June 2009 – akaemi.com
 

Month: June 2009

The husband and I are preparing for a long-overdue trip to Oklahoma to visit his father.  And not only is it Oklahoma, it appears to be in the middle-of-nowhere, OK.

The Sprint coverage map says that we won’t get any coverage at all – not even roaming.  So that rules out being able to check my email via phone …

Transformers comes out this weekend, so the husband thought we might treat his family to the show.  Fandango claims there are no theaters around; movietickets.com couldn’t find anything within 40 miles.  Luckily, a google maps search came up with a theater in the next town over, just 10 miles away – one that isn’t hooked up to the likes of fandango or movietickets.com. Looks like we’ll actually have to drive to the theater to buy our tickets.  I have to admit, though, I do like the sound of $5.50 for an adult ticket.

When booking our stay through Travelocity, we had two options.  A little googling led me to a couple of b&bs – and abundant camping!

It will be quite a shock to our systems, but it’ll be nice to unplug for awhile. Perhaps without our faces looking down at our email on our phones, we’ll be able to watch the skies for visitors from another world.

just like legos!

| 6 Comments

traditional sectionalThe husband and I have been thinking about replacing the basement furniture for months, but we just hadn’t gotten around to doing the research.  (You know, dragging the husband into furniture stores.)

So this weekend, I was doing a little sofa research on my laptop, whilst sitting on our decrepit sofa, and I ran across the coolest. couch. ever.  And even though it was 8 pm on a Friday night, I told the husband that we were going to Havertys.  Immediately!

me: LOOK at this couch!  You can turn it into anything you want! <Me shoving my laptop in his face while he’s trying to play wow.>

the husband: Wait … just a … I’m fighting off 8 …. ok, now what am I looking at?

me:  it’s a sectional!  but you can turn it into whatever you want!

the husband: Um, it says it’s 6 pieces … isn’t that a little bit much?

me: no, each piece is just like one chair, so that’s only 6 seats.  Or less, depending on how you put it all together.

the husband: hmm.  I see.

me: So let’s go!  I want to see it!

the husband: But … we’re watching a movie …

me: You’re playing wow and I’m surfing the internet.  Tivo the movie!  We can ‘finish’ it when we get back.  It’s not like it’s that good …

the husband: Can’t we go tomorrow?  It’ll still be there tomorrow …

me: But did you SEE it?  I want to go sit on it!!

the husband: <sigh> Ok, let me finish killing this guy, then we can go.

And so we screeched into the furniture store shortly before closing time, and we sat on the modular sectional.  And we chatted with Reba, who took measurements for us, showed us their other sectionals, and didn’t rush us.

Saturday morning, we looked at some sectionals at Macy’s and at the Lazy Boy store, and the husband conceded that the first sofa was the best option.  So we went back to see our friend Reba, and we made the purchase.

It’ll be here in just a couple of days; and then just look at all the fun we can have!

a giant bed-couch!couch2couch4traditional sofa and loveseat couch5

a year of travel

| 4 Comments

I love traveling.  To anywhere.  Especially if it’s somewhere I’ve never been.

The husband loves … making me happy!  And so this year will be quite the year of travel.

We started off the year with a trip to New York in February to see the husband’s other woman.  April brought a weekend trip to Gettysburg, even though it is just over an hour away.  (If you do a ghost tour, skip the Farnworth house tour; also, be sure to get some fries at Hunt’s Battlefield Fries.  And if you buy the CD audio-tour of the battlefield, the directions are really good up until about stop 12 … so pay attention!)

May took us to Texas, where we hit several of the hot-spots with the husband’s family: NASA in Houston (which is awesome, I got to sit in old mission control!), a UT graduation ceremony, caverns outside of San Antonio, the Alamo, the river walk, dinner with the husband’s bff, and Schlitterbahn.  And all of that in 5 days!

June will take us to Oklahoma, to see the husband’s father.  It’s a long overdue visit, and I’ll get to cross Oklahoma off my list of ‘states-I’ve-never-been-to’.  🙂

July is my spa trip, and at the end of the month we’ll be heading back to New York.  Amtrak is having a fare sale, so we snagged cheap train tickets.  And we finally cashed in our Holiday Inn points, so we’ll be enjoying a free stay.  And with the show tickets the husband got for his birthday, it’ll make for a fun – and surprisingly cheap! – trip to the big city.

August is Leavenworth to visit my family.  Not that they live there, but the dad decided we should have a family reunion some place fun.  We’ll be there during the theater festival, and the mom has purchased tickets for us all to just about every play available – so we’ll be doing what we all enjoy best: sitting around …

August also brings us to Pennsylvania to see Taylor Swift.

And September is Italy!

October is still up in the air, but is tentatively local trips to Winchester and/or Charlottesville.  Ooh, or the renn fest!

November will find us back in the west with a trip to LA to visit my good friend Mal.  Maybe.  If he decides he can make it.

And December is just chilling for our very first Christmas at home.  Followed by a trip to Disneyworld to ring in the new year.  If there’s any travel money left.  And if I can convince the husband …

it’s official!

| 3 Comments

The husband and I are going to Italy to celebrate our 5th anniversary!  I just put down the deposit on our trip.  And I know our anniversary was like 2 months ago, but as the husband can attest, that won’t dissuade me.  🙂

This will be our first fully-guided tour.  The last time I went to Europe, I winged everything – but at that time, I had more time and less money.  So with less time and more money, we’ll be enjoying a trip where we don’t have to worry about anything after we get ourselves on the plane.

There will be somebody to pick us up from the airport.  A giant bus will pick us up every morning and take us to our destinations.  All of our entrance tickets will already have been purchased.  We’ll get to stand in the ‘group tour’ lines and bypass the long entrance lines.  We’ll have English tours arranged for us everywhere we go.  And we’ll have a guide with us the whole trip who can help us find husband-friendly eateries!  (You know, McDonalds …)

We don’t leave till September, but I can hardly wait!  Hmmm, I think I’m going to need some new luggage …

I’ve been dreaming about a spa retreat for months now, and I’ve been saving my allowance.  (No, seriously, the husband and I get an ‘allowance’ – that way we don’t feel guilty when we buy silly little – or big – things that are purely for our own enjoyment.  It works pretty well for us.)

After doing some research, I finally booked a trip to Berkeley Springs, WV.  It is less than 2 hours away, and it is, well, pretty cheap.  I expect it to be a ‘quaint’ and ‘rustic’ trip – not quite the 5-star pampering I first imagined in a spa retreat – but I think it’ll be a nice break.  You know, from my hectic life of … working 8 hours a day.  With no kids.  And minimal housework (that’s what cleaning ladies are for!)  And plenty of free time to knit and stuff.  But, whatever.  Even the spoiled deserve some, uh, spoiling …

The 4th of July holiday is soon arriving, and that is when my solo adventure starts.  I’ve booked a ‘charming’ room in a B&B, complete with ‘gourmet’ breakfasts and an ‘opulent’ dinner.  And don’t forget the claw-foot tub!  I’ve booked a mani/pedi at tripadvisor‘s second rated Berkeley Springs spa.  And I’ve booked a half spa day at tripadvisor’s highest rated spa.

All for the same price as a day at a spa in northern Virginia.  Plus, I get several blocks of cute shops to spend (what remains of my) allowance in!

Happy 4th, everyone!

akaemi.com ©2024. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by WordPress. Theme by Phoenix Web Solutions