Anniversary Weekend!

Sunday, Harris and I celebrated one year of marriage! While it seems absolutely crazy that already a year has passed since we exchanged vows in beautiful Playa Mujeres, it is even crazier to think that this past Friday was the 11th anniversary of our first date! To top it off, we also got some really exciting news on Friday - Harris got a promotion! Now, I know, I know, he just got a promotion a few months ago, but, some changes happened a bit unexpectedly, and he will be moving into a new role, leading a new team with some pretty high-profile business. I am so proud of him, and I know he will do such a great job! It was a weekend of celebration, indeed!

Friday evening we met up with our friends Clay & Whitley and a few other people to try out Vintage Tavern in Suffolk since it was restaurant week. We had such a blast with everyone, and, the food was pretty great too. It had some room for improvement (felt like the pureed butter bean soup - yes, butter bean soup! - was a little salty, among a few small other things), but I would definitely want to go back! Their cheese plate was one of the best I have had in this area, and the creme brulee was ah-mazing!

I was reminded during our jaunt over to Suffolk how much I really enjoy city living. While it was nice to see the wide open spaces (Suffolk is a little bit country, folks), I really do enjoy having most things within walking distance of our condo. I guess it is a give and take, though - we get to have the convenience of having our favorite restaurants, the movies, the mall, and so on, literally, right outside our front door, but we forsake things like a yard and a grill, and space between us and our neighbors. While those latter things are definitely nice, I think we really enjoy the convenience so much more than we would those other things. Plus, without having a commute for Harris, we get to see each other loads more than we would if we were living out in Virginia Beach, or one of the other burbs. Perk!

After hanging with the friends Friday night, we decided to spend Saturday doing things in Norfolk we hadn't done yet, which mostly involved spending a gloriously sunny day flitting in and out of various shops and stores, and walking streets in the Ghent neighborhood. We popped into one of the local bakeries over there and shared the most delicious slice of cake - it was banana, chocolate, something or other, and I swear it was like the best parts of a chocolate cake mated with the best parts of a banana pudding and made this perfect little cake for our enjoyment. Now, of course Harris didn't know this at the time, but we ended up eating a lot of cake over the weekend! Since we couldn't bring back the top tier of our wedding cake from Mexico last year, I had a local bakery recreate it for us to enjoy! While it wasn't quite as delectable as the original, it was still a darn good cake!

Now, I don't know if you know this or not, but the first year anniversary present is, traditionally, supposed to be paper. I don't know why, but I have always wanted to find some creative way to honor this tradition, and, because of this, have had Harris' anniversary present planned for months! I decided to get us Sunday season tickets to the Norfolk Tides baseball games! I knew he would love it because 1. he loves baseball, and 2. it would be a fun activity for us to do together. There are 11 Sunday games, plus we get vouchers for 2 more games. This seemed much more reasonable than the 72-game full-season tickets! I mean, seriously, that is a commitment! As expected, he loved his gift. Now, for my anniversary present...we are still in suspense over here! With the whole Lucy situation that has been going on lately, we decided to postpone making any serious plans for our anniversary, but, unbeknownst to me, the hubs already has some surprise trip planned, and apparently my gift shall not be given till that time...I love it! He did, however, get me a few little things over the weekend, because he is just nice like that!

Our actual anniversary day was a rainy, yucky, cold mess of a day. So, it was the perfect day for laying in bed, watching our wedding video, snuggling, watching tv, and ordering takeout! No complaints from Team Ligon on that one.

This week has already gotten off with a bang. Yesterday morning, bright and early, Harris took off for a business trip to Mexico! He will be back on Thursday, and Lucy and I miss him desperately, but know he is having a blast. I am writing up a storm, which is great, and I am getting so many things checked off my to-do list. Lucy had a recheck with the ophthalmologist  this morning - her graft is completely healed, but she has had a bit of retinal degeneration because of all the inflammation in her eye. But, we will keep giving drops for the next couple months, and hoping for the best! Overall, she is really doing great, though! I also gave her a totally botched homemade haircut the other day / finished up and gave her a bath today. She looks ridiculous, but I am a nervous Nellie about sending her to the groomers right now, and she needed a little help (although, I am not sure if I helped or hurt, but whatever). She was actually pretty good about the whole thing (and dangit, I just remembered I never gave her a treat when I finished! This is why she is poorly trained - all my fault!), but she probably does hate me a little more than usual now. Ah well.

Off to do some more writing, and try to not let this cold gloominess take over my soul. And by take over my soul I mean coerce me into taking a nap.

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...

Tuesday Randomness

I can't quite figure out what day of the week I think it is, but I can tell you with all bits of certainty that I am certain it is not Tuesday. I don't know why - yesterday was one of the Mondayest Mondays I have had in several weeks (thank you 3 hour conference calls!), but even in thinking about today it did not feel like a Tuesday. Hrmm. I am sure that is the most insightful bit of nonsense you have read this morning, so thank you for playing along.

I don't have much to write this morning in the form of long, wordy sentences, and epic prose, but I thought I would give you a nice list of updates on the Ligon clan this morning (everyone likes lists, yes? Or is that just me because of my list-crazed mother who instilled this love in me, and, now, who gets excited when I tell her that I put things on my list just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off? Phew.). In order of absolutely no importance:

• I am heading to Orlando today. Luckily, this is a short trip (fly out this morning, be back Thursday morning). No trips to Disney World are planned (which would have made me sad were it not for my last trip to Disney World).
• Harris has started his fall semester of class. So far he seems to really be enjoying it! He will have to tell you more about it because, currently, my favorite thing he talks about regarding class is piracy. I like to pretend it's Captain Jack rather than Somalians, but whatever.
• For those of you wondering (and I am sure there are so many), my love affair with oatmeal has come to its timely end. I have moved back into a protein shake era with my breakfasts.
• Harris' schedule has slightly normalized for the months of September and October, which means we can actually plan things! First up, a visit from the in-laws this very weekend! We also have plans for the Citadel vs. ODU football game later this month, a visit from my sisters for their fall break next month, and a potential visit from my BFF and her hubby also next month! How exciting is all of that?! There is definitely something to be said for normalcy in a schedule, folks.
• Week 1 Fantasy Football goes to Harris. Damn you, Peyton Manning! (okay okay, I actually really like Peyton Manning, but seriously 50 freaking points! Ridiculous! The damn you only would have held had it been Tom Brady.)
• Also related to football, Cowboys get it together! You pulled that one out by the skin of your teeth Sunday night. Ugh.

Okay, that's all I have time for this morning. Time to go finish getting ready, and hop a cab to the aeroporte (I like to call the airport the air-o-por-tay, just go with it). Hope everyone has a happy Tuesday (or whatever day you wish to think it is)!

Where Has the Time Gone

Okay, so for the sake of being redundant, I know I said the same thing last month, but holy wow! How in the world is it September?! You remember being a kid, and feeling like time virtually stood still? And remember how our parents would tell us that time went by faster the older you got? Yeah, I never believed my Mom either, but good freaking grief they weren't lying! On a related note, isn't it funny how many things our parents didn't lie to us about? Like, huh, maybe brussels sprouts really are edible (also, how did I go the majority of my life not knowing there was a silent "s" in that word? Probably because I didn't start eating them til about a year ago).

As always, the month of August, particularly the latter part, was fraught with travel and work for the Ligon clan. Unfortunately, aforementioned travel was not of the fun and leisurely kind, but, we made it through, and are happily chugging along in September. I spent a week in Texas followed by a week in the Northeast (NYC, Jersey, Rhode Island, and Boston to be exact) followed by a week in Chicago (I say Chicago very loosely because I only saw the actual city of Chicago from a distance whilst driving around all the suburbs. Sounds cool, but it really wasn't so much, and I am just so glad to be home this week! While gone, Harris as always worked a ton of hours and was on Lucy duty, which is totally a full-time job in and of itself sometimes. I swear this dog is a little person, and a very demanding one at that.

Since getting home last Thursday evening, I have been on full-on wife mode! I got to have several dates with the hubby this weekend, have cleaned and scrubbed the house, gone grocerying and Targeting, and enjoyed the last drops of summer (although, I would much prefer my last drops of summer in the 80s versus 90s, but beggars can't be choosers, right?). I cannot believe it is almost fall! I do love fall, though. The smells and the colors and the crisp morning air! I really hope we get a decent fall this year - you know the kind that lasts longer than a hot minute. I would like to postpone old man Winter as long as possible, but bring on the 50-60 degrees, I say!

Well, this little post has just turned into quite the ramble - bless you all for taking a meandering walk through my brain with me this morning. Happy Monday that is really a Tuesday! I love short weeks!

Monday Things

Last week was a busy one, as the next two weeks will be also for me. I was in DFW for part of the week, which wasn't too bad - I got to see one Michelle Pierce, and drink watermelon margaritas and eat peanut butter chocolate molten lava cake, but I missed the hubs and Lucy terribly, as one often does when one is traveling. Alas, I made it safely home Thursday night to a hubby who was waiting to pick me up at the airport, and we proceeded to have a delightful weekend together, which made up for our time apart!

Friday, I worked, of course, and Harris was able to go enjoy a round of golf and some burgers a la 80/20 with a buddy of his. Friday was a terribly busy day for me - between being out last week, and preparing to be out this week, I was up to my eyeballs (probably higher, even) with things to do, and people needing things from me. Glad that is behind me for the time being.

Saturday and Sunday were both dreary, rainy stay at home kind of days, but we certainly made the most of it. We used the brief respites in the rain to take some long walks, go to the gym, run a couple errands, go to the DMV to make Harris a legal Virginia citizen, and the like. Okay, so maybe all of this was not done when it wasn't raining because those times were brief, but we did do them all, and that is what really matters.

This morning, I am flying up to NYC to meet my boss and one of my coworkers for a whirlwind trip in the Northeast. First stop NYC, then New Jersey, then Rhode Island, and then home from Boston Thursday night. Phew. Somebody please alert Jay Z (anyone else know he formally dropped the hyphie in his name?) to my imminent arrival. I expect to hear him rapping immediately upon landing.

Happy Monday!

Catching Up

How is it possible that it is already July?! I honestly don't know where the past month went. Well, I do - celebrating, traveling for work, and so on, but, seriously it went by so very quickly. The weekend before this past, was so much fun! Thursday night, the Norfolk food trucks kicked off their new business with a little celebration on MacArthur Square. Of course we had to go check this out, and neither the tacos nor the (overpriced) cupcakes disappointed! Also, we were fortunate to have my parents in town to celebrate my Mom's 50th birthday! They got in late Friday evening, which means we sat around catching up until everyone was ready for bed. Saturday, my Mom's actual birthday, we got up, headed over to the Bayou Bugaloo (yet another of the Norfolk festivals!), enjoyed some cajun food (including our messy attempt at crawfish - still not sure they are worth the effort), drank some strong Hurricanes and some dark, dark beer, took a boat ride around the harbor, and then headed home once our feet were tired and we were starting to get a little rained on. We then ventured out for a sushi/hibachi dinner downtown, and then came back home for more drinks and pie! How awesome of a day was that! I will share the recipe for the "Lime in the Coconut" pie I made my Mom (she requested a coconut pie rather than a cake for her birthday, but my Dad doesn't like coconut, and both of them love key lime, so this was a win-win!), but for now, here are some pictures.

Our yummy food truck tacos!

Do you see this excitement?!

Mmm...pb and red velvet cupcakes

The chocolate was a bit too rich for me, but hubs enjoyed it!

Lucy is ready for a visit from the grandparents!

Lime in the Coconut Pie! Recipe forthcoming

A little weirded out by its eyes.

This crawfish was as big as my Dad's hand!

Birthday girl in her birthday beads! And, we bought those - promise!

Mom & Daddy!

Hot, sweaty, but loving the festival life

Mom and Hubs on the boat tour

See those clouds rolling in? Yeah they opened up on us right after the cruise.

Daddy trying his first sushi

Isn't my Mom adorns?!

After the weekend of wonderfulness, I took a Sunday night flight to Dallas/Fort Worth, where my co-workers and I spent a busy, busy week in training, meetings, a conference, and so on. It was a good week, but it was exhausting! Especially when there are customers involved (which certainly was the case this week), our days usually start around 5am (if you have any hopes of getting a workout in), and don't end until about midnight. There is an ungodly amount of food and alcoholic beverages, and not enough sleep for the likes of this lady. Fortunately, I have some really awesome co-workers, so shout out to you guys for keeping me sane, and letting me pawn drinks off on you when I was too done to keep up, and the customer kept buying them for me :). Also, major shout out to the husband for not only holding down the fort, taking care of the Lucy-pup (who promptly decided upon my departure that she should definitely eat two chocolate protein bars out of Daddy's briefcase - she's fine, no worries - I am pretty sure they were imitation chocolate at best), and working his crazy schedule, but for also being kind and patient with me during my 972 rounds of "I just want to come home now!".

My one and only picture of the week -
a valet claim ticket because we lost our physical copy

Luckily, albeit not without delays and complications, I made it home late Friday night to a pup who was happy to see me, and a husband who bought me beautiful flowers, and was equally happy to see me when he got home from work Saturday morning!

Beautiful flowers!

I had grand plans of doing absolutely nothing on Saturday, to which I succeeded tremendously: Lucy and I laid around Saturday morning while the hubs slept - we watched some TV, movies, snuggled on the couch, took a walk, and otherwise did nothing. Glorious. After the hubs woke up, we snuggled and caught up on our previous week in more depth, which was even more glorious. I finally got out of my PJs around 5pm in order to shower and go pick up Thai food for an impromptu date night picnic in the park with Harris on his dinner break. Afterwards, Lucy and I were in bed before 8pm and asleep around 9. My body is thanking me! Sunday I did my "Saturday things" - groceries, some cleaning, and the like. Harris and I took in an afternoon showing of World War Z before he had to go into work. My thoughts on it? Meh. It wasn't a super scary zombie flick (thank heavens! I am such a scaredy cat), and as I told Harris, I didn't think it was bad. I just didn't think it was good either. My vote is to wait until you can watch it at home. Save yourself a buck or two.

After all that, I am certainly glad that this week contains a holiday, and that, because of aforementioned holiday which then causes many folks to take vacation, it should (hopefully!) be a pretty tame week all in all!