com/accessory_detail.jsp?stid=3375&prodgroup=182

The picture doesn't do it justice - there is some nice beading on the top part and the rest is satin. For some reason the pic looks computer touched up or something. The good news is I will have it before I leave - so I will have Mom take some pics of me in it when I get it in 2 weeks. Then I will have it go in for alterations while I can get fitted since I will still be here till about the 30th (I might be here till the 2nd - but I am using that date to be safe)

Soooo after a long day of shopping .. we came back to my Dad's and then shortly thereafter went out for dinner at the marina. VERY Long Island. Beachy, Outdoor deck .. it made me soo glad I live back in NY now when I am home from ships. There is nothing like sitting on the deck, having some drinks, out by the water, listening to live music and eating lobster, mussels, etc! FAB FAB FAB We were there for several hours just chilling out, drinking, eating .. YUM!! The lobster was AMAZING. I want more ... !!

Today is Sat and we all are just getting up; we are heading over to NJ today for my cousin's graduation party. It should be really good - great weather, pool and back yard BBQ, all my family (still lots I haven't seen yet) and of course, it is always cool that you can hang out with your BFF at all types of events, because we are related! So Kim and I are going to hang out by the pool with the fam and get our "drink on"!!

Happy Weekend!!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a nice relaxing week for you. And successful dress shopping. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Sam Byrne said...

I love all the dresses - fab choices for all three of you, hope Liz gets that one.

Glad to hear you've been having a great time.

Yay for living in NY!

Enjoy the rest of your time :)

Kelly said...

It was so great to see you! :D And Abbey and Bryce are very thankful for their adorable presents :-)

I love all of the dresses - I can't wait to see pictures from the wedding with you guys all dressed up! :-)