What's going on?

It's been a busy few weeks here and I'm happy to say that Mike is back home! He finished his first project in GA and I'm very proud of him. He worked hard and it paid off. His next one isn't until another month or so, so he'll be home for a little while. Yay!

My sister came down for a visit one weekend while Mike was actually up in Gainesville for a Gator Club event.  We took Penny to the dog park, saw a movie and hit up the Florida Aquarium - I'd actually never been!

The following weekend, my parents came to Tampa and we went to the American Victory Ship on Saturday. It was built in 1944 and only one of four remaining ships from WWII that are still fully functioning. It was pretty cool! On Sunday, we all went to brunch along with Mike's dad and stepmom. It's always nice to get the families together.

This past Tuesday was Valentine's Day and we celebrated with our simple little tradition - fondue. We stay home and Mike makes a fondue dinner for us - cheese appetizer, meat, and chocolate and fruit for dessert. Yum! We had that along with some champagne and it was a very nice evening. We don't usually do gifts, but I did receive this beautiful surprise at work earlier in the day:

How pretty are those??

We also have an exciting adventure coming up...we booked our anniversary cruise! SO hard to believe that our one year anniversary is less than 2 months away. Time really does fly! Since Mike's not sure when his work schedule for his next Georgia project is, we decided to book it early just in case it ends up interfering with our actual anniversary date. We had so much fun on our honeymoon, that we decided to book another cruise! This time, we're headed south to the Caribbean. We're so excited but I'll elaborate more on that later on :)

As usual, we have a packed weekend coming up. Tomorrow we have our friends Mike and Danielle's wedding! They're good friends of ours who also happen to be our very awesome dog sitters for Penny. Their dog, Rylee, is Penny's little boyfriend. They're so cute! Mike and Danielle are getting married tomorrow night on Davis Island and it's supposed to be a beautiful day! We're very excited for them both.

On Sunday, I finally get to take my photography class! I can't wait to learn all the new tricks I can do with my camera(that I'm still very obsessed with). Mike is organizing an event for the Tampa Gator Club in a few weeks - a 5K race - and he's "hiring" me as the photographer for the event. Should be interesting...

Also, don't forget to check out my picture blog! All the pics from the dog beach, aquarium, AV Ship and Valentine's Day are on there. I update that blog pretty regularly, so if you want to keep up with it, you can add your email up top where it says "follow by email" and it'll notify you when I add new pictures and posts. You can do the same with this blog, if you haven't done so yet. 

Picture site - click here: Pictures & Pawprints 

I'll post about our upcoming trip on Monday. Until next time, have a fabulous weekend! 

Hurry up, week!!

Sorry...been slacking on the posting. I promise to update more. Just hasn't really been much of an eventful few weeks. Last weekend, we went to a housewarming party for our friends Russ and Lauren (who also have their first baby arriving in about a month!). Then on Sunday, we spent Father's Day with Mike's dad over at his place. I'm also going through the dental work from hell...Long story short, I had to get a filling done and of course, the tooth right next to it cracked just a few days before my appointment (which has never happened to me!). My dentist advised that I get 2 crowns put on since the teeth are side by side. As he's working on my teeth, he notices the broken tooth was too close to the nerve and said I needed a root canal before the crowns. I go in for said root canal (another first for me) and now have to go back in for my crowns. Exciting stuff, huh? Oh yeah - I also have an extremely sensitive mouth and afraid of any dental work (I really do have nightmares about my teeth falling out). This should be fun.

This past weekend, my sister came back from her 6 week study abroad program in Italy. She's the only person I know who goes to Italy and craves Chinese and Mexican food, ha ha! So, I made sure she had her fair share of chips and salsa, queso, enchilladas, etc. when she came back on Saturday. On Sunday, we were supposed to take the boat out, but Mother Nature had other plans, so we had to nix that idea. So we went to Costco instead. See - told you things were not super exciting in the Gorecki household lately.

However...

This weekend we are heading up north to spend July 4th weekend at the Jersey Shore! Our friend Ryan's parents have a house up there, and he invited us and a couple other friends to head up there for the weekend. We leave on Friday and then on Saturday, Mike and I are going into NYC!!! I cannot WAIT for my feet to hit those sidewalks again. I'm so excited. I can't believe it's been as long as it has been since I left. I'm WAY overdue for a trip up there. Of course, I'd love to stay longer, but if it's just for a day, I'll take it. There's so much I wanna cram in to one day, but given our recent honeymoon experiences, I know we can do it.

I'm coming for you, NY! See you SOON!

Sunday, we'll be hanging out with everyone at the shore. Seaside Heights, to be exact. I've been there a few times before and it's probably one the best people watching places on earth. I've also been told the cast of the "Jersey Shore" on MTV will be out and about filming episodes for next season, so we may see them wandering around. My sister just saw them in Florence when they took over Italy for a few weeks (and she may or may not have made it on camera...) and said that they're just as trashy and entertaining as they are on TV. 

On Monday, we're actually flying out of Philadelphia that night, so we're going to head over there with a few friends on Monday morning and spend the day there. Neither Mike nor I have ever been to Philly, so that'll be cool to hang out there for a bit. Plus, I'm sure it'll be awesome to be there on July 4th!

That's about it for now. Happy Monday!

I heart NY

Happy Monday! Ok, I'm not really that chipper on a Monday. It's more like "ugh...Monday's back." Come on - who really enjoys Mondays? Anyway, as usual, we had a pretty packed weekend. Friday night, we went to our friend Robb's house for dinner with a few other couples. On Saturday, we went to our friend Missy's annual "Summer Sizzle" - a pool party she throws every summer. She lives on a huge piece of land right on a lake, so she has the ideal place for a party and it's always a fun time. Sunday, Mike went golfing with some of the guys and I went to brunch with my friends April, Vermille and Kimmy, followed by some shopping with the girls. Sunday night, I made dinner for Mike and I (smothered pork chops and roasted ratatouille - YUM!). After dinner, we watched the Tony Awards. I love the Tony Awards and I never miss it. Everyone knows my undying love for Broadway and it's so much fun to watch all the performances and learn about all the new shows that are out. I can't even count how many times I said to Mike throughout the show, "I wanna go up to New York and see that!." Watching the Tonys always makes me so homesick for NY, though! When I lived up there, I worked for a site called Broadway.com and it was a dream for me - I saw tons of shows when I lived up there. During one of Mike's first visits up there, we went to see Spring Awakening and we both loved it! Some of the kids from Glee were part of the original Broadway cast, so it's cool to watch the show (which I religiously do every Tuesday) and know that we saw them on stage. Going to the theater here is great, but there's nothing like sitting in an old theater in NYC. I'd rather sit in the little Eugene O'Neill theater with everything still intact from the 1920s than in the big performing arts center here any day! We're going up to New Jersey for July 4th weekend with some friends (Jersey Shore, actually. But more on that later...), and planning on heading into the city for day. I can't wait! I know we'll only be there for a day, so seeing a show is out of the question, but it'll feel so good to be back in NY!