The Dirty Thirty: Harris Edition

Last weekend, that sweet hubby of mine turned the big 3 - 0! For about a month and a half prior to his birthday, I had been keeping a surprise from him, and it was just about to burst out of me, so I am glad the birthday weekend arrived when it did!

Thursday evening, we dropped Lucy off with a babysitter for the weekend. I think this was Harris' first inclination that we might be doing something fun for the weekend (prior to this, I had only told him that he needed to take Friday the 30th off work). At this point, Harris really wanted to know where we were going, but I held out, and tortured us both a little longer. All I would tell him was that we needed to be out of the house by 6am Friday morning!

Friday we were up bright and early, of course. I finished packing us up, and then finally clued him in to our destination - Philadelphia! Harris loves Philly, so I knew he would be pleased with the locale of the celebration, but I was still holding out on him, so the drive up was still a bit torturous for me! See, I had arranged for two of his best buds from college, Brett & Josh to meet us in Philly. Brett and his wife, Whitney live in Pittsburgh, and Josh and his wife, Nicole, live in Chicago. Brett, Harris, and I were quire the trio back in college, so it is always fun to see him, and I am pretty sure I haven't seen Josh since Harris' ring ceremony back in 2005!

Long story short, we made it to Philly, and checked into our awesome hotel, The Hotel Monaco (which totally reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, and I loved it!), just in time for me to tell Harris we were going to lunch. We walked a few blocks, wandered into a local joint, where Harris followed me as I charged through the restaurant to a table in the back where his eyes about popped out of his head when he saw his buddies sitting there! It was so worth the planning, nervousness, and anxiety about giving it away!

It was so great to be able to surprise him in such a way, and I think he really loved being able to show other people all the things he loves about Philly. We spent Friday afternoon walking around Old City and down to Penn's Landing, and then over to the Reading Terminal Market. We then had tickets to the 7pm Phillies v. Met baseball game, where I had secured us some pretty sweet seats, if I may say so. They were in the Diamond Club, which was a little over-hyped in our opinion - I mean, yes, it was nice not to have wait in line for drinks or food, and to have an air-conditioned club we could go into, but the seats were fantastic - right behind home plate, 17 rows up! The game ending up going 14 innings, which meant we were at the ballpark until almost 1am, and I don't think my birthday boy could have been happier!

Saturday we all made it to breakfast, and then down to the Navy Yard for the International Beer Expo. Now, not being a beer drinker myself, I couldn't honestly tell you what the selection was like, but all the beer drinkers did seem pretty impressed! It was actually a really awesome festival - so much space that we never felt like we were all cramped up together, especially considering the sheer number of people there - there were some really great booths set up, and everyone seemed to have a really great time!

We spent the afternoon walking along South Street, had some cheesesteaks, and then ended up at a cocktail bar on the rooftop of our hotel. Sunday, we made it to a nice birthday brunch before everyone had to leave town. Overall, I would deem the weekend a success!

Harris, Happy 30th! I love you so much, and am so glad you were born :) I am so happy to have spent these last 11 birthdays with you, and I cannot wait to celebrate every one for the rest of our lives. Here's to many, many, many more birthdays together!

A guy rode his bike up to the ATM...it made Harris laugh so I took a picture

Weekend Recap

This weekend was such a busy one around these parts! Poor hubs. He has been working really long days, and, on his days off, I had quite the honey-please-do list for him! He was a trooper, as always, and got everything knocked off his list! And, we eventually managed to find some time for some much needed (for him!) R&R!

We have lived in our condo now for 18 months, which is so hard to believe! It took us a good year to get anything hung on the walls, and I am probably the slowest decorator ever, but the more we do, the more it becomes "ours", and we both love that. Before moving here, we had accumulated a lot of things - and have some pretty large pieces of antique furniture, which are all great, but were not really doing so well into our 1,200 square foot downtown condo. Back in December, you may recall, I got a storage unit during my "self-imposed college break", and started clearing out clutter (it was like an episode of Hoarders (which I have never watched, but I caught an episode of "Playing House" last week on USA and this is how they described it)) - the "keep" pile, the "trash" pile, the "storage" pile, and the "Goodwill" pile. I got a lot of stuff cleared out of here in December, and that felt fantastic! But, it still felt cramped in here because of some of that aforementioned really large furniture. So, we made an executive decision last week to get some movers in here this past weekend and move 7 or so pieces of furniture over to the storage unit. It feels like a brand new place in here! There is so much space! I could have a dance party in our guest room (I did a little bit)! It's wonderful!

Moving furniture took up most of our morning on Saturday, and then putting together furniture took up most of the afternoon (because why would you ever get rid of any furniture without buying some more, right?). Really it was only one piece of furniture - an entryway bench for our foyer - and then a few cabinets and shelves and things. But we were busy, and we got a lot done!

Yesterday, we had a bit more work to do, and then Harris cooked up a wonderful lunch - ribeye, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus. There is a farmer's market right outside our front door on Saturdays from May to October-ish, and went by on Saturday morning and got some strawberries, yukon potatoes, and the biggest asparagus I have ever seen! - all of which are locally grown!

Was I kidding?!?

We signed up for a local fruit and veggie delivery service that will start later this month, but will definitely still be hitting up the farmer's market too. We both love having that fresh produce, and also getting the chance to support local farmers and businesses.

As for the upcoming week, Harris is leaving tomorrow to go back to Arkansas for the week, so Lucy and I will be holding down the fort once again. I have made my work to-do list for the week, and have to say I have already had a pretty kick-butt kind of morning! Yay Mondays! Finally, the best part of the week, my friend Michelle is coming for a visit on Thursday, and will be here till next Monday! I am so excited about this! Michelle and I became friends in my last job - we worked on the same team. We just have very similar personalities and get along so well! I haven't seen her since January, and, she has never been to Virginia, and I loooove playing hostess so this should be a lot of fun! We will have a girl's night on Thursday, and then Harris will be home on Friday, so the three of us will have a great weekend, I am sure!

Hope y'all have a great Monday!

Recently

I almost titled this post "Lately", but I immediately  started singing this 90s ballad in my head, and had to nix that from the start. You're welcome for getting it stuck in your head too.

Now that we have that out of the way, I am not going to waste my time or yours apologizing for taking 3 weeks to craft a blog post. It happens. I am sure you three religious readers will forgive me. Maybe. Hopefully.

At any rate, since my last post many exciting things have happened! Allow me to enumerate them for you (with as many accompanying pictures as you and I can both stand). Ready, set, go!

Lucy turned 4 years old! I cannot believe this little puppy is now 4!

Lucy at 6 weeks old - her first weekend at home with me & Harris

For her birthday we spent the afternoon at the park, and then took a ride. It was a glorious day for a little pup!

Little Goose - we love you so so much! You make our lives so happy every single day, and you are the cutest little dog in the world!

The weekend after Lucy's birthday, my best friend, Erica, her hubby, Michael, and their puppy, Loki (aka Lucy's boyfriend) came into town for the weekend! It was so wonderful to spend time with them, and get to share our home and town with them. We tried to cover as much of downtown as we could, and just enjoy our time together. I can't wait for them to come back for another visit!

That next week, I went to New Jersey for a few days for work. Additionally, after almost three years of traveling to Jersey on the regular, I have decided that Princeton is the only part of the state I would deem pretty. 

This logo always makes me think of the circus, anyone else?

That next weekend my little sister and her beau came into town to celebrate her 20th birthday! Holy wow I cannot believe my little Kayla is 20! We had the most fun weekend celebrating and just spending time together! She requested a strawberry birthday cake with hot pink frosting, which resulted in the pinkest cake in the world!

Lucy and the boys were tired! Who am I kidding? Kayla and I were probably passed out right beside them.

Kayla's Birthday Video from Courtney Ligon on Vimeo.

It was also Halloween while they were here!

The week after that, I went to Texas for the week. It was long, and I didn't take any pictures. I know you are disappointed. Oh wait, I forgot. I took pictures of my super bourgeois hotel room the last night. I stayed at the Grand Hyatt at the airport. When I opened the door to my room, I thought for a moment someone was in the room because as soon as the door opened, the tv turned on, started playing music, and showed this message:

The shades also started opening, electronically. And then I took this picture:

And then I ordered sushi and a martini from room service. The sushi was delicious. The martini too strong. Such is life.

I got home from Texas last Friday afternoon, and then left for California for my monthly mentoring circle meeting first thing Monday morning. Harris also started a ridiculously long work stretch this past weekend, and is still going strong. Le boo.

This month's mentoring meeting was hosted by yours truly. So naturally, I made everyone go to California. I mean, why not.

Sunrise from my hotel room. Mountains in the background.

Sunrise from the other side. Ocean in the background.

Pink starfish! First time I have ever seen one in nature!

View from our boat tour.

Sea lions and seagulls going for some fish being thrown from the docks

Sea lion!

A Maersk ship being unloaded. Not the Alabama, FYI.

My mentoring group after our boat tour.

At the top of the Port Authority building in Long Beach.

After our session, we decided to do a little sight-seeing, and hit up Beverly Hills and Hollywood!

Tory Burch

Cartier. They started rolling out the red carpet as we walked by - I wonder who was coming in!

Chanel

Loving the palm trees. Guess they aren't palmettos in Cali?

Bugatti parked on Rodeo

Couple stars from Walk of Fame

Something was going on at Grauman's Theatre (now known as TCL theatre, FYI). We didn't spot any celebs, but we saw the paparazzi and the red carpet, so SOMEONE was there!

Dolby Theatre (aka the Kodak)

Phew. Okay, if you actually made it through all of that, congrats to you! As a treat to you for being so resilient, I have saved the very best for last! Drumroll please....

Harris got a promotion!!!!!!!!!

As of next month, he will start training for his new position, which he will assume January 1st. He will be leading a team, and, most excitingly, will be working normal office hours: Monday through Friday, 8am - 5pm. We could not be more thrilled, and I could not be more proud of him!!! This has been an absolute blessing, and the answer to many, many prayers! He is so excited about the opportunity, and we are both excited to have some normalcy in our lives! I can hardly imagine having my hubby home every night, and weekends together! Ahh...so wonderful!

With that, I will bid you all goodnight. I hope to be better, and to write before 3 weeks pass us by again...