Happy 29th Birthday Brian!

On Sunday, my boyfriend Brian celebrated his 29th birthday! In honor of his birthday, I'd been planning a SURPRISE (shhhh!!!) weekend getaway for the two of us. Originally I wanted to go to Ocean City, because Brian had never been there before and I thought it would be fun. Finding a place to stay proved to be more difficult (not to mention expensive!!) than I thought it would be... I totally wasn't thinking about the fact that Brian's birthday falls smack dab in the middle of the busiest season... special thanks to Serita McGuire, for having a SUMMER baby!! LoL So I considered a trip to Pittsburgh instead, since our first trip together had been there, plus Brian has been talking about wanting to go see a baseball game at PNC Park. Well, as my luck would have it, the Pirates weren't in town that weekend! So, back to the drawing board! I researched places to stay but I couldn't find anything decent or really anything at all that was under about $500 which is CRAZY!! Fortunately, my friend and fellow-midnight shifter Brian and his wife Michelle were going to be on vacation in Ocean City that week and offered to let us stay with them for FREE!! Once I'd found a place for us to stay, I got started on the rest of the planning... there was so much I wanted to see/do and so little time to do it in!

I knew I wanted to take Brian to eat crabs and to try snow crab legs for the first time; I knew I wanted to go to the beach so Brian could go for his first ever dip in the Atlantic Ocean; I knew I wanted to walk on The Boardwalk; I knew I wanted to go do something fun (play mini-golf, ride go-karts, go to the water park, etc); there were several Ocean City must-haves that I wanted him to experience (Thrasher's fries, Dough Roller pizza, Fisher's popcorn, Dumser's ice cream, etc)

In preparation for our weekend excursion, I went out and bought myself a new bathing suit and some stylish new swim trunks for the birthday boy. I also bought some new beach towels, some sunscreen, and a bag to carry our beach stuff in. I asked Brian if he could come home from work earlier than he normally would've, so we could get started on our journey. I was hoping to be packed and ready to go by the time he got home, but I was working on Jomi-time (a.k.a. LATE!!!) so of course that didn't happen!

My lips were sealed... that was until I accidentally ruined my own surprise! :( Fortunately, my little slip of the tongue didn't happen until Friday (the day we were leaving for the trip) so it wasn't a HUGE deal, but I was still disappointed about letting the cat out of the bag!

After a little nappy nap, we got started on our trip... a little later than originally planned, but better late than never! We arrived in Ocean City around 8:45pm, just in time to go to my favorite buffet... Castle in the Sand. It's a clean, affordable restaurant that is tucked away in the basement of an oceanfront hotel. They have a wide assortment of yummy food like fried chicken, prime rib, corn fritters, salad, fresh fruit, steamed shrimp and my personal favorite, Alaskan King Crab legs! Brian is still getting used to my love of seafood and he'd never tried the crab legs before so I was excited for his first time! Check this out...


After dinner, we stopped at the condo to drop off our stuff and say hello to Brian & Michelle. Then we headed to The Boardwalk to check out the sights. We stopped at one of the food stands and ordered some Deep Fried Oreos... they were so rich, I could only eat about one and a half! Brian and I walked along the beach for awhile and dipped our toes in the ice cold water! We had one more stop to make before we headed for the car... we stopped at Kohr Bros. ice cream to get Brian a creamy cone of his favorite flavor... peanut butter & chocolate! We got back to the condo around 2am and got ready for bed, so we'd be rested for the next day!

The Boardwalk in Ocean City! :)

deep fried oreos!!

take a bite out of some ooey gooey goodness!!

On Saturday morning, Brian & I were hungry for some breakfast but there were so many places to choose from... there's Bayside Skillet, Layton's Family Breakfast, English's Buffet, General's Kitchen, Happy Jack's Pancake House... and those are just SOME of the MANY options! We finally decided on Castle in the Sand (again) and we grubbed on some french toast, pancakes, hashbrowns, grilled ham, bacon and sausage. After breakfast, we headed back to the condo to change and get ready for the beach! We walked out onto the warm sand and looked for the perfect spot to spread out our blanket and catch some rays! It wasn't long until we were ready for a dip! We had so much fun crashing the waves and being tossed around in the surf! After about an hour in the water, we took a little break. We slathered on some sunscreen and relaxed on the blanket for awhile before we spotted a Scopes photographer and grabbed him for a few memorable snapshots. We went back into the water to rinse off the sand we had acquired during our photo shoot and we didn't come out for over 2 hours! Despite the fact that we got a little too much sun, we had so much fun! We packed up the blanket and headed back to the condo to take showers and get ready for the evening. That's where things started to unravel...

Brian trying to decide where to put our stuff :)

this one is Brian's favorite...


I can't decide if I like this one better...


... or this one??

As only my luck would have it, I wound up with some freak injury to my legs. The swim shorts I bought from Walmart caused some large open sores on the insides and tops of my legs, which made it excruciatingly painful to walk even a few steps. We stopped at Rite Aid to pick up some first-aid supplies do that I could try to Paramedic myself... it didn't work as well as I'd hoped! I wanted to take Brian to Seacrets for dinner, but there was some band playing and they were charging a $7 cover charge for each person so we changed our minds. Then we decided on Big Peckers for some fried chicken, but the wait was insane and since we were both tired and hungry, the search continued. We finally settled on some Pizza Tugo's, which was pretty yummy even if it wasn't what we had planned on.

We headed back to The Boardwalk for Round Two... first, we stopped at one of the souvenier shops so I could buy a few supplies for my two hermit crabs, Rickie and Charlie. (last summer, on a whim, I bought two hermit crabs and much to everyone's disbelief, they're STILL alive!) $60 and FOUR more hermit crabs later, Brian & I headed to Thrasher's for some famous fries! By the time we got back to the condo, I could barely move... my legs hurt SO bad, I cannot even explain it! I've got a pretty high pain tolerance but this was so painful that I even shed a few tears! I was also disappointed because I had really wanted to do something else fun with Brian, but my stupid legs were preventing me from it! Thankfully, Brian was a good sport about it...

Thrasher's are not your average french fry!!

On Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early to pack up and start heading home. We stopped at Candy Kitchen and picked up some taffy as souvenirs for my family and some fudge as a souvenir for ourselves! Then we stopped at Fisher's Popcorn to get some fresh caramel popcorn (w/peanuts!) for my Mom. After a quick stop at home to shower and change clothes, we joined the rest of the family at my mom's for a BBQ to celebrate Brian & my older sister Kelly's birthdays (hers was 2 days later). Mom made NY strip steaks on the grill, shrimp kabobs, stuffed tomatoes, roasted potatoes and lots more! My Grandma made a german chocolate cake for Brian and my mom bought a chocolate cheesecake for Kelly... she forgot to get candles so she had to improvise! Here are Brian & Kelly making a wish on their giant matchsticks...



Candy Kitchen = mmm!!! :)

Fisher's popcorn for Mom... caramel WITH peanuts!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie... I hope you enjoyed your birthday and that all your wishes come true! I love you, Brian McGuire!!

Days go by...

*** this is my 3rd time trying to write/post this blog... since the first two times have been unsuccessful, let's hope that three is a charm!!! ***

Well, it's happened again... it's like I blinked and the next thing I knew, we're more than halfway through June! I can't believe that today is the first official day of Summer... the last day of school was last week, so the rugrats are already celebrating their freedom while the rest of us grown-ups have to drag ourselves to work every day. Oh, how I miss childhood! But I can't really complain... tonight is my first night back to work after 14 glorious days off! Besides getting some extra R&R in, here's what I've been up to these past few weeks...

Brian and I are now the proud parents of... a fish!! We went to Valley View Farms to get some things we needed for our backyard pond and while we were there... we got some oxygenating plants, some floating flowers, some tadpoles, some snails, and the fish which we decided to name "Gil". Gil is a calico and he seems to be enjoying his new life at our house, so far! Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure...

if you look VERY closely, you might be able to see Gil... he's a little camera shy! LoL

my pretty floating flowers :)

the "before" picture of the pond... I'll get to work on an "after" picture ASAP!

Last week, a new seafood carryout called "Wye Knot Crabs" opened in the Riverside Shopping Center just up the road from my house. I decided to surprise Brian with our first crabs of the season... after a short lesson in Crab-Picking 101, we dove headfirst into this dozen of deliciousness!! They were SCRUMPTIOUS!!! These crabs were heavy, meaty, sweet, well seasoned, and everything else you want a crab to be... they were WELL worth the $20/dozen I paid for them on special. And now they've started to offer a 10% discount for fire/EMS personnel, so I'm looking forward to going back again soon!

a dozen of DELICIOUSNESS!!!

Last week, my 81-year old Grandmother took a tumble outside on the deck... face first! She has some bumps and bruises, but thank God she wasn't hurt more seriously. No one was home at the time, so if she had hit her head or something worse it would've been hours before someone had found her! This lady makes me WORRY!!!!!

Grandma vs. deck = OUCH!!!

Brian & I had a "date night" on Monday... we went to the carnival in Jarrettsville and we had such a good time! We rode the Tilt-a-Whirl, Bumper Cars, Pirate Ship and my favorite, the Ferris Wheel! We walked around, ate some yummy carnival food, played some games and Brian won me a prize! How cute is this little guy?!

He also brought me flowers (AGAIN... what a sweetie pie!) and they were BEAUTIFUL! See...

Tuesday June 8th was the last night of the Citizens' Academy that I've been attending every Tuesday for the last 16 weeks. I can now say that I am officially a graduate of the Harford County Sheriff's Office Citizens' Police Acadamy Class #16! We had a small graduation ceremony at Harford Community College... it was very nice! We got diplomas and some other goodies as congratulatory gifts from the Command Staff. Looking back, the class was very interesting, informative, and worthwhile. I'm glad I got the chance to participate, but I'm also glad that my Tuesday's are free again!

I've been feeling a little spontaneous lately, and I've been itching for a road trip... combine that with the fact that Rascal Flatts was scheduled to play on The Today Show on Friday for their Summer Concert Series and I devised a plan! I've never seen Rascal Flatts in concert but I've always wanted to. It just so happened that I was off this day and the concert was free, so I thought it would be fun to go to. Unfortunately, Brian had a mandatory meeting at work and couldn't go with me so I recruited two of my co-workers and former classmates, Christy and her fiance Chris, to come with me. Our mini-road trip began at about 1:45 am and we arrived in "The Big Apple" at about 4am. When we first rode past Rockefeller Plaza, there were only about 4 people standing in line. By the time we found suitable parking and walked back, there were about 30 or so people in line ahead of us. After a few hours of standing in line, security finally let us through. We packed in like sardines and waited for the start of the show. The band played "Summer Nights", "Life is a Highway", "Unstoppable" and one other song that I can't think of right this second! Afterwards, we walked around Times Square and did some window shopping and a little bit of real shopping too... Christy was looking for a I <3 NY onesie for her baby-to-be! Before we headed home, we stopped to get some authentic New York pizza... mmm, mmm, MMM!!! Let's just say that it was every bit as good as I thought it would be! LoL

we made it!!

here's what The Today Show stage looks like at o'dark thirty!


and here's what it looks like when we're waiting for the show to start!


RASCAL FLATTS!!!!!


a visit to NY wouldn't be complete without stopping by NYPD in Times Square!


silly photo op with a man dressed up as the Statue of Liberty :)


Times Square to the left...


Times Square to the right...


Radio City Music Hall... home of the Rockettes!

On Saturday 6/12, Brian went to visit his/our friend Jith in Virginia to hang out and watch The World Cup. Since I'm not really "into" soccer, I stayed at home and told Brian & Jith to have a boys night. My sister called that morning and asked if I could watch my nephew for the day because she had some training to go to for work; she dropped him off around 1pm and I kept him until about 10:30pm. Khalid was such a big helper, carrying things for me and helping me with little chores around the house. As a reward for all his help, I took him to Chuck E. Cheese and met up with my best buddy Maria and her two kids, Kaden and Bailey. The kids were so well behaved that we decided to go get ice cream afterwards. Kaden & Khalid became fast friends, even though neither one of them could seem to remember the other one's name! LoL

Khalid & Kaden = best buddies


Bailey and her lip gloss... LoL


playing nicely together... aww!!! (why does my nephew look like a thug?!)

Last Friday, Brian & I were just 2 of 14 people who drove to Fawn Grove, Pennsylvania to watch my friends' daughter Sydney perform in a dance recital. Sydney has been dancing for 6 years but this was my first time ever going to one her recitals and I loved it... the dancers ranged in age from about 4-5 years old (the little ones were SO cute in their little tu-tu's) all the way up to adults! Sydney participated in about 5 or 6 dances and she did such a good job! Here she is after the performance...

the STAR of the show!!!

I think that's just about all, for now... but stay tuned because Brian's birthday is only 5 days away (yay, now technically I won't be older than him anymore! LoL) and I've got a surprise planned for him!! =)

I'm still alive...

Just a note to let everyone know that I'm still alive! I seem to have come down with a slight case of writer's block lately, which is sad because before that I was on a roll! I hope it doesn't last too long!

So, yeah... I seriously cannot believe that it's June 2nd already... JUNE!!! Summer is just around the corner... I wish time would slow down a little! This Summer is going to be a busy one... next week is Fireman's Convention and this will be the first year I haven't gone! Then later this month (in 25 days, to be exact) is Brian's birthday! I'm working on planning a special surprise for him... shhhhh!!! =) Two days after Brian's birthday is my sister Kelly's birthday. The second week in July, Brian is flying to Chicago for a few days, to attend his friend Rick's wedding. I'm not going with him for that trip, but we're both going in August for about 10 days when his sister Kelly gets married. We're still working out the details about whether we're going to fly or drive... from our house to Brian's parents house is a little over 728 miles. That would make it my longest road trip ever and it would take me through two new states that I can add to my list... Ohio and Indiana! That would bring my grand total to 16... only 35 more to go! LoL

Anyway, nothing too noteworthy has happened since I last blogged, so I guess that's good news. And that's all folks... LoL

You just never know...

Last Friday, I attended a class for work in Sykesville, MD called "You Just Never Know" - it was put on by the Public Safety Training Consultants (PSTC911) and was advertised as their newest post in-service class for 9-1-1 professionals. Here is the class description: You just never know what is waiting at the other end of that next incoming phone call or radio transmission. What is your demeanor as the call comes in? Are you prepared to really listen to the next caller or are you about to make a snap judgment or poor decision due to being “burnt out” or under prepared for the call. The amazing instructional team has built a brand new class that prepares you for that next crazy, challenging, unbelievable or seemingly mundane call for service.

Skill building is our goal, increased performance is the outcome.

Now I'll be honest with you - the main reason I signed up to take this class was because I knew it would give me an "extra" night off (they had flexed me off of midnight shift the night before so that I could go to the class during the day on Friday, which was one of my days off) - I hadn't paid much attention to what the class was supposed to be about and the last thing I expected to do was actually LEARN something! Boy, was I wrong! It's not that I think I know everything but I guess that after 10 years of working as a 911 dispatcher, I've seen and heard just about everything imaginable... and even some things unimaginable! But despite the fact that I went to this class with a somewhat closed mind and not expecting to learn anything, not only did I learn ALOT but it also opened my eyes to some things that I've become very complacent about over the years, without even realizing it. I think that people in this line of work have a tendency to become jaded after awhile but I don't want to be "that" dispatcher you hear on the news one day... this class was my wake up call.

We talked about the types of incidents we handle on a daily basis: low risk/high frequency (alarms, notifications, road hazards, parking complaints, patrol requests, etc), low risk/low frequency (barking dogs, liquor law violations, banning letters, open burning complaints, fraud calls, etc), high risk/high frequency (domestics, assaults, traffic stops, 911 hangups, suicidal calls, DUI/DWI, disorderly, etc) and high risk/low frequency (active shooters, bank robberies, mass casualty incidents, plane crashes, terrorist events, bomb threats, etc) and the differences between each of those. We talked about understanding and focusing on what a caller is actually saying and not on how they say it. We recognized that what we say and do can and will have a definite impact on the overall call. I think sometimes we forget that part... I know I do. We talked about liability concerns and about our duty and what the community expects of us. We talked about sinking vehicles and what instructions we should give to a caller whose vehicle is sinking in the split seconds we have before the line disconnects. We watched a video that showed us just how fast a vehicle can sink... a reminder of what little time there is to help the people inside. We listened to 3 different 911 calls for people in sinking vehicles... sadly, not one of those people (Kimberlyn Rae Kendrick, Karla Gutierrez, & Umberto Delgado) lived to tell about it. I'm not going to say that the reason they didn't live was solely because the 911 dispatchers who took their calls didn't do what they should've done or were supposed to do, but it was very obvious that it was a contributing factor.

We listened to lots of 911 calls, most of which had poor outcomes... we talked about what we would've said or done differently if it had been us, but most of all we were able to learn from someone else's mistakes. These calls planted seeds that will help us to deal with similar situations in the future, should we ever be faced with them. We listened to a call in which a California Highway Patrol Officer, Tony Pedeferri, was on a traffic stop when he and the vehicle he had stopped were struck by a drunk driver. The vehicle he had stopped burst into flames and the driver was killed instantly; Officer Pedeferri was thrown 30-40 feet into a ditch that was about 5 feet deep and covered with heavy brush that was about 8-10 feet tall... once located, he was found to be in cardiac arrest. It is nothing short of a miracle that, although paralyzed from the armpits down, Tony is still alive today. He spent 5 months in a hospital and many more months after that recovering from his injuries and although they are very devastating injuries, I'm so thankful that he's alive!! Here's a link to his website, where you can watch a video about the incident... but make sure you have some tissues handy!

Another call we listened to was about a shooting; the 911 dispatcher who answered that call just happened to be the victim's mother. During the course of that call, the 911 dispatcher switched roles from 911 dispatcher to mother, back to 911 dispatcher. That's one fear I've always had while working this job... that one day the emergency on the other end of the line or the radio will involve one of my family members, because I'm not sure that I'll be able to function as well as that dispatcher did.

Another call we listened to was involving a girl named Denise Amber Lee. In January of 2008, Denise was kidnapped from her home in Florida by a man named Michael King. Despite the fact that Denise herself (calling from her abductor's cellphone) and several others had attempted to call for help through the 911 system, there was a lack of communication and she was not found until it was too late. Five 911 calls were made that day, including one by a witness who gave a detailed account of events as they unfolded before her. However, the information that the witness provided were never passed onto police in the area. Denise's body was found in a shallow grave a few days later; she had been raped and murdered. Denise was 21 years old... she was a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. She had a husband (Nathan) and 2 little boys (Noah and Adam) who will have to live the rest of their lives without their wife and mother... a big part of that is due to the HUGE mistake the 911 dispatchers made. I don't want there to ever be another Denise and I definitely don't want it to happen under my watch.

Another notable call we listened to (and probably the one I learned the most from) was from a woman who called 911 (listen to the 911 call here) because she was being held hostage in her home by a man who had broken in... but she couldn't tell the 911 dispatcher that because the suspect was standing right in front of her. She asked the 911 dispatcher a question about the paperwork that is required when applying to be a substitute teacher at a school... that question could easily have been brushed off or referred to somewhere else. In fact, the dispatcher even stated: "911 is for life or death emergencies... do you have a life or death emergency?" to which the caller replied "yes, ma'am". That gives me chills. Every single day, we answer 911 calls that are non-emergencies. Sometimes they're not even related to public safety at all... and they happen so often that it's easy to get frustrated and think to yourself "why are they calling 911 for this??" without considering that someone might be holding a gun to their head or a knife to their throat. I don't think I'll answer another 911 call without thinking about this call and wondering if my caller really dialed accidentally or if there is some emergency they're not able to tell me about.

"You Just Never Know" was not only a funny and informative class, but it was also the reminder I needed about why I come to work every day. I want all of my officers to return to their families at the end of their shift, even if they do drive me crazy sometimes. I want all of my callers to stay safe even if they do cuss me out and call me names once in awhile. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the reason I chose this line of work is because of my desire to help people in whatever capacity they need... no matter how silly the request, I want to make a difference in people's lives. And it's true what they say... you just never know!

Sick and tired of being sick and tired...

I am SO sick and tired of being sick and tired! Spring has been making its presence known in Maryland for several weeks now and my allergies are going CA-RAZY! Despite the Zyrtec pill I take every day and the Benadryl pills I take every day that I work, I've had a sore throat for almost 2 weeks, my nose is stuffy and runny at the same time, my ears are itchy, etc. Basically I am miserable... combined with the fact that I can't ever seem to catch up on my sleep, no matter how hard I try.

So... I've been thinking, for the first time EVER, about putting in a transfer to go to dayshift. *GASP* I know, I never thought I'd say it either. For most of my life I've been called a night owl. For some reason, I just function better at night. In the past decade that I've worked at the 911 center, I've worked every shift there is. When I first started here, we worked 12-hour shifts on a rotating schedule of 4 days on/4 days off. I worked a year of 7pm-7am, followed by a year of 7am-7pm. Then we switched to 8.5 hour shifts on a rotating schedule of 5 days on/3 days off. I worked evening shift for 6 years and at the time, the hours worked well for me and my lifestyle. I could stay up late AND sleep late... it was like the best of both worlds! Most of the time I stayed up for almost the entire night before going to bed when the sun came up. Then I'd sleep almost all day until it was time to get up for work again. The problem with this is that I felt like I never got anything accomplished. I thought about it and decided that if I was going to be up all night, I might as well be at work and get paid a little more for it. So 2 years ago, I transferred to the midnight shift. And since then it feels like no matter how much sleep I get, I'm always tired.

Don't get me wrong, midnight shift has it's advantages... like the 7% shift differential, the out-of-classification pay I earn each time I'm in charge of my co-workers (atleast 3 days a week), a significantly slower call volume, and the fact that I've got quite a bit of seniority compared to other people on the shift. But it also has disadvantages too... mostly the exhaustion I feel virtually every minute of every day. If I transfer to dayshift, I'll lose the shift differential and the out-of-classification pay and the seniority... but in exchange for that, I'll gain a more "normal" lifestyle. I can sleep when the rest of the world sleeps, which means I'll no longer be fighting my internal circadian clock all the time. I can eat dinner with Brian every night, and participate in "normal" evening activities like taking a walk or watching TV.

My mom thinks that before I submit a transfer request to go to dayshift, I should experiment with a different sleep pattern. For the past 2 years I've been sleeping during the evening... that gives me the daytime hours to get any errands run or complete any other tasks that I need to and then I try to be in bed no later than 2 or 3pm. I sleep up until 10pm, then I take a shower and get dressed for work... I usually leave around 10:30 to make it to work by 11pm. As part of the new sleep pattern, my mom suggested that I come home from work and go straight to bed, so that I'm sleeping while Brian is working. Then when Brian comes home from work we can eat dinner together and spend a few hours of quality time together before it's time to go to work... and then I'll still get to keep my shift differential along with the other advantages that midnight shift offers. I know what my mom is suggesting makes sense, but part of me wonders what it would like to lead a completely "normal" life instead of trying to adapt my schedule to the rest of the world.

What do you think I should do?

Miss Grumpy Pants

Yep, that's me... Miss Grumpy Pants. I don't know what it is, but I have been SO grumpy for the past few days. I wish I knew what my problem was or how to fix it... I've been so miserable that I'm sure I'm a real BLAST to be around! I'm so miserable that I don't even want to be around myself... everyone and everything is getting on my last nerve... I'm even getting on my own nerves! What.The.Crap MAN?!

Although I know there's really no excuse, I have some ideas about part of what has been contributing to my evil disposition as of late... first, lack of sleep. I need sleep... ALOT of sleep! Nice, restful, uninterrupted sleep! And lately I have not been getting enough! Sleep + Nikki = BFF! I neeeeeeeeeeed you, BFF! LoL

Second, I have recently been working an ABUNDANCE of A1 (the Southern patrol channel at work... a.k.a. the busiest channel we have) and I have had ENOUGH! It's hard to believe that Southern was once my channel of choice... now, not so much! I'll be honest, I think it takes a special kind of person to work in the southern precinct and to be able to handle what they deal with on a day-to-day basis. But unfortunately, that special kind of person also tends to be demanding and impatient and sometimes quite snippy... usually (but not always) mixed with a little bit 'o JERK. That doesn't make for a good day when you're on my end of the radio. And for some reason, my shift is the only shift that assigns channels. The reason behind that is supposed to be fairness, but I don't necessarily agree with it... I mean, we're supposed to be adults... right? Why is it that we can make life or death decisions in the blink of an eye but we can't choose the channel we're going to work that night... come on, people, really?! I had to do some switches this past week, which meant I was repaying those switches on dayshift and evening shift. I thought I might be granted some reprieve while I was "visiting" on the other shifts, but BOY was I WRONG! You'll never guess what channel I had to work on both shifts...

Third, my allergies have been kicking my @$$ lately. My throat has been sore for a week and sometimes I sound like a man. (P.S. I don't like being called "Sir"!!!) I take an allergy pill every day, plus I take Benadryl on the days that I work, but I still feel like a hot steamy pile of crappola. And don't get me started on my asthma... I wish I had a nickel for every puff I've had of my inhaler!

So there it is folks... don't say I didn't warn you. For those of you who have no choice and HAVE to see or talk to me anytime in the near future, I apologize in advance. It's not you, it's me. I'm working hard to get myself out of this funk and quick!

Kthanxbye!

Turning 29...

Last Wednesday, I celebrated my 29th birthday... I honestly don't know how time is flying by SO fast - I swear it feels like I just graduated from high school, but June will mark 11 years that I've been in the "real world"! I just can't believe that this was my last birthday in my 20's and that next year I'll be 30 years old! My mother says that when I was a little girl, I used to think my birthday should be a national holiday... and long gone are the days when I would round up just to be able to consider myself a "half" age. I've found that the older I get, the less I look forward to birthdays... this year was no exception to that! But just because I don't look forward to them doesn't keep them from coming any faster...

Well, this birthday was a little different... thanks to my loved ones, this birthday was SO awesome that I'd even say it was my BEST birthday ever! It started as soon as I got home from work on Wednesday morning... Brian had told me to come straight home from work because I would have a surprise waiting for me. I couldn't imagine what my surprise would be, but I did as I was told. I pulled up in front of my house and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary... I walked inside and still didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I started talking to my Grandma and she said "Why don't you go downstairs and let Myrtle come up to visit for awhile?" I thought that was a little 10-37, because Grandma doesn't usually worry about Myrtle one way or the other... but I walked downstairs to let her out anyway. When I opened the door into my living room, I saw a pretty pink box sitting on my coffee table and three Happy Birthday balloons floating above it... I giggled and realized that must be my surprise from Brian. I walked past it and started to walk into my bedroom, calling Myrtle's name as I walked. As I turned to walk through the doorway, Brian came walking out... I did what any normal person would do - I screamed! "AGH!!! What are you doing here?!" I asked, throwing my arms around him. He told me that he had taken the day off of work (something he NEVER, EVER does!) and that he had planned a trip to the Inner Harbor... we were going to go to The Aquarium and have lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I was SO excited!

We ended up meeting my friend Sarah and her friend Brad at Cracker Barrel for breakfast to celebrate... then we went over to the new house to do a few things... then we came home to get ready for Baltimore. I hadn't been to The Aquarium since I was a little kid, probably in elementary school, so it was very nostalgic for me. Brian & I walked around for a few hours taking in all the sights... some of my favorites were the penguins, the sting rays, the sea turtles and the sharks! Since we'd had a late breakfast, we weren't really hungry to we decided to skip The Cheesecake Factory this time... we headed back to Harford County to visit with my Mom, Grandma & Hannah. My lack of sleep caught up to me and I fell asleep on the couch for about an hour and a half... us old people need our sleep, you know! =) Later that night, Brian & I went out to dinner at Don Pablos in White Marsh... in addition to our yummy dinners, we also had some queso blanco dip (my favorite!), some margaritas (extra lime & extra salt for me!) and some sopapillas for dessert. It was such a perfect day and I was so happy to be able to spend it with my honey!

The rest of my family had planned on celebrating my birthday on Sunday with a BBQ at my Mom & Grandma's house. Brian & I had invited our friend Jith to come too and my sister Kelly was there with my nieces, Hannah & Sara and my nephew, Khalid. My Mom rocked her awesome cooking skills and whipped up a mini-feast... we had filet mignon, mini crab cakes, garlic shrimp, BBQ bacon wrapped shrimp, green beans almondine, pasta salad, potato salad, stuffed tomatoes, bread & butter, iced tea, lemonade, sodas, etc. It was Mmm Mmm GOOD!!! We also had an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins... chocolate cake with chocolate chip ice cream... yum!!

After we stuffed our faces, it was present time! I got to open Brian's presents on my actual birthday... I got a new Fossil watch (with my favorite color on the face... PINK!), some bath salts from The Body Shop, and some pretty nail files/buffers. Grandma got me "The Next Grilleration G5" - an awesome George Foreman grill with 5 interchangeable plates... you can grill, griddle, bake, and make waffles! Mom got me a sterling silver necklace that you can put a picture in (sorta like a locket) that says "If daughters were flowers, I'd still pick you", a sterling silver bracelet that says "A daughter is a little girl who grows up to be a friend" and a card with $50 in it. My sister Kelly got me a wooden picture frame that says LOVE and has a recent picture of us in it, along with an old picture of us... she also made me this basket of flowers that hangs on your front door. It is SO pretty! My niece Hannah made me a very nice card and she also made me a pottery bowl in her art class... it's yellow with pink hearts around the top and a flower on the bottom of the bowl. (she got an A on the project...) My niece Sara also made me a very nice card and bought me a bag of gummie peaches... one of my favorites! =) Best of all, we got to spend several hours together listening to music, eating, laughing, and just enjoying each other's company... it was some good quality family time and I loved every minute of it!

As much as I'm not looking forward to my birthday next year, if it's anything like this one was then it might not be so bad! =)

Here's a link to some pictures from my celebration... thanks to everyone for making my day so special! =)
http://picasaweb.google.com/109410991485491401605/NikkiS29thBirthday#