Michigan & C-eh-N-eh-D-eh

My trio of different state weekend trips continued this weekend in Michigan. Patrick and I traveled four-and-a-half hours to Saline (close to Ann Arbor) to take part in his agents golf-outing and banquet. We kicked off our time there at the Brookside Golf Course. The outing was a golf scramble and we had a lot of fun! I of course didn’t golf because I haven’t taken my lessons yet. I did hit up the driving range though and had some successful attempts!

Patrick's agent, Doc Ping (in the white) hosts the event each year and invites his athletes to participate. It's a really big event for him :-) All the funds raised go to his scholarship foundation.

Patrick was a part of the Pay Chex team and all the guys were great. They knew I was a rookie at golfing and gave me lots of tips. They also let me chip and putt which was great practice :-) From left to right, Ken, Roger, Patrick, Kevin and Eric.

The course was kinda soggy because of all the rain but it sure was pretty...Patrick and I loved this house :-) The Pay Chex guys said we could live there if Patrick ever got traded to the Lions...I broke their hearts by saying "Ehh...the house isn't worth that much!" HAHA! But no seriously, it was ginormous and stunning...and doesn't even fit in the picture!!!

Good Times on the Green!

While in Michigan we stayed with the family Patrick always stays with when training with Doc. I have always wanted to meet Kristine and her son JJ. I've heard so much about them through the time Patrick and I have dated. They were so nice to welcome me into their beautiful home.

Aside from meeting and spending time with Kristine and JJ, Patrick was also excited for me to finally meet their 3 Golden Retrievers, B (Butterscotch), Beans and Nilla. It's an understatement to say Patrick loves these dogs :-) They were so fun and playful! We enjoyed grooming them and taking them for walks. I told Patrick not to get his hopes up though...they shed an awful lot and I don't know if I could deal with that on a daily basis! They sure are cute though...

Patrick with B and Beans and Me with Miss Nilla :-)

Something exciting that we got to do on our trip is cross the border and go to Canada!

This was for Doc's banquet. I've been to Canada twice before (Niagra and Torono) but I don't remember ever crossing the border. I guess there isn't too much to get excited about though...it took forever and they didn't even stamp my new passport (that I had to have rushed to me just for this trip). We traveled into Windsor to eat at an Asian restaurant. It was interesting that's for sure...lol. I don't know if you've ever dined Asian before but it's unlike anything I've ever eaten before. There were 11 rounds of dishes served. Basically one dish was prepared for each table and the table of 10 shared the dish. We first had a pork dish, followed by a very thick soup...I wasn't too keen on either of them but things went north when a shrimp dish and beef lo mien noodles came out...both were delicious! Our next dish was chicken legs (or so they say...) then this...

Yeah, that's a fish...a Pike in fact...still looking at us! I was brave and I ate it and it was actually quite good! Next time I catch me a pike I may be baking that baby up haha! Next they served squid and broccoli followed by lettuce wraps. Then came the desserts...amazing almond cookies and fortune cookies...followed by an almond cake and lastly a peanut butter soup that I couldn't handle too well. All in all it was a good meal. Some of the dishes weren't my favorites but there were more good ones then bad ones.

The point of the banquet was to honor Doc's Dojo class. One of his long-time students recieved one of the highest honors in Dojo being ranked "Renchi". Before the ceremony, Doc was the only other person to hold this honor in the United States. This particular ceremony was such a big deal because the man being honored is the first to be honored in the United States - Doc's ceremony was held in Japan. I don't know too much about Dojo so I apologize if I made any errors in spelling or in how I comprehended this event.

Our trips to Michigan and Canada (get the blog title?! haha...that was Patrick's contribution!) were very fun...next weekend we're bound for D.C. to celebrate the holiday weekend...stay tuned!

Paradise In Pennsylvania

"It's wonderful to explore such a lovely place with the one you love!"

This past week Patrick participated in the Mario Lemieux celebrity golf outing. It was held at the fabulous Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Nemacolin is located south of Pittsburgh in the rural town of Farmington. Let me just warn you my writing skills are being put to the test here because its difficult to find the words to describe how utterly amazing this place is! Everyone should experience it for themselves...seriously!

The drive there was a pretty one. I left after work on Tuesday night and it took me about an hour and a half to get there. The place we stayed at is called "Falling Rock". It's one of the newer buildings at the resort. This hotel houses just 42 rooms and boasts a 24/7 butler service! Our room was ultra luxurious :-) First off when my bags were delivered to my room they also made this special delivery...

Of course, Patrick followed his stomach first and took a bite before I could get my camera. :-)

Three seriously huge and delicious chocolate chip cookies!!! Made my day! It was like they had a bio on me stating what I would enjoy most haha! After checking out the room I freshened up and met Patrick for the group dinner. The food at Nemacolin was amazing...I didn't eat one thing that wasn't absolutely amazing! I particularly enjoyed the sea bass and risotto...mmm! Dinner was outside area of the hotel facing the golf course. It was super-scenic :-)

After dinner Patrick and I explored the room further. Since words are hard to find I'm going to let the pictures do the talking...

 The most comfortable bed I've ever slept in!

The most amazing shower ever! It had 3 different rinses that moved in different directions...Patrick put it best after his first shower when he said "I feel like I just went through a car wash!" HAHA! I took a video of it but I don't know how to post it...anyone want to help me out with that?!

The stocked up bar...

 The beautiful flat-screen that never got watched...

Sometimes its the little things in life that matter most...

Because this little get-away was so last minute I couldn't take a full-fledged vacation. I had appointments made and still had a ton of work to do this week. Fortunately a lot of the appointments I had were easier commutes from the resort then they would have been from my house haha - convenient! So each morning when Patrick went golfing I went to work. On Wednesday when I got back I met his golfing partners for the day and then we checked out the gym at the spa. After a quick workout we got ready for the nights big dinner party.

The dinner party was really cool! It was mostly hors d'oeuvres but there were a lot of really good ones. Entertainment for the night was a local comedian (from Swissvale) named Bill Gardell. He was hysterical! After he finished up a local 80's cover-band named Velveeta (from State College) set up shop and performed. This event was really cool. The after-party was located at the Falling Rock pool. Patrick and I did a quick walk-through then headed for bed. He was exhausted from golf and I was pretty tired myself from work and traveling. So Patrick ordered specialty pillows off the "Pillow Menu" (I'm not making this up...they had 10 different ones to choose from!) and I ordered a specialty bath off the "Bath Menu" (I'm not making this up either...they had 7 different ones to choose from!) One of the Butlers came up within minutes and delivered the pillows to Patrick in bed and then ran my bath for me haha. She put bubbles in, lit candles and sprinkled rose petals around the tub...do you think I got a little bit spoiled?! HAHA! Check it out...it was beautiful (minus being WAY too hot...I had to add freezing cold water just to make it bearable to get in)

Thursday was our final day there. It was so sad to leave. Usually I'm just a little sad to leave a place I'm visiting but ultimately I'm ready to leave...not this time, I could have stayed there a lot longer! Hopefully Patrick gets invited to the outing again next year...I would LOVE to go back :-)

Stay tuned to hear about our weekend trip to Michigan...I'll be posting in the next few days...Sorry I'm a little behind with all the traveling in the car! Until then...

Over The River And Through The Woods...

"...TO GRANDMA'S HOUSE WE GO!"

This weekend Patrick and I headed up north to the tiny town of Dalton, New York to spend the weekend with his grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa Bailey are such sweet people and I always enjoy spending time with them :-) Patrick's parents were both in the Air Force and when they were stationed in New York, Grandma and Grandpa Bailey did a lot of babysitting the four Bailey boys...I got to hear all the mischievous stories this weekend haha! Nothing like getting dirt on your boyfriend from when he was a tiny tot...haha!

One of the main reasons we headed the four-and-a-half hours North was so Patrick could attend a Fathers Day golf outing with his Grandpa and uncles KC and Terry on Saturday. From stories it sounds like they all had a fun time...maybe a little too much fun...! Haha! They finished third (Out of three...just kidding! There were more teams then that!!!) in the golf scramble. While the men golfed, Patrick's grandma and I babysat Terry's kids Codey and Caila and drove to Buffalo airport to pick up Patrick's brother James. The area of New York that we were in is pretty rural. It was beautiful country to drive through and we sure did do a lot of it...my guesstimate of car time this weekend is about 18 hours...

Saturday evening something kinda cool happened...Patrick and James taught me how to shoot a gun! Before this trip I had never held or shot a gun before...but all that changed when I fired a 22 Rifle.

I think I did pretty decent. I didn't have a target to hit so I don't know how accurate I was but I did manage to keep it in the vicinity I was supposed to keep it in. No one died or got hurt and that's all that matters! After, Patrick decided to let me fire a 410 Shotgun...he failed to mention this gun was a lot louder and gave a lot more kickback! When I fired I was pretty shocked...I'm positive my face was priceless!!!

On Sunday (Father's Day) we all woke up and went to church. This church is the same church that Grandma and Grandpa Bailey got married in 56 years to the day :-) During mass they ask for prayer requests or concerns in the beginning and then at the end ask people to share their good news. It was so cute when Grandpa Bailey stood up and said "56 years ago today I think I made a pretty good decision when I said "I do" in this very church and married Donna. She wanted to share this news in concerns but I told her I'd take care of it here in the good news." - HAHA! He's a riot! The entire church got a good laugh out of that one! A big Congratulations goes out to each of them! After mass I asked if I could see pictures from their special day 56 years ago. Both were so young and happy in love :-) I really enjoyed getting to see those pictures! Here's a picture of the special pair today...

While away Patrick got invited to attend the Mario Lemieux golf outing at Nemicolin Woodlands this week. Nemicolin is a BEAUTIFUL resort about an hour and a half south of Pittsburgh. For being a part of the event Patrick is being put up in the Falling Rock resort which sits upon the golf course. This place seems amazing! They offer 24/7 Butler service and even have a 10-option pillow menu...talk about deluxe! I'll be visiting back and forth so be sure to expect some details and pictures :-) Until then...

Trash To Treasure

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
A new hobby of mine is to refurbish old furniture. When you're constantly living on a budget sometimes its hard to come up with the money to buy what it is you really want to buy. I could easily charge stuff to a card but as I'm newly out of credit card debt (YAY!!) why would I go back down that road??? So I recently decided to let my imagination run wild and let my own creativity take the wheel. Outcome: some pretty cool furniture that holds a special place in my heart because I made it what it is now :-)

The first time I decided to do this I got a piece of old furniture at the "Red, White and Blue" thrift store. I was shopping with my mom and after age 55 you're considered a senior citizen lol! One day a week the seniors get half-off the ticketed price. I selected a beat up but sturdy wood piece. It was originally $8.50 so I got it for $4.25...I'm kicking myself for not taking a before shot! Take my word for it, it was just a dull brown wood with some scratches and nicks in it. It wasn't anything special but I saw something in it. I decided I would use it in my scrapbooking section and put my Cricut machine on it. I spent a weekend working on it. I first sanded out all of the imperfections. I then primed it and painted it black. I trimmed the drawer in left over hot pink paint from my sisters salon. Lastly I put left over pink and silver wall-paper remnants (also from my sisters salon) on the top and in the back shelf. My dad completed the piece by polishing up the knobs for me. I'll never forget when I was carrying it into my house...2 ladies were walking dogs and they stopped me to ask where I bought this piece of furniture. I told them the story and they loved it! At that point I really felt a sense of accomplishment! The project cost me a total of $4.25 since I used all left over paint and wallpaper from my sisters salon...talk about a bargain! Below is a visual of the piece. Again, I wish I had the before photos!

This past weekend I was back at it again. When I was on the house tour a few weeks ago I saw a cute idea in an attic. The woman who owned the house had a little red ladder and she simply placed a plant on it and it added something different to the room. I just raved over it and my mom told me I could easily do that. She gave me an old ladder she had at our cottage. The sides and top were painted green and the steps were unpainted when I began. (I took the "before" picture after I had started painting...as you can tell I'm not too good at remembering to take those before pictures!) I decided to paint it with the same left over hot pink paint from the salon. I'm keeping the piece on my deck but when winter comes I'll move it into my office and it will now match :-) Always thinking right?! Here's my new piece...I think it's too cute and it cost only my time to do it!

Also this weekend I helped in giving my future home a little facelift. In order for the sale of the house to go through some areas needed re-painted. Dave, the man selling to me, and myself spent all-day Sunday chipping the garage doors and painting them a new fresh green color (Behr Paint: Promenade) Below is the after shots :-) One of these weekends coming up that I have nothing going on I'm going to actually trim the boxes in a shade of burgundy (Behr Paint: Tawny Port)...I'll post when completed!

Another piece I've been working on is an old trunk my grandfather gave to my dad. You can't really tell in the picture but it has this cool flower embossing all over it. As soon as I saw it I knew I could do good things to it! This piece really needs some TLC! It's missing a wheel so it's totally lopsided!

So far I've only gotten to clean up the inside of the trunk. It had two layers of old wall-paper inside of it and I spent a good hour and a half scraping it all off. The first layer came off in one piece, it was that bottom layer that was pretty tricky and time-consuming. Removing the wallpaper really helped take out the musty smell inside the trunk.

Next step is to stain the inside...I think (and hope!)this step will ultimately demolish the funky smell.

I'll let you know how it goes! So far this project also has cost me nothing but my time.