How to be a terrible blogger

How to be a terrible blogger

Forgive the random 2 week blogging hiatus, things have been a little crazy around here lately! I transferred from one branch to another at work, we have been some yard-sale fools and let's face it, Christmas shopping is the most fun thing ever. Add to that the fact that it is f-r-eeee-zing here in the sunshine state and you have yourself a terrible blogger. Let's catch up, shall we???

Like I mentioned, I moved from one branch to another at work. I was in my old position for almost 3 years and it was time for a change. The best thing about banking is that there are so many different departments and positions to transfer between, so you never get bored! My new branch is fantastic and amazing and a million other adjectives all wrapped into one...annnnnd I love it. It's closer to home, a zillion times less stressful, and I get to have lunch with the hubs every day. Sounds like a winner to me!

Now let's talk about babies! Babies, you ask? But Brianna, you are a cranky bitter infertile who HATES talking about babies...true story..HOWEVERRRR, sometimes a little baby talk is exciting! In March and May of 2015 we will be adding niece or nephew numbers 9 & 10 to the bunch! My sister-in-law is preggers with # 9 and my big sis will be adding # 10. Holy ridiculous amount of birthdays to remember! It's a good thing I'm the best aunt in the universe...(fyi, I am also the favorite aunt in the universe---candy, gum, soda, lipstick, jewelry? Sure, just come see aunt nanna..I'll give you whatever you want!) FYI, if you are also a cranky bitter infertile you should probably steer clear of this page during those months. There will be baby overload and I'm not even sorry.

Ummm, does anyone else realize that Christmas is in 37 days?! THIRTY SEVEN days people! It's a good thing we decorate our house in like September--one less thing to worry about. Let's discuss where we are with our shopping, shall we? We are finally done shopping for everyone in our family. D.O.N.E. Done! And we somehow managed to save like $3,000 from last year so, awesome. The gift shopping for the hubs is a different story. I literally have like 4 things for him (and if you know me or the hubs, that is completely unacceptable!), so I need to get on the ball!! Since we are bitter cranky infertiles (see above) with no kids, we spoil each other instead, and it is the best. Christmas morning literally consists of a ginormous pile of presents under the tree, on the couch, in front of the TV..pretty much every inch of usable space...and I guarantee we have more fun than you opening our gifts!! Now I just have to get to the store and buy everything....

In other news...my dad is moving down here from Philly in 2 weeks! If you don't already know, my parents have been divorced for like umpteen years..I swear I think they only got married to create three beautiful little girls and then decided "Hey, we hate eachother...let's fight for 10 more years and then eventually be friends." ((Did I forget to mention that my divorced parents and my step-momma are friends?)) Anyway, holidays and birthdays and Saturdays are soooooo much easier when you don't have to split them up between parents..and now both of my parents will be within 5 minutes of me which means I can be even MORE lazy!! Andd that also means that we only have to work on moving my big sis and the hubby's big sis down here and we will be good to go!!

I hope everyone is staying warm in this crazy ass weather..Seriously, it was 72º outside on Sunday, and the low for today is 25º...ummm, how is that even possible??? Anyway, I promise not to leave you again for 2 weeks!! (ok I don't promise, because that would be asking for failure...but I'll try my hardest!!)
 

Final Challenge---VLOG Accent Link-Up

Final Challenge---VLOG Accent Link-Up

First of all, let's celebrate the fact that it is Friday, and I survived an entire month of blogging. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but *toot toot.* Anddd it's August, which means that in 3 weeks, I will be 29. Yuck.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about accents. Being from up north, I've heard every Yankee accent you can imagine. I've heard Bostonians talking about "pahking the cah" and New Yorkers telling me to "fugget-abott-it." Then I moved down to the heart of the South and heard more "ya'lls" and "bless her heart's" than I could have imagined. Along the way I have picked up on a few things, and today I am going to share them with you.

 
 Sorry about the weird random clicking in the beginning of the video..like I said, it's my first one!! Hopefully you enjoyed listening to my ramblings. Forewarning, I will NOT be blogging this weekend...like, at all...sooooo check back next week to see what I have in store for you!!

Day 17...all about your city...

Day 17...All about my city...

Today we will be talking all about my city. Since I was given the option to choose either the city I live in or the city I was born in, I decided to do both!! Did you expect anything else? The city I was born in and the town that I currently call home are complete polar opposites--Night and day. I grew up as a city girl with a thick Yankee accent and now I go to the river to watch rubber ducks racing. (True story…you’ll read about it below). I am going to offer you a comparison of sorts between the two…hopefully by the end I will have convinced you how amazing small town southern living is!

I was born in Philadelphia, PA and lived there until I was 24.

Population:1,548,000 as of 2012

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*The city smells. Awful.

*It is so terribly dirty. Look, I’ve been to NYC and I know what that many people can do to a city. But c’mon people, have a little respect. I cannot count the number of people I have witnessed dropping McDonald’s cups, take out containers, PIZZA BOXES (no joke) and anything else right on the ground without a second thought.

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*There is a layer of smog that coats the entire city. Seriously, I didn’t know what a cloud truly looked like until I was 24.

*The closest beach is 90 minutes away, and the water is grey at best. And that’s on a good day.

*Don’t expect anyone to be nice to you. Seriously. I once had a nun yell at me on the subway for having my bag too far out in the aisle. 

Downtown Philly...crowded much?

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*Speaking of the subway, I had TWO grown men on TWO separate occasions grab my crotch. Apparently riding the subway during rush hour, in jeans, is an open invitation for someone to grope you. I must have missed that memo.

*It gets cold. Like really, really cold. And then it snows, and the snow turns to slush. And then that dirt that I mentioned above gets trapped in the slush. Every winter the city turns into a pile of wet, black mush that coats everything. Charming, right?

Philly slush at its finest

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*The crime rate is outrageous. The year that I decided to move down south, there were 405 homicides in Philly! Four-hundred-and-five...Getting a bit ridiculous, dontchathink!?

*Nobody looks out for anyone. People don’t hold doors. You get cut off on a daily basis. Cars don’t even stop for funeral processions! I am sure at one time or another, the city had some charm and decency, but I was never around to see it!

*Ok, so the food is amazing and you can have Chinese food delivered at 2am. I get that there are pro-sports teams and there is ALWAYS something to do. Is it all worth it? Not even a little bit!

I now live in Milton FL, a teeny little town in the Florida panhandle. 

Population: 9,140 (Familiar with the famous Madison Square Gardens in NYC? My entire town could fit in there. Twice. Puts it into perspective huh?)

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*The city never smells. Like, ever.

*It is one of the cleanest towns I’ve ever seen. Little known fact about my town---we use the inmates to clean the roads! Every day as you drive down the street you will see inmates picking up trash and sweeping the roads and the wonderful gun-toting warden on the sidelines.  Now THERE is our tax dollars actually working for us!

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*The sky is absolutely stunning! I didn’t know that blue existed in some of the shades I have seen down here. You can see for miles!!

*The beach is 20 minutes away, and the water is crystal blue. Seriously, you can stand in water as deep as your shoulders and still see the fish swimming around your feet. And the sand? None of that grayish-brownish crap down here…Our sand is WHITE!

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*Everyone is nice. I’m not joking---everyone is nice. When I first moved it took me so long to realize that the random man waving as I walk down the street and the woman who offered to carry my groceries to the car were honestly doing it just to be nice!

*In the summertime, we have an annual “Milltown Duck Race.” Throughout the year, the town sells numbers for $10 each. Each of these numbers is written on a rubber duckie (you read that right). On the 4^th of July, during the festival at the river, a big giant dump truck drives up the bridge and dumps hundreds of these rubber ducks into the river below. That’s not the best part though---the crown sits anxiously (and believe me, we sit for a longggg time…the speed of the ducks is based entirely on the current of the river on that particular day) to see which of these ducks will make it to the finish line first. The winner gets $1,000! And you thought your town was cool?

And they're off!!!

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So now that you know a little more about my town(s), what about yours? Do you have duck races? Do people drop pizza boxes on the ground? I’d love to hear all about it!!!

I would also like to wish a Happy 13th Birthday to my baby brother!!!!!! I can't believe he is a teenager already!!!

We're going to Philly!!

Ok, so we aren't going for like 6 weeks...but I am still SUPER excited!!! Last year we went to Pigeon Forge in February. and we had such a great time that we were going to go again this year. But since we haven't been back to Philly in a few years, and since my grandmother isn't doing too well, we are going back up to the City of Brotherly Love for a few days. And I am psyched!! To start with, I haven't seen my big sister since our wedding (crazy!!) and I am dying to see her and excited to meet her boyfriend!! Here's a pic of me and my sis from a few years back:

 

Aside from seeing my family, I am over-the-moon excited for all of the food!! I absolutely love living in Florida, and I wouldn't change it for anything. But there is no comparison when it comes to the food. I have seriously contemplated driving up to Philly on several occasions to get a greasy cheese steak or some amazing pizza. The first time the hubby went up to Philly to visit, we literally ate pizza 5 times (we were there for a week). And most important of all----WAWA!!! The thought of being able to get Wawa whenever I want, 10 times a day if I so choose, is a GREAT feeling!!! In a few weeks when we do go up there, you can expect lots of pictures of family and me stuffing my face, but until then, I'll give you a sneak peak at all of the things I am looking forward to:

 

Cheesesteaks!!!! There is nothing that compares to a greasy, cheesy mess that has about 4000 calories and makes you feel like a fat cow after you eat it. If you are planning a trip to Philly, head to Steve's Prince of steaks and ask for a "Whiz-without." AMAZING!

 Real pizza!!! Down here the only pizza places are chains like Dominos or Pizza Hut. It's not really pizza unless you have to blot it with a paper towel before you eat it to get the grease off.

Nifty Fiftys---its a 50's style restaurant that has the most amazing cheese fries and spicy-cheese-chicken nuggets. And their milkshakes are killer!!!

 

Soft pretzels...if you are from Philly or anywhere close, you know that the best ones are sold on the side of the road from some guy who looks like he hasn't showered in 3 days...or you could just be boring and go to the Philly Soft Pretzel Factory

Tastykakes have finally made it to the Sunshine State, but they have yet to bring the Jelly Krimpets down here..so anytime I am up in Philly I make sure to stock up!

And most of all: 

You didn't think I would leave this off of my list, did you?!?! Wawa is the epitome of a perfect store. Want a hoagie? How about a bowl of mashed potatoes at 4am? Hungry for a sweet cream cheese stuffed pretzel or some french vanilla cappuccino?? Better head to Wawa!! 

((FYI, for anyone who is not from the Northeast, a hoagie is what we call a sub...a roll with meat, cheese and condiments...and they are delicious!))

If you have made it through this post without licking your screen, feel free to read it again. For everyone else, I apologize for making you hungry. 

Have a great night!!