Two dogs in a little bed

I've been working on two other posts the last couple days. However, my scanner is not working with my laptop. Therefore, you do not get to read about Shitgate 2011. Hopefully, I'll be able to complete that one by the end of the week. Instead you get two dogs in a little bed.

Enjoy.

The Dude and Jada managed to squeeeeze into the little bed. Then they moved over to the large bad to snuggle down. Sophie, being the biotch that she is, kept trying to ruin my pictures until I took one of her. Can we say jealous?

Super Saturday Part 1- Farmer's Market & Wine Tour

Since my weekend was totally awesome, I am going to break it down into two parts. Friday night Ryan and I went out to Snapper's in Mechanicsburg, PA to hang out with his parents. It was great. I did take some photos, however, my camera phone was acting like a jerk and didn't save the pictures. (Boo)

Saturday morning, after a sneaky hangover, we headed over to the West Shore Farmer's Market in Lemoyne, PA. It's always a great time walking up and down the isle, eating random goodies. Our first stop of course was the ATM. We forgot to pick up cash. We headed upstairs to get some cash, Ryan was accosted by some lady trying to get us to buy her book of poems. Umm...no thank you. She actually shoved the book in Ryan's hand. Luckily, Ryan was swift with his response, "We don't read, sorry." We quickly retreated downstairs to find another ATM. We don't read? That was the best response he could muster? Yikes. We laughed about it. Hi, I'm Ryan, we don't read.

We found some cash and headed right over to our favorite place, Casero Pizza. I did a little write up about them a couple weeks ago. This is where we first learned about the awesomeness of their pizza.

Ryan got a delicious pepperoni roll and a slice. I got a pepperoni slice of Sicilian pizza. It was really tasty. I couldn't even finish my slice. Ryan helped me out of course.

Next up we hit the bread stand. Mussoline's has the softest fresh rolls. Great for sandwich making. We got four wheat seeded rolls.

You can't have a soft delicious roll with out something to eat in the middle of it. We stopped by S. Clyde Weaver's Specialty Meat and Cheese stand. This place is always busy. So busy, they have multiple people helping out to make sure you get your order fast. We ended up getting a pound of thick sliced bacon, a pound of rare London broil, and three quarter of a pound of Colby cheese.

Our final stop at the Farmer's Market was for pretzels. Yummy, yummy pretzels by Zook's. I felt kind of odd taking a picture of this one. The stand is run by Mennonites, or some time of Amish people, and I know they are funny about getting their picture taken.

We ended up getting these little mini wiener pretzel rolls. I had never had these treats before. They were ultra yummy. Who knew you could wrap a mini hot dog in a pretzel and it would rock? We got home and dipped them in spicy mustard. Nom Nom bitches.

Next up, we headed to two different wineries. The Mason Dixon Wine Trail has tickets for $15.00 per person; you get to visit 14 different wineries over a two weekend period. The majority of wineries are out by our way.

Now, originally we were going to go with a bunch of people. I'm really bad at gathering people up. We had some couples to go with, but they all couldn't make it. With my mini-hangover in the morning, I wasn't sure I was even going to bother going.  After chowing down at the Farmer's Market we felt good enough to go to try some new wines.

First winery up was Moon Dancer Vineyards and Winery. This was in Wrightsville, PA. It took us a little over a half hour to get there. In fact, when we pulled up to the place I actually thought we were walking into someone's house. It did not look like a business; just an awesome house overlooking the Susquehanna River.

Me

Ryan

So, the place looks really nice, and the view is really nice, but the worker's there were kind of shitty. This is the part of my blog that I hate writing. I love telling the masses about a great place, but always feel like a dick telling peeps when I didn't have a good experience. I don't want to totally trash a place, but if I didn't have good service, I think I should tell the truth about that as well. We start trying a couple wines and it seemed like the pourers had better things to do. Like standing around? Every time we asked for a different sample I felt like I was inconveniencing them. Sorry I showed up and you have to work. If you don't enjoy your job, that's cool, but can you just pretend that you want to take my money? Pretty pretty please with a freakin cherry on top. Thanks.

I believe we tried a couple of their wines. They were mostly dry to semi-dry wines. Ryan and I are not really big fans of the dry wines. My unsophisticated palette hasn't gotten their yet. Plus, the wines at Moon Dancer were kind of expensive. I truly believe you do NOT need to spend more than $15.00 for a good bottle of wine. Most of the prices here were over $20.00. We didn't even ask that many questions because the woman "helping" us looked like she ate a pile of shit. We did try a blueberry wine that is good to mix with whipped cream vodka. We bought two bottles, one a Riesling and the blueberry stuff.

They were giving tours of the cellars, but we were so over it, we just wanted to get out of there.

Next up was Allegro Vineyards. This winery is in Brogue, PA. It is about twenty minutes from Moon Dancer. It was a very scenic and beautiful drive. However, I realized while driving that I was low on gas. Shit! Why did I not notice this before? The rest of the drive over to Allegro was extremely stressful because I was so worried that we were going to run out of gas in the middle of no-man's land. We made it there thank goodness and Ryan found a gas station close by through the GPS thing.

When we arrived at Allegro the building was very unassuming. It just looked like a regular building, nothing fancy. But what the building lacked on the outside it made up for with it's excellent service on the inside. We walked in and there was several tables of snacks. Yes, I will help myself to your delicious goodies, thanks! After a bunch of people showed up, one of the staff took us to another room, the storage room, to give us a presentation about their winery. I didn't get the man's name, but he gave a great presentation. He told us about a couple different wines and about how PA's ever changing seasons give the wines a different taste each year. We tried two different wines during the presentation, Rose Nouveau and 2010 Chambourcin. They were both too dry for our liking, but it did pair well with the sample turkey stuffing morsel they gave us.

Next we were free to try more samples in the next room over. This room had a chocolate fountain! Holla! They had two stations where there were sweet wines and dry wines. The gentleman pouring the sweet wines was extremely knowledgeable and talked to us about the flavors of the wines we tried. We tried the Susquehanna-White a semi-dry wine. It was good. But we really liked the Vidal Blanc ($12), it tastes like a German Riesling and the Fusion ($12). We ended up buying two bottles of the Vidal. The pourer told us he has a stand over at the Giant store in Enola and if we like he can give us a dollar off of the Fusion on Sundays. Umm...yes thank you! We really liked the Fusion it's more of a spicier wine, but a dollar off is a dollar off.

After we were done with trying the sweeter wines we moved over to the dry wine table. And older gentleman helped us try the 2009 Merlot ($17) and the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon ($19). Like I said before, we aren't really into dry wines. But what better way to learn about dry wines than to go to a wine tasting! The Merlot again was a bit too dry for our liking, but we did buy the Cabernet. It is supposed to go well with steak and pasta. We ended up chatting with the two pourers for about twenty minutes about different kinds of and why they like working at Allegro. We learned that chilling wine is not something that they recommend. Huh!?! The woman pourer told us that chilling a wine typical hides the taste of the wine and they usually do that to hide a bad wine. Did not know that. Both pourers told us they drink wine at room temperature or slightly cooler. This goes for white and red wines.

This place was freaking awesome. I totally recommend it for anyone that wants to get good information and great tasting wine that isn't going to kill your wallet. Ryan and I were both so impressed by the attitudes of the people that worked there. They love wine and it shows. I would go back to this place again in a heartbeat. They also have a stand at the West Shore Farmer's Market if you don't want to take the trip down to Brogue.

I apparently do not take criticism well.

Ryan and I were driving home from the grocery store and I was discussing with him how I have been having some issues on coming up with topics to write about. His words were, you are not applying yourself. Huh? Oh yes I am damn it. Below is a semi-word for word, blow by blow of the conversation that ensued after this devastating attack on my ego.

Me: Man, I am having trouble coming up with shit to write about.

Ryan: Well, you're probably not applying yourself.

Me: (Head spins) Huh, what do you mean I'm not applying myself? How do you even know?

Ryan: Cuz I've known you forever and you're not very good at applying yourself. Are you writing down your ideas?

Me: Yes, sometimes, no. I can't remember everything I think of!

Ryan: See, you need to be writing these things down.

Me: Whatev dude, I can't write shit down while I'm driving.

Ryan: You need to be writing these ideas down. You're not applying yourself.

Me: Fuck off. (Turns radio up, clearly I am over this convo.)

Ryan: See! You can't take criticism very well, you're turning the radio up to drown me out.

Me: I can take criticism well! And, this conversation is over.

Ryan: Did anyone ever tell you, you are passive-aggressive with your husband?

Me: No, I've never heard that before since I only have one husband.

Me: You know what?

Ryan: What?

Me: I'm going to write about this conversation we're having right now.

Ryan: Hmph.

Groovin it up

Saturday Ryan and I went to a 70s party at our friends house. It was really groovy and far out. Sorry, that's the best 70s talk I can muster. The best thing about the party is that I already own all the items that I wore that night. There was no extra spending required! It also says a lot about my wardrobe.

Not sure who's glasses these are, but they look good!

So, let's talk about Ryan's outfit...He also already owns the entire ensemble. We went shopping at the Salvation Army but he decided that his outfit was too 80s oriented. I kind of agree, but let's be honest, the clothes back then regardless of the decade were kind of crazy.

 I'm not sure what outfit of the 70s this is, but it's pretty darn funny.

Mander and Missy

 Ryan and my boobs

Tequila shots....not the good kind....but it did the job.

Rick and Steph with her new 70s outfit

I must say it was an awesome party. I did not have to drive home that night, therefore my pictures steadily got more sloppy as the night progressed. I think I tried making sexy eyes at the camera, which made me look like I was sleepy. Ugh!



Potty Rules

I was asked an oddball question after several adult beverages this past weekend about how I decide what public bathroom stall I use. I had such a long explanation; I thought what better way to describe my bodily functions than in a blog!

First off, I have a fear of going to the bathroom in public…period. Toilets in general are much cleaner than cell phones, telephones, and apples from the grocery store. We touch a gross amount of stuff every day, and then we shake hands and don’t see anything wrong with this. In my younger years, I was like a camel, holding my bladder once for 16 hours while I was at Six Flags because I was totally creeped out by the potties. Now that I’m older, my bladder has the functionality of a 60 year old. I have a glass of water. I have to pee.

Scenario #1. You are in a multiple stall bathroom, like the movie theater and there is someone in one stall already, where do you go? Good question. If the bathroom isn’t filled with other pottiers I will certainly NOT pick the bathroom stall next to the one that already has a person in it. I don’t care if this is a golden toilet and there’s a hot guy waiting to wipe my ass for me. In fact, at all costs I always go for the handicapped stall. It’s a bigger bathroom and has more room to maneuver.

Scenario #2. Bathroom with multiple stalls is filled with lots of people. Shit. I just look for the stall that isn’t filled with toilet paper, tinkle on the seat, or poo clogging up the toilet. There is usually squatting involved because I’m afraid. Many times, I will actually try to plug my ears and hum so I don’t hear the other people going to the bathroom. I pretend I’m alone and there’s classical music and a waterfall in the background.

Scenario #3 I’m at work. Ugh….I believe I have the same “schedule” as another woman in the office. We have a two-stall bathroom and I swear every time I go to go, she is also going. I’m constantly running into her or opening the door and bam! there she is washing her hands. I’m sure that she has noticed this as well. We’ve both been working here for over ten years. Do I make small talk? Do I just pretend I don’t see you? Just say hey and look at the floor as I bypass her to the stall? I have pee stage fright, so how am I even going to be able to go while she is just two inches of plywood away? I’ve actually started looking around the corner at her desk to see if she’s there. If not, I’ll wait.

Scenario #4 Bathroom stall lock is broke. I simultaneously hold the door with one hand or foot while squatting. It’s a good exercise for my thighs and balance issues.

Scenario #5 OMG there is no toilet paper in my stall. Why have the Gods cursed me?!? Why didn’t I check before I unzipped my pants? What is wrong with me! ARGH! I’m pretty sure you can hear me swear at this time. If it’s a multiple stall bathroom I will ask to spare a square from anyone. If there’s no one around, I am not below waddling to another stall to get more TP. Yes, my pants will be down and I will be bent over in an odd position. I’m thinking please do not let anyone see me like this.

 

Scenario #6 This part gets a little trickier. And if you don’t want to continue reading, I completely understand. Doing Number 2 in public is a hairy situation to say the least. I personally try to avoid it all costs. AT ALL COSTS. But sometimes it happens. Like when you are shopping or driving. This is serious bad news. I call it shopping shit or driving shit. There you are minding your own business and then WHAM! Rumbles in the bumble or thunder down under. You try desperately to suck it back in, maybe it's just some farts. But you know when you're in the middle of the grocery store you can't just leave your cart and go home. There isn't enough time!


You swiftly speed walk to the nearest stall, hoping that scenarios 1-5 are not occuring. There's nothing worse than doing a Number 2 while there are other people around in the public bathroom.


My recommendation is to flush the toilet immediately that way the noise muffles any bodily sounds. Meanwhile, you pray that the toilet doesn't overflow with no plunger in sight.

Coakley's = Meh.

Last night Ryan and I had dinner at Coakley's Restaurant and Irish Pub in New Cumberland, PA. Coakley's is about three miles away from our house, but we rarely go there to eat. The service of the wait staff is always outstanding. The are friendly and prompt. The menu online does not reflect what they actually serve. It does give most of the items, but what we had is not on their online menu.

We ordered the crab pretzel for an appetizer. It was really good. Very cheesy and had some crab in it. Could have used a little more crab.

We each ordered a burger topped with crab meat and cheese. I asked the server if anything else comes on it. He said that it's good enough as it is. Coolio. I love when servers give recommendations, it makes me think he actually gives a shit about getting a tip.

This is what came out. The fries were a little on the yellow/brown side. The were still really crispy. I ordered the burger medium and that is exactly how it came out. However, the crab that was supposed to be on there was pretty much non-existent. I peeled the cheese off and there was nothing impressive.

Where is the crab again?

We both used the Heinz ketchup, but Ryan was convinced that it was not really Heinz. We both looked at the ketchup a little harder and agreed it was more brown than the Heinz brand. This led him to go on a five minute rant about how shitty it was. Me on the other hand kept shoving fries into my mouth.

I was unable to finish all the food, so we packed the burger to go. The bill came to $30.00, now I purchased a $15 half off deal from Living Social. So, we paid on $15 for the meal and we tipped the server $10. When we left we saw the cooks outside smoking. Let's just say they didn't look like the type of cooks that love to cook. Needless to say we won't be back for dinner again. This was the second meh time we ate there. Sad biz indeed. Sad biz.

What I've Learned-Blogtoberfest 2011

I have learned a lot from the Blogtoberfest 2011. I like blogging, but I really don't put out good material everyday. I'm more of 2-3 times a week kind of girl. I like to blog when I've done something fun or I need to rant for a bit.

I have found it is hard to read other people's blog because I'm so darn busy with my own. I'm neglecting part of the reason for blogging. Connecting with other people. I feel like I have been just throwing shit at the wall to throw shit at the wall.

I'm not upset with myself for doing the every day blog thing. I think it was a good exercise to get me in the habit of blogging. It's very easy for me to stop doing something. That could be a good or a bad thing, I don't know which one.

Some nights I would work on the blog for 4-5 hours. I'd post it and then it was time for bed. Sometimes, I'd want to continue on a thought but for lack of time I would just hurry up and finish. In my mind that's not what I want to put out to the world. I love to draw badly. It takes a lot more time to draw than it does to do the actual writing part. I'm a sinister lefty. But all the computer companies have made me conform to using a mouse right handed. I can do that fine. Try using a mouse pad to draw a picture with your non-dominate hand. Good luck.

Now that the month is over, I can focus on putting out what I think is quality. And if I can't come with anything, I will post pictures of my cute dogs.