Birthday Ball Game

New home, friends and birthday cheers

This year, though its not the first year I have been away for our birthday (danny has the same bday and me), but it is the first year that I have been living somewhere else.  This being said things were real different this year.  I ended up having a great time and all, however just seemed strange to me.

Tides Game

I was getting ready for the day and kinda realized all my friends were back at home, although ended up wishing me a happy birthday through texts and facebook messages, it seemed very odd to not have any of them around.  Dont get me wrong, I have made a good number of new friends and we ended up going to a baseball game and having a bbq at our house the day of, but it was a whole different experience than our normal birthdays.

First good thing was that Danny was able to get the day off work if he went to the tides game, a AAA baseball team here in Hampton roads.  For me this meant we got to go to the game, and all his friends would be there, if for nothing else but to skip work.  With that news we headed off to the game and tried to meet up with everyone we could, rounding people up for a BBQ we wanted to have after the game.

Luckily we had a good number of people that showed up and ended up having a great time that night.

NYE 2011 VIP Style

VIP Section, Drinks and Food!

This year we decided to do things a little different than years past. Since it was a little more momentous than usual with Danny's homecoming just a week before we actually ended up getting VIP passes to one of the clubs around our hotel.

Even though it wasnt Vegas or New York for new years we felt pretty cool about our plans. Usually for new years we end up going to a local bar, party or street fair, so this was a nice change of plans.

We knew we wanted something close to the hotel (and who could ask for closer than one block away) and something fun and relaxing. That's exactly what we got this year with our choice of Peabody's.

Actually it was a pretty chill night, lots of fun with unlimited drinks, food and shots, our own section for the VIP members with tables for us to chill at with party favors and champagne, and of course the awesome dance floor that the club always has.

The night was all inclusive and we ended up watching the ball drop over time square for the countdown to the new year.

The champagne was corked and the screams rang out to bring in the 2011. Cheers all around and everyone was ecstatic.

We ended up closing down the bar and walking home to our hotel for some much need sleep before morning began.

I think it was a good kick to the new years and tribute to 2010.

Halloween Tradition

Halloween Tradition

End of An Era
I know I had this same picture and title up last year but halloween is coming up fast and its strange to be uncertain of what my plans are. It seems like since forever I can remember having the halloween parties at the ranch (My moms old house out in the country).

Halloween is one of Danny and my favorite holidays, so it makes things even harder that he is not here and we dont have the ranch to have our parties.

Seems like EVERYONE is asking me already if what the plan is for halloween and the ranch. Even people I dont know. The other day I was at the bookstore at the JC and the clerk at the counter ended up asking me if there was going to be a party out at my house. This actually made me laugh that the parties have hit so many people, but also made me a little sad and reminiscent.

Over all it seems unfair that Danny has to spend ANOTHER halloween away from his friends and family here at home, but at least he is not in bootcamp this time! :)

I miss you honey!! Love you so much!!

Pensacola Pelican Drop

New Years in a New Place

Ah today is a new day! Its new years day and I was lucky enough to spend it with my hubby, two of my sisters and a few new friends. Since the boys had to be back on base by 12, our night was cut a little short of course, but I wasn't about to complain. I am just so happy that I got to spend it with him... the one I love.

Since we didn't have all night we decided not to do anything crazy or wild way out of town. A few days ago we heard about this thing going on in town called the Pelican drop. We checked it out online and seemed pretty chill... it was a street festival with a count down at midnight with a pelican drop. So we went!

It was right in the heart of downtown and they blocked off three of the main streets, which lead to many restaurants and local bars. There were plenty of street vendors and many many people crowded around the small stages for contests, karaoke, magic shows and more.

This is the place where I first tasted alligator... alligator on a stick. It was actually more tasty than I had thought it would be. So most of the night we wandered the streets in and out of bars and checking out the vendors on the sidewalks, until time came to take them home.

Pensacola Pelican Drop

What did you do for new years?? where did you spend it??

Halloween Tradition

End of An Era

So for about 4 or 5 years now I have had a halloween party out at my parents house in the country. It was the perfect venue, secluded with enough room for many people, also no neighbors for days. This year is bitter-sweet. For one Danny wont be here, and its one of his favorite holidays, and for two its the last year we are going to have a party out at my parents. Hence they are moving and we are forced to find another location next year or something else to occupy our time on halloween.

With that being said I am still pretty excited, I love planning the party, shopping for ideas and decorating the house. Its so thrilling and fun to come up with cheap, fun decoration ideas to make the house look spooky. On the other hand its not gonna be the same without Danny here.

5 Ways to Reduce Cost of a Halloween Party

1. Thrift shop costume ideas

So unless you are one who needs the "gotta have" Halloween costume from leg avenue each year, this is an easy way to consider saving money for Halloween. Decide what you want to be for Halloween and before you buy the first store bought costume that you see make sure and check out the thrift stores, Ross, consignment shops and any other cheap clothing spot to see if there is anything there that you can use for a costume base, or to make into a costume.

My "wedding dress" from last year was $15 from Ross, the veil was an old tiara I had at the house which I glued the fabric onto.

2. Spider webs
Whether your going for the cutesy kid friendly decorations or more hard core spooky ones I can stress how important (and thrifty) spider webs are to the whole operation. We tend to multiple bags each year (it is a big house) and decorate the inside and outside with spider webs. Using tacs you can actually get very good at stretching them out to last longer too.

3. Internet browse for decoration Ideas
So for our first Halloween party my friend and I searched the internet for cool decorations on a budget. There's a lot of useful information out there, you just have to go find it.

Once example and we found that highlighter fluid glows in the black lights, so we ended up getting those dollar "potion" looking bottles from Michael's crafts and filled them up with water and couple drops of highlighter fluid, each with a different color... the (yellow and green worked the best) to make it look like a mad scientists corner, just hang a black light near by and vuala!

4. Dollar store deals
So I admit most of the stuff at the dollar store is really corny and completely cheesy if your not going for a kiddie party, but it never hurts to look. There are usually some cool buckets that you can use for various things around the house, and sometimes you get lucky and find some old netting type decorations which work well to cover outside tables and things.

5. Get creative!
Many of the things that we usually do to add finishing touches to our party are basically free, or very low budget. In the hallway we would stash a cd, which we had burned full of creepy sounds and noises, just put it on repeat and hide the cd player. Also one years we cut up some old sheets that I had lying around and threw fake blood all over them and hung them out on the clothing line out in back.

My best wishes to all of you! Hopefully this helps give you something to start with.

Do you have any ideas??