Manhattan Temple and Other Happenings

Hello All.  Happy Thursday!

Its a bit of a slower day here at College Nannies and Tutors (as opposed to yesterday...which whewie is another story...I'll get to that) so I thought I'd get the blog a-goin.

I guess I should back way up to last weekend, even though we're almost a whole week behind.

Rich and I have been TRYING to go to the Manhattan temple ever since we arrived.  It had already been a while since we'd done a session in UT before we moved (shame on us) and boy oh boy did we realize how good we had it!  Temples with parking lots are a blessing, folks - especially when there are like 10 in your state!  So if you're in UT start taking advantage of that!!  Anyway...we've been trying to go for the past SEVERAL Saturdays!  Once we couldn't make it because Bilbo got hurt, another time we couldn't make it because Rich couldn't find his temple recommend...there were just a lot of things that ended up coming up last minute that prevented us from going!  And out here, going to the temple turns into a WHOLE DAY commitment because it's so far away.  And not only is it a commitment, but it's also expensive!  Every time we go into NYC it costs us about $100 I swear...whether we try to save money by driving or taking the train...parking garages are insanely expensive!  40$ - can you believe that!?  Not something we're used to AT ALL in UT. haha.  Anyway - we MADE IT, and it was well worth it.

Luckily, the parking garage was literally a walk away from the temple.  Shortly after parking we actually bumped into a couple ward members who had just gotten out of a session - they told us that it was the closest parking to the temple.  So that worked out perfectly...even though it was 40$.  

There she be.  It really doesn't look like much from the outside - it almost looks dirty and it is a little plain... (it's certainly no Payson, UT temple), but the inside was amazing.  Rich and I had done a little sight seeing (and by sight seeing - I mean that we got lunch...don't worry, pictures of that will be posted) before going inside to do our session - and it was  HOT DAY.  We were pretty miserable and hot and thirsty.  When we went inside not only was it amazingly air-conditioned, but within those walls it was totally silent!  I was pretty shocked.  Manhattan is LOUD and busy - as you can see in the picture, but within those walls...you could be in a basement in the middle of the mountains.  Totally sound proof!!  It was a great session...so peaceful and much needed.  I'm glad we were able to go because I feel like it prepared me for the insane week ahead!

So prior to visiting the temple we had done a little shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond, which is across the street from the temple.  It was HUGE just like any other BB&B, but instead of expanding up it expanded down into the basement.  It had like 3 or 4 floors of all the fun things they have there.  We ended up buying a laundry drying rack that hangs over the door - we've been needing one for a while because our dryer does squat unless there's only like 5 things inside of it.  

We didn't really intend on buying anything, the main reason we went in was because I had to whiz like a racehorse!  It was a hot day, like I mentioned, and I'd been drinking a lot of water!  We had gone to Zoralie - which is a restaurant in Hell's Kitchen (one of the Districts in NYC) that serves Dominican and Puerto Rican food - you can NEVER GO WRONG WITH FOOD IN THE CITY!  We've never been disappointed!

This is what I ordered.  It has a Spanish name but the English translation is Stew Chicken with beans and rice with some yummy sweetened plantains atop.  That was an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT MEAL!  Oh it was so good!  Rich said it took him right back to his mission and that he could eat this stuff every day!  His meal was very similar, he had a large chicken leg instead of the different parts that I had.

These are smashed and fried plantains - SOOOOOO YUMMY!  The waitress even threw together some fry sauce for us, although she called it mayo and ketchup.  I'm getting hungry staring at this and remembering how amazing it was so it's time to move on!  Needless to say, we will DEFINITELY be back!

Like I said you can never go wrong with food in NYC.  After the temple we were craving a little treat so we Yelped something good and decided on Magnolia's Bakery - apparently they are world famous for that banana pudding.  We'll get some in the future but we were more in a cakey-kind-of-mood.  

Beautiful, decadent carrot cake.  It was HUGE too.  I didn't eat it all in one sitting.  Every bit of it was magically tastey - including the frosting, which normally is gross.

Richy's favorite dessert is chocolate cheesecake....so naturally that's what he chose.  It, too was very tasty - especially that OREO crust!  YUMMMMM!!

Anyway, that pretty much sums up our weekend.

This week has been kinda crazy at work.  Leona, my boss has been out of town away at a conference, so Warren and I have had to do a little bit of crazy pick up and try to manage the place and all of the nannies while she's away.  

For those who wonder what exactly my job is, hopefully this will give you an idea of what I do - I had to wake up fairly early yesterday to help figure out who was going to cover a job that a nanny didn't show up for work at 7:30.  It was a job in Westchester County, the nanny was a new hire, and wasn't responding to texts, calls or emails!  I even got in touch with her emergency contact to make sure that she was ok!  No responses whatsoever.

So I frantically started texting/calling other nannies in the area who could possibly take the job.  While all this is going down, some mom is out there waiting for her babysitter, not sure what to do and probably hating us for the nanny we provided not showing up.  After reaching out to what seemed like 50 people - a nanny texted me and said she was available.  2 hours had gone by - I felt so terrible for the poor mom whose sitter didn't show!  (you would not believe the unreliability of some people in this area!)

Anyway so I got her all set up, made some phone calls, got her booked when....bam.  She has a job that starts in 3 hours with a different family.  The job I assigned her to went until 8 o'clock at night.  I almost pulled out every last one of my hairs at that point thinking - WHY DID SHE SAY SHE WAS AVAILABLE THEN!?!  Ugh...  I guess some of these girls aren't the brightest bulbs in the tanning bed.

Anyway...everything got resolved but that was the peak of the craziness that happened yesterday.  We had to fire the girl who didn't show because she caused a giant headache for everyone involved.  For the most part my job IS NOT that insane, but it was yesterday, and I had several moments where I thought to myself "How did I get myself into this?"  But it's all good now because yesterday is over and it's almost Friday!

Today at work has been MUCH slower!  Nothing crazy happened this morning so I have a little time to get this written.  

Earlier in the week we noticed that Bilbo had a little rash going on near is genitalia where there is much thinner hair.  We think he may have gotten into poison ivy because he's always bounding through the woods whenever we take him anywhere.  For the most part he hasn't been licking at it, or been acting like it's hurting him.  I sent the pic to Paige and she says to get him antibiotics - so we have been giving him what's left of the antibiotics from when he had his puncture wound.

This is what it looks like...it looks painful but like I said he hasn't been acting differently really.  And it HAS started to look better, so we won't be taking him to the vet unless we notice it getting worse!

He has been being very cute lately...I mean...look at him

As I was taking this picture I was talking to him and he was just turning his head from side to side...as if he was sincerely trying to understand what I was saying!  There are some downsides to having him here...it does make it hard to work full time...and to just drop everything and go wherever without getting a sitter - but I wouldn't trade it for anything!  He's just such a sweet boy - even if sometimes he's a little dramatic and accident prone!

You may have seen this post already on FB.  Rich and I were both on the bed because the A/C is in our room and you can get the best air right on top of the bed (it's so great at night haha).  But it was a hot one a few nights ago and we're not usually both on the bed if Bilbo is out of his crate and I guess he just felt bad and wanted to be involved too!  He kept standing up on the sides of the bed whining so we finally caved and let him on the bed.  He was content there for...ya' know...only about 5 minutes, but those 5 mins were so great for him!  It was so cute...I'm such a sucker for him haha.

Above are some really pretty pics of Cranbury park at sunset.  That tree has recently fully leafed out and it is just so huge!  I thought the light shining on the trees in the background was also really pretty. We are SO looking forward to our time in MT this coming July with the Wilkins clan!  We suuuper miss UT and the mountains!  I just can't wait...it's gonna be so relaxing!

To some things up...here's a funny snapchat pic of me.  I've really been enjoying these little effects!  They're just so funny!!  The face swap one is so ridiculous!!  I swapped one of Rich's face and showed it to him and he said it was so ugly and disturbing it made him want to throw up! hahahaha!!!!

I deleted it, so that incase he ever saw it again he wouldn't be disturbed!

This is NOT the one, but it was the frowny-face one but I thought it looked too funny not to share!  Also...yes, that is Alps,  my stuffed dog that I've slept with for years.  Shortly after we got married I stopped sleeping with him...but, Rich never cuddles with me in bed because it's "too hot" so...I've gone back to hugging Alps.

Happy Thursday!!!

Love, Tara and Rich

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Hello All!

Happy Monday!  I was going to blog last night but...I was too tired after a long day of driving and road trippin'!  Weird how driving makes you tired...,right?  

Anyway...I'm here to tell you all about our anniversary trip and the excitement that it brings!!  We were SOOO excited for it as it was our first real vacation since being here in CT!!  We've had trips to NYC and Boston and other places, but those were over the weekends!  This was a REAL trip because we actually took a day and half off work (big whoop, right)!  Anyway, surprisingly enough, the 3.5 days before our trip FLEW by (I'm telling you....living out here is busier than anywhere else, especially in the West) and it was time to go to our trip!

Richy got me so beautiful mini-roses as a surprise right before we packed up and left.  We thought about taking them with us, but decided against it, even though I wasn't able to enjoy them for long.

We got everything arranged with Bilbo early in the week, or the weekend before.  A SUPER nice guy named Jay, from DogVacay.com watched Bilbo for us.  It was great because he only charged 20$ per night so the whole trip only cost 80$ boarding him.  The only downside was that he lives in Bridgeport which is kind of like the armpit of Connecticut.  It was our first time there when we dropped him off and the roads are just WEIRD and hard to navigate through.  It's also about 30 minutes away in the wrong direction (north, instead of west towards the Poconos).  But it was all good because Bilbo ended up having a LOT of fun!  He was very responsible with Bilbo and sent pictures throughout our trip to update us.  It was really considerate of him.  He was very friendly and professional!  If he didn't live in Bridgeport, we'd use him again!

Anyway, before dropping him off, we took Bilbo to the dog park in Westport to tire him out.  That is probably the best one around because they have this.

That's right.  It's exactly what it looks like.  A doggie drinking fountain.  It's pretty much the best invention ever.  The only problem it creates is a mud puddle right next to it...which I guess is kind of a big problem.  Anyway, Bilbo loves it.  He's always so parched after playing and romping, so it's perfect.

It was also perfect that we took him there because Westport is on the way to Bridgeport and he was pooped in the car after that.  It's always a pain when he's being a pill in the car and whining and stuff.  But when he's tired, he just lays down in the back and is quiet.

Of course, right after we dropped him off we started missing him.

But - we were pretty excited about our upcoming adventure!

We have been listening to Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton for our road trips.  I actually started it in the car on the way out here (Rich unfortunately didn't have a CD player in the truck...I listened to like 4 books on CD), but didn't finish.  Anyway, if you ever choose to read it or listen to it - it is GRAPH-IC.  Much more so than the movie!  There's a few parts that I really squirmed listening to....Dinosaurs eating people *shudder*.  You've been warned!

It took about 3 hours to get there.  We were expecting a cabin, but it was just a regular old B&B - we were the only folks staying in a Jacuzzi suite however.  I really shouldn't say it was regular...it was far from that.  It was our first time staying in a Bed and Breakfast and if you haven't ever it's wonderful!!  I highly recommend it!  It really puts continental breakfast to shame!

Here's our bed...it was huge.  We're not used to sleeping in a King size...

I got a little cold not being able to sleep right next to my husbands warm body!  It was nice to be able to spread out a little though.

Here's our Jacuzzi with a fire place!  We went to a local Walmart that was like 10 minutes away (the Poconos aren't as remote as I thought they'd be....it's all fairly civilized...just a much less population) to get some bubble bath (which...was very hard to find. I had to ask 2 employees to finally find it) and when we returned we saw that the sign posted on the side of the Jacuzzi said that we couldn't use it!!!  We put in one cap full of the stuff in anyway...but it didn't do much.  We still enjoyed it though.

I thought the faucet was really pretty and fancy!

We felt very relaxed after soaking in that tub - I want one in my future house!! (and I WILL use bubbles in it!!)

Before we went settled in in our cozy Jacuzzi cottage, we went for a little stroll on the beach by Lake Naomi. It was pretty romantic because it was right when the sun was setting and made for some beautiful pictures!!

Breakfast in the morning was delish!!  The cute B&B lady was super lovely and Mrs. Weasley ish and took our orders!

Bit peeky, eh?

Our table (each table) had a jar of wildflowers in it.  So pretty and so cute.

I ordered french toast with sprinkled granola.  Seems like a little bit of a weird combo but it was SO GOOD!  The bacon was perfect too!  It was such a tasty filling breakfast which was perfect for the day we had planned.

The above pictures are proof at how cutsie the B&B was.  It was just so cozy and...I'd stay there every day of my life if I could.  Maybe my house will be decorated like that someday.

We knew we wanted to do some hiking in the Poconos but we weren't sure what.  Mrs. Weasley gave us a little pamphlet with nearby hikes that we could check out.  We decided to go on the Boulder Fields hike.

As you can see....it's just a field of boulders.  Upon first glance, it doesn't seem that special.  But - how did they get there?  Why are there so many?  It's probably a good mile or so and how did they all get there??  Aliens?  Natives?  Who knows!

I used to hike with a "hiking stick" when I was younger all the time.  I typically don't anymore but Rich and I had a good reason for having a little extra support (and protection) on the trail.  The hike said 3.5 miles and I was thinking..."probably round trip".  We were dummies and didn't bring water with us, but I thought that we could do 3.5 miles fine without water.  But it was definitely 7 miles round trip!  We were very tired and hungry when we were done!  Always bring water!!

Here's a panoramic pic of not even all of it.  It was huge!!

There were a few other families there, but luckily Rich snapped this one when they were hopping elsewhere out of the shot.  If you ever have the chance to go here - I recommend it!!  I've never seen anything like it.  It's a National Natural Landmark - it just there an no one knows how or why!  It's bizzare!  It's weird!  it's SCIENCE!!

I couldn't resist!!

Anyway...I'm getting to the BEST PART of our trip.  So on our way to the Boulder field as we were hiking along we went through many different kinds of "terrain".  There were parts of the trail that were very "piney" and felt as if we were hiking through the Rocky Mountains, there were a few parts that were "meadowy" and there were several parts of the trail that were "jungly" and we felt like we were literally bushwhacking our way through the trail!  It was awesome!   We were about half way through the trail, I was in front, Rich was behind and we were talking about something (as what usually happens whenever you go hiking).  I couldn't see too far in front of me because the trail was so bushy and so windy that every turn was a surprise!  As I was leading the way, I suddenly saw a creature in front of me....

My first thought was that it was a dog - naturally.  I have a dog and so it's the animal I have the most exposure to.  But as I saw it I instantly new that it wasn't a dog - it was bigger, fuzzier and more BEARISH!!  Because it was a BEAR!!!

Fight or Flight instantly took over (anyone who knows me knows that I'm much more of a flighty person) and I turned around and said "Oh my gosh there's a bear!!"  I practically walked right into Rich, who was then noticed the bear and said something like "whoa!!!" and then followed after me!

I kept walking (not running strangely...trying to stay calm...and I also started to pray) and Rich stopped behind me.  He started clapping and yelling - remembering that that's what you're supposed to do if you encounter a black bear!!  Sure enough the bear ran off and Rich said he saw another big bear go lumbering after it!!  TWO BEARS!!!  AND THEY WERE LITERALLY RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!  I almost walked into it you guys!!  I swear it was like only 6 feet (or closer) in front of me!!  

Needless to say, I was all jumpy and uppity, but we pressed on.  Clapping and making loud noises every so often to "scare off" any wildlife (mainly bears!!).  That was also the real reason we found hiking sticks - protection.

This is our SECOND bear encounter since being together.  The first time we saw one we encountered 2 bears (a mother and cub) on the Spanish Fork Peak trail in Springville.  Luckily they were pretty far away, otherwise we could have been in serious trouble!

I told Rich that the time has come that we should invest in Bear Spray.  2 encounters is enough to know that we're bear magnets!  Don't ever think "it won't happen to me" because I'm living proof that it DOES HAPPEN TO ME!  It's a HUGE rush but also super scary!!

Anyway...that was the most exciting part of the entire trip.  Our way back from the Boulder Feild was uneventful and bear-less.

After our hike we were famished and parched so we went to eat at this wonderful little place called Sitko's Farmhouse.

IT. WAS. AMAZING.

Honestly, I was a little worried it would be questionable food based on the way it looked on the outside (a little run down and literally in the middle of nowhere) but wowzer!!  It was incredible, home-cooked food.  Rich got a chicken finger meal (totally hand made...nothing pre-frozen and deep fried about it) with homemade baked beans and mashed potatoes and gravy.  I sampled everything...it was DROOL-WORTHY!!  And I ordered the Chef's Salad.  I didn't know what to expect but I didn't expect this!

The boiled eggs were pink!  it was magical!!  I think they were pink (and had a little extra flavor) because they must have been soaked in Beet juice.  (Schrute Farms must be nearby).  It was delicious!!  It had deli style ham and turkey cut in strips and rolled up in it, and cucumbers and cheese and it was just...incredible.  It was so filling just....if you're ever in White Haven, PA GO TO SITKO'S FARMHOUSE!!  You will NOT be disappointed!!

After that,we headed towards SCRANTON, PA and stopped at place called Seven Tubs.

I don't really know why it's called Seven Tubs...maybe because it's the LOOONG waterfall that pools in seven different places??  I don't know, and we never found out because we were very weary from the days activities and wanted to get to our hotel (EconoLodge - whaaat!!).

It was STUNNING though.  Super pretty!!

We stayed at EconoLodge which looked like a DUMP from the outside, it totally looked questionable but in all honesty the room was pretty nice.  We had another King size bed and for the most part it wasn't anything special...but it was clean and it was a place to lay our weary heads.

In the morning - we set out to find all of the OFFICE things that there were to see in SCRANTON!!  We were super excited but as the day went by we felt a little underwhelmed by the city.  

We started by visiting Lake Scranton.  In season three, Michael takes The Office clan to Lake Scranton for "beach games".

Below are pictures of the REAL Lake Scranton.

There were lots of friendly squirrels and chipmunks.  One chipmunk almost crawled onto Rich's toes!!

It turns out that there isn't even any real beach access at Lake Scranton.  It's just a big trail that people can walk around (or run around, there were quite a few people jogging and getting in their morning exercise) the whole lake.  It's about 3.5 miles around (as you can see in the first picture).  There was no sign that said "Lake Scranton" there were just HUNDREDS (I swear) of those little white posters stapled to the surrounding trees that said "Welcome to Lake Scranton".  We found a little trail that lead out to a small beach.  There is no way that Michael and all of Dunder Mifflin could have played beach games - let alone walk across hot coals - at the REAL Lake Scranton - although it was fun to visit!

"I don't know how to be normal" - Rich Wilkins

Truer words have never been spoken by him.  After a year of marriage THAT is certainly true.  But you know what?  Neither do I!!  I guess we're meant to be!

Then we went to find the Steamtown Mall.  Michael takes all the women of the office to Victoria's Secret for "Women's Appreciation" and lets them get whatever they want on his check.

The Steamtown Mall is a very tiny and pretty depressing mall.  So is the whole town for that matter.  It's honestly pretty run down.  As we walked around Lake Scranton we thought it might be a great place to live - but after driving around all of Scranton we decided strongly against it!  It's not really all that The Office makes it out to be.

Anyway...the Steamtown Mall... it was kind of tricky to find because it was much smaller than we were expecting!  It felt like a mall when we went inside except literally every other store was closed down!  I was secretly hoping that there might be some kind of "Office" store in the mall, but we had no such luck!  We discussed the idea of leasing one of the closed down stores and opening an "Office" store for people like ourselves who were curious about the real Scranton!  The idea was short lived after we realized that the Office is over and the buzz about it has probably died down.

The original Scranton sign is on display in the mall.

This sign is one of the only actual real things that was actually in Scranton during the filming of The Office.  Turns out that literally ALL of it was filmed in LA on a set made to "look" like Scranton.  But this sign shows up at the beginning of every office episode.  When John Krasinski (Jim) got the part in the show, he and his friends drove out to Scranton and made video driving in with footage of this sign.  The signs have since been replaced with new ones, but the original is forever preserved in the struggling Steamtown Mall - thank the heavens they have it!  It's probably keeping the few stores left in business by bringing Office obsessed foreigners like ourselves in for business!  I'm not even exaggerating..it really is struggling!  I wouldn't be surprised if it went out of business entirely within the next few years.  The food court only had 2 open restaurants, the rest were closed down!!

The rest of Scranton is pretty much just like any other town.

There's residential areas (we may or may not have been hunting for Pam and Jim's house)....which actually kind of make you feel like you're driving through San Francisco, except less beautiful.  It's SUPER hilly!!

And there are busier, trafficy, traffic-lighty parts!  oh wait...does that say MIFFLIN AVE??  As in DUNDER MIFFLIN!?  You bet it does.  We looked for a street called Dunder...but found it was non existent.

After hanging out there for a little while, we had lunch at a place called Coney Island Lunch (not sure where it got that name) see selfie below...

...it was cutsie and diner-ish!  After that we went to Alexander's to get our massages which were DIVINE!  We got full body 60 minute couples massage and it was just so lovely and relaxing!  I highly recommend it if you've never had that done - it's just SOOO relaxing!!  I think it will be an every anniversary tradition!

We stopped at Cooper's Seafood - another famouse Office site where Michael take Holly to dinner to try to rekindle their love.

The whole place looks like a pirate ship and was super hoppin' when we went!  It reminds me of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.  It smelled like fish and seafood and salt!!  

Can you tell which photo is the Office footage and which one is footage from our life??

We didn't actually eat at Coopers (the Yelp reviews were kinda mixed), but we did check out the gift shop for any kind of Office paraphenalia for a souvenir.  There was a shirt there that said,

"There ain't no party like a Scranton party cuz a Scraton party don't stop!" but it was branded with Cooper's logo as well, which we didn't want.

We went BACK to Sitko's for dinner (a 40 minute drive away)  because it is THAT GOOD and took these pictures!

Rich ordered the same thing as the night before and I had an enormous Philly cheesesteak sandwich that I couldn't finish.  I'm telling you - go to Sitko's and your life will be changed.

That pretty much sums up our trip!  It was  BLAST and it was suuuper relaxing!!  It is now 12:18am and Rich has to be to work early in the morning because he's visiting NJ for work!

Love you all!!  Nighters, until next time.

Please enjoy this link to an Office clip from which this blog post gets it's namesake.

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

Almost Married a Whole YEAR!

HeLlO fRiEnDs AnD fAmIlY!

(that was hard to type, and it doesn't look as cool as I wanted it to look haha)

W are currently watching the NBA playoff finals (game 2)...and by "we" I mean Rich only is watching.  I'm in the room, but not really watching.  I peek up at the TV if I hear a lot of cheering, but I'm not too into the game unless we're AT THE GAME. (things are very different if that's the case, I think I get more excited than Rich does)

Rich has definitely been into the past several nights though.

Anyway...the past 2 weeks have been pretty mellow.  And by mellow I mean that we didn't go anywhere too exciting or have anything wonderful happen!  Not even on Memorial Day!  Bilbo is doing much better now.  After about 3 days of "rest" he got super stir crazy and so the whole "no playing for 3 weeks" kinda went out the window.  He just...can't do it.  

Rich and I have both been very busy with our jobs!  Sometimes it seems like there just isn't enough time in the work day to get everything done that needs to be! The business hasn't been a bad thing though. It's pretty crazy how fast life has been moving...being busy has certainly helped the weeks fly by!  It's so CRAZY that it's JUNE now and 2016 is about half over!  And with it being JUNE comes our 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!  How crazy is that!?!?!  I've been a Wilkins for almost a year!  In 1 week exactly!! 

 

A year ago I got to be a bride.  Can I just say how much I enjoyed that??  And how much I LOVED planning my wedding??  Maybe it's because we had such a long engagement, but I honestly LOVED planning every part of it.  I LOVED going with Rachel (my beautiful sister in law) to take these pictures at Utah Lake (who knew it could so beautiful in professional pictures).  It was SUCH a fun time for me!  I can't wait for Paige to get engaged in the future so I can help her plan her wedding!  Maybe I should just be a wedding planner for a living!  It would be so fun as long as I didn't have to deal with any bridezillas...which in Fairfield county...I bet they all are.

One more...just because it was such a wonderful day.  I know it's not our anniversary YET but...SOON.  One week.  Actually 3 and 1/2 days until we leave for the Poconos.  In case you're curious, here's what our hotel room is going to look like.

Mountaintop Lodge

Oh anyway...so it's JUNE and in one year we won't live at Wilton Arms!  Don't get me wrong the location is seriously great (we walked to the movie theater last night) but we are NOT a fan of how tiny our place is.  And as you all know, we are NOT a fan of our downstairs neighbor, Robert.  Our lease is up May 31st, 2017 and it can't come soon enough!

Guess who decided to tattle on the cops again??

You guessed it.  Robert of downstairs.

He called sometime last week...Tuesday or Wednesday maybe?  It was SUPER annoying because it was at 7pm in the evening!  He called and the cop explained that he thought we were "making noise on purpose to bother him".  Are you allowed to call the police for that??  I guess you can.  We were SUPER annoyed!  Our next door neighbor is an angel sent from the heavens so we are exceedingly thankful for her!!  She told us that Robert called the police on the guy who lived here before us that so often that he almost went down there an punched Robert in the face.

This is how Robert makes us feel. (also, I just LOOOOVE this movie!  it's too good, we watched it this past week and Anger is hilarious haha)  the past 4 months have honestly gone by pretty quick, so hopefully - it will fly by!

Anyway, like I said the past few weeks haven't been too exciting.  Even our long weekend over Memorial Day was anti-climatic.  We were going to go to the Memorial Day parade here in Wilton but when Rich got out of bed and walked Bilbo to where the parade was to be happening - they came across a sign that said "PARADE CANCELLED".  You can't cancel a parade!?!  The weather was SLIGHTLY rainy so I guess they wimped out!  We were both pretty shocked and appalled!  Parades doen't get cancelled in UT for anything!  The show will go on!  Then again, this is the place where there are no Costa Vidas and where the grocery stores (and everything) closes at 9pm or earlier, so we really shouldn't have been surprised.

On the Sunday before I got to substitute a primary class for 4 year olds.  That was lots of fun!  I wish I had been called to work with those sweet children...they certainly weren't as well behaved as 6 year olds , but it was a blast!  They were really funny haha.  I'm sure I'll get to sub primary again!

On Monday, after the cancelled parade we were itching for something fun to do.  Rich wan't to try a new restaurant and he suggested Chicken Joe's - a Podunk kind of hole-in-the-wall place I went to in Greenwich with Warren one of the times we went to Rye for work to do interviews.  We didn't go all the way to Greenwhich (which BTW is a disgustingly wealthy town...despite Chickcn Joe's...on our way to it we past Porsche and Rolls Royce dealerships and TONS of pricey homes), they have a location in New Canaan.  Rich really enjoyed it!  They just fry up some fresh chicken nuggets and french fries, throw it in a bag with seasonings and then shake it up!  It's kind of unique - and surprisingly delicious.

I look like an idiot in this picture mainly because I didn't bother getting ready (doing my make up/hair).  Mostly because of the humidity.  But the chicken was tasty taste!!

On Monday evening, Rich and I went for a walk with Biblo. It was a very humid evening so it didn't last too long.  While we were on our walk on the Norwalk River Valley Trail, we noticed how jungley this place is!

Neither were prepared for this picture.

Check out the vines growing around that try...or growing into that tree.  Not sure what's going on there but our walk didn't last long due to the humidity.  Rich kept saying "it feels like Puerto Rico" out here, and I could agree.  It was HOT.  Humid 80 feels like a dry 100.  Humidity of any degree ads 20 - UNLESS it's cold, then it takes away 20 degrees!

Our actual Memorial Day wasn't too exciting, but the day after while I was taking Bilbo on a stroll during my lunch break I noticed this beautiful wreath set up at the war veterans memorial here in Wilton.

Isn't that so pretty??  It warmed my heart when I saw it.  It's just so patriotic!

So incase anyone has been wondering - we HAVE been enjoying our new iphones.  (not so much Sprint - although it's not as bad as you might be thinking).  We LOVE the slow-mo feature on the cameras (a Bilbo slow-mo series coming to a Facebook near you, brought to you by Rich) and of course, Siri.

Turns out you can change the Siri voice to be a man (or keep her as a woman).  AND you can change their accent to British or Australian.  So naturally, my Siri is an Aussie guy who talks to me.

And yes, I asked him to call me T-Wolf.

As I mentioned before, the whole "making Bilbo rest for 3 weeks straight" didn't really fly.  He does still have a small lump in his paw that could be whatever punctured him or just a little bit of irritation or maybe scar tissue from when he had his dew-claws removed.  Don't worry, we're keeping a close eye on it.

Anyway, here are a series of photos that prove not only is he feeling better, but that he's the cutest dog ever.

This picture is so particularly perfect that it's my lock-photo on my phone! 

When Bilbo gets bored and it's raining outside (like today), Rich sometimes loosely ties a string around Bilbo for him to try to get off. Surprisingly it keeps him entertained for longer than you'd think.

This was on facebook, but, incase you missed it, for your viewing pleasure.

Next time I blog I will have OFFICALLY been married for a year!

Happy June folks, until next time.