WV and Ang

This weekend, Whitney and I decided we needed a shopping day in West Virginia. We've been told their mall is really nice and it's closer to us than Pittsburgh. So reluctantly, Jan went with us and we drove to Morgantown. It's a really pretty drive, as you can see from the pictures. But one wrong turn, and it can get pretty confusing since most of the streets look like that (all foresty!). Anyway, we weren't too thrilled with their mall, but we found the best restaurant ever! It's called Cheddar. It was great food for not a lot of money. AND they actually have Monte Cristo sandwiches! AH, I thought of Disneyland =) It was actually pretty good too. I wish we had a Cheddar near our house, but luckily Morgantown isn't too far away.

This weekend, we also went to this little club/bar called The Loose Goose (I know... what a name) to celebrate Angela's birthday! Happy birthday Angela! Again, Angela is one of Jan's friends from high school, but I actually see her more often because she works at Starbucks =p

Weed Out The Weak

For those of you who don't know, my talented young sister is in a band called Weed Out the Weak. They are becoming extremely popular very quickly! This Thursday, July 31st, they will be playing at The Sets in Tempe at 6:30pm. So, go see them while their concerts are still cheap =p They are pre-selling tickets for $8, otherwise it's $10 at the door. Here is their Myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/wowlive Let me know if you would like her e-mail for tickets. Obviously, I haven't been able to attend any of their shows, so whoever goes, take good pictures for me!! Here are a few I *stole* from their Myspace.....














PS My Camry is working again =) I am not stranded!!

Zoo Babies

Jan-Michael did not want to go to the Pittsburgh Zoo, but I've been bugging him for weeks! I heard they had baby polar bears, so I just had to go! He decided to take me for our 3 year anniversary. Even though it was a week day, the zoo was pretty crowded. It's popular! People must have been running outdoors since it has finally stopped raining. It was pretty hot and sunny, but luckily there are a lot of trees with plenty of shade. It's not a very large zoo, but it's really nice. We did everything and saw every animal, except what was over in the Kids Kingdom. The animals didn't seem to mind the heat and were out and about instead of hiding inside or in the shade (typical for animals at the Phoenix Zoo). There's the Asian Forest, where we saw all the "big kitties" (haha!), the African Savanna of zebras, giraffes and elephants, the Tropical Forest with monkeys galore, Bears with lots of um... bears!, and finally the Water's Edge where the aquarium and polar bears are. I throughly enjoyed the Water's Edge area because it had huge underwater domes to walk through. It's going to be awesome once it's all finished. They have similar things at Sea World. Unfortunately, there was only one big polar bear- I asked a zoo employee if there were baby polar bears and he said (with an Australian accent) YES but they're about 2 years old now. Apparently polar bears like to be by themselves, so if the younger boys were in the exhibit at the same time as the older bear, there would be chaos and fighting! So, the only baby polar bears I saw were the plush ones in the gift shop =p However, to my surprise, we saw a tiger cub, young gorillas, and a young giraffe. My favorite baby of the day though was baby elephant Angelina. They had "it's a girl!" signs all over near the elephant house. She was only 6 days old when we saw her. Just adorable!!! My favorite pictures of the day- a gorilla who was slouching against a wall and a bear who decided he needed to scratch his back! Jan's favorite part of the day was getting fresh french fries with cheese sauce!




After our fun day at the zoo, we headed to Station Square. Station Square has indoor/outdoor shops and restaurants. The best part though is the view of the city. We were going to eat there, but decided to leave Pittsburgh and eat at Olive Garden. We used to eat at Olive Garden a lot when it was close to my apartment in CA. But now, it's quite a drive! It was a great opportunity for us to go and use our Olive Garden gift card we got from someone as a wedding present =)

Yes I know that once you get married, most people stop celebrating their "dating anniversary" because now they have a wedding anniversary. But why not celebrate both? Both days are still important. I remember thinking how sad it would be to not celebrate July 15th anymore. Then I met a couple who has been married for over 10 years that celebrates BOTH anniversaries. How fun is that? Besides, I say we could all use an extra excuse to spend the day with our husbands, don't you?

3 Year Dating Anniversary

July 15, 2005 - Our first date was at Disneyland!


July 15, 2006 - One year anniversary: back where we spent our first date, Disneyland


July 15, 2007- Two year anniversary, Disneyland and Goofy's Kitchen


July 15, 2008- Three year anniversary, Pittsburgh Zoo


Ok, so we weren't able to keep up the Disneyland tradition this year, but we still managed to go somewhere theme park-ish =p Every year for three years now, we've managed to end up outside in the July sun. Luckily, PA is not quite as warm as CA and we didn't have to deal with any long lines.

Birthday & Wedding Saturday

Yesterday was my father-in-law's 62nd birthday! Jan, myself, Twillet and Rich all went to breakfast at Eat N' Park to celebrate. We put his candles in his omelet =p Happy Birthday Colonel!
Afterwards, we went to Claire and Brad's wedding at our church (minus Jan who went to work). Jan-Michael has known Claire since kindergarten! The best part of the wedding was when her sons walked her down the aisle. So cute! Congrats Claire & Brad!

Pretty Summer Pictures

Happy Birthday Brother!

Happy 13th birthday (yes, he's a TEENAGER!! OMG!) to C.J.!!! Love you!

Happy 232nd Birthday USA!

Don't you just love the 4th of July? Who doesn't love getting in to the patriotic spirit? Pennsylvania is the most patriotic state I've ever been to. I mean, they have festivities going on all week! There were at least 4 different firework shows on different dates that we could attend. And that's just in our immediate surrounding area! If it wasn't for all this rain, I'm sure there would have been more.

Like Jacque, July is important to us too! Every year, Jan makes a prediction. The first 4th of July, he predicted (to himself) that we would be dating by the next celebration. The following year, he predicted we would be engaged, and the year after that, we would be married. Well, it has definitely all come true. Independence day reminds us of how we met, just 2 days before the 4th, and how we spent the holiday together even though we hardly knew eachother.

This year, we went to Ellen's cookout. Jan ran in to several friends he hasn't seen since high school. We ate, played games, and left early to watch fireworks. When we got home, we decided to light the few we had purchased. Yes, fireworks are legal in Pennsylvania! We seemed to get one of the loudest ones... it whistled so loudly as it spit colored flames. I've always been a fan of sparklers, so we got this type that changes colors as it burned. Fun fun. Of course, all week we could hear fireworks going off and see a few over people's backyards.

Tiffany and Ron decided to drive up to watch fireworks with us. With a bag of cherries in hand (a tradition my Dad got me in to) we went up to Nemacolin Resort. Although it wasn't the longest show I've ever seen, at least they had patriotic music playing. That concludes our July 4th.

April, Tiffany & Ru

Last weekend we spent Saturday with my new cousin, Tiffany and her husband Ron. I call her my new cousin because I acquired her through marriage =) They just moved near Pittsburgh, so we hardly get to see them. We finally went to see their new apartment, ate dinner, and walked around the mall. Although we use to see them quite often, we hardly took pictures together! So I made it a point to take a picture with Tiffany and... dun dun dun, my camera battery was dead! Thank goodness for cell phones, right? Anyway, they're newlyweds too so it's always a blast hanging out with them. We miss you guys!

This past Tuesday we had dinner with Jan's high school friend, April. We went to this place called Bud Murphy's which I always end up calling Papa Murphy's! haha! They have the best pizza I've found in this little town. We all ordered too much food and sat there for 3 hours trying to eat it all. Wings, pizza, fried zucchini (LOVE), and fries. Totally nothing good for us, but so so enjoyable! Thanks for the albums April!

Caution: Ranting About Fee Ahead

If you have a cell phone, raise your hand.
Well, did you know that if you sign up, add a line, or renew/upgrade directly in a Verizon STORE (and I'm sure, any other provider), you're going to end up paying $35-$25 more than online. True story. I know there are some people out there that didn't know that and will benefit from this blog.
I've been with Verizon for going on 6 years. I heard early on, through the grapevine, that if you renew and upgrade your phone through the internet, you can do it sooner and it's cheaper. I have done it every time since then. It's wonderful! I mean, they show you your choices online, the $50 discount is taken off right away (no waiting for the stinkin' rebate via mail), and they overnight it to you for free. When you get your phone, you follow the simple enclosed instructions for turning it on and activating it. Oh the wonderful world of the internet.
When it came to adding my husband to my current phone plan, I immediate set forth through Verizon's website. But then, dun dun dun, they did not have the phone he wanted. My dearest husband decided he wanted the EnV right when the EnV2 was being released. Sold out! However, they were still carrying them in the stores. So, we went in to a store. Biggest mistake. Guess what? They had just sold out. We should have turned around and walked out. Nope, we didn't. We added the line, he got an EnV2, and while I pulled $ from the ATM to pay, the dang lady turned it on and activated it. Do you know what that ended up costing us? $25 extra dollars. To activate it! That's something a five year old could do!
I called up Verizon once I got my bill this month to dispute this "activation fee" and lost poorly. All the stores do it, they will not waive it (unless you're a corporation), and there's nothing you can do about it. Well, almost nothing.... you see, if you have made this mistake... if you, like me, had no idea that stores think they're high and mighty and can charge you extra, TAKE THE PHONE BACK. Seriously. Take the phone, the rebate, the paperwork, everything back and re-order it online. You'll have it by tomorrow, I promise! It's like it never even happened. Meanwhile, you'll be $35-$25 richer! All Verizon equipment has a 30 day guarantee, so you CAN take it back =p Boo on them!
I have not done this. In the two weeks that Jan has got his phone, the price of the EnV2 has gone up. So, we're better off to just pay the $25. BUT if we would have ordered it online in the first place, we'd have $25 extra in our pocket.
Buyers beware!