So What if it Was Six Months Ago.

Well, I'm on day four of bed rest over here. 

I had an OB appointment on Monday and long story short, they're now monitoring me for contractions.  Because my cervix is still closed they're not entirely sure what's going on, but I go back on Monday for the third time in a week to get hooked up to the monitor and just check how things are going. So in the mean time, I'm pretty much not allowed to do anything. 

And I'm kinda losing my mind over here.

So. I figured all this time sitting on my bum would be a great opportunity to finally go through that last handful of photos from our time in Connecticut over the summer. Yeah, yeah, I know it was six months ago and they're hardly relevant now, but hey, have pity on me. I'm running out of my favorite shows on Netflix so I've gotta do something to pass the time. 

Six months to the day actually, we took a little trip to Newport, Rhode Island to see a couple of the super amazing Newport Mansions. They were amazing! I can't even imagine living in houses like these. We didn't have a ton of time so we only visited two, but The Breakers (the Vanderbilt's home) and Rosecliff (where the 1974 Great Gatsby was filmed) did not disappoint. You can't take photos inside the homes, but just hop on Google and take a look at how breathtaking they are.

On our flights to and from Italy we re-read The Great Gatsby, and I tell ya what, going to these fabulous mansions really brought a new perspective to the book. Definitely a recommended trip and one we can't wait to do again!

Oh Hey There + This One Date from Months Ago.

So its been a couple weeks.

How ya doin'?

Ya know, my first instinct is to go on about how busy and crazy life has been lately, hence the lack of writing, but that's just plain not true. I mean there have been some hectic moments recently, but I'm not gonna pretend my life is more action packed right now than it is. Honestly? I just haven't been feelin' like bloggin' lately. But hey! That's ok! Because I'm here now!

So life is different now that we're back to the usual grind. Summer is over and Joey's back to 12-14 hour days in his final school. So that's a bummer, but at least its not a total shock after having done it for six months with Power School. At the end of the month he'll start shift work, so the odd hours (which will still be 12ish every day) that'll change every seven days will be an adjustment, but we've got this. 

In a week and a half we're heading home to Lexington and Buena vista for a four day weekend, and we couldn't be more excited. We've been dying to get back there for more than just an hour or two while passing through, and we just had to go during the fall. Luckily its not as hot this year as it was last year around this time, but still. The south really has some work to do when it comes to a beautiful fall. So even though we might be catching the tail end of things in Virginia, those four days are going to be a welcome change from this place. We can't wait to be bundled up in scarves and watching the Friday VMI parade and taking a walk around SVU on Sunday afternoon, just like we used to when we were dating. Its going to be so great!

The past few days we've been reminiscing about our time up north over the summer, and how much we absolutely loved it. We still can't believe all of that was our life for two months. 

We usually try to make goals of things to see and do everywhere we go, and one of mine while in Connecticut was to see lighthouses. Somehow that one got lost in the shuffle for most of the summer, but on our last Sunday there we managed to carve out some time after dinner and between random rain showers to take a drive down to Avery Point and see three light houses in the area. Of course this dum-dum forgot her telephoto lens for the two lighthouses that are out in the ocean and only accessible by boat, so we don't have much evidence of those. But rest assured, they were beautiful. 

This little date to Avery Point was kind of the event that sealed the deal. We were walking along the coast, watching the storm clouds come and go, the waves gently rocking the dozens of sail boats, and we both just realized: we love this. I've never really had an inkling one way or another of where I'd want to settle down, but at that moment we both realized that this was what we wanted. 

That might be a long ways away, what with the whole the-military-chooses-where-they-want-you-to-live thing for the next several years, but for now we've got our two months in New England to think back to and love.  

We're Comin' For Ya, Baby!

Right now we are in the process of packing up the car---in the pouring rain, no less. Why does it always rain whenever we move?? But no rain is gonna stop us because we're goin' home to our baby! After a little stop in Virginia Beach, we'll be picking Remy up on Monday afternoon and we're so excited to see that little tail wagging. Its a funny feeling, leaving Connecticut. We LOVE it here. New England just connects with us and we'd be quite happy to be assigned here in the future. But at the same time, we are so over living in a hotel room and we miss Marley and Remy. Now Marley will just stay with her foster parents since we're leaving for Italy just a week from tomorrow (!!!) and we don't want her to have to adjust all over again, but we'll have Remy for a few days before she gets a new foster family while we're overseas. 

The past couple months in Connecticut have turned out to be so good for us. We've had many adventures and have met some great people that we'll surely keep in touch with. And who knows, the Navy may bring us back together again! I've started a new life project (more details coming soon!), and Joey and I have had some wonderful time together as a family of two. 

So all that's left is to load up the car, go to Joey's graduation, have one final meal at Shake Shack, and hit the road for the south!

We'll miss you, Connecticut!

Sometimes Dinner Tastes Better Outside of The Hotel Room.

Boy, I can't believe our time in Connecticut is coming to an end! We've definitely loved it up here and have felt so at home in New England. We're trying to fit in as many excursions as possible in the next three days (ahh!), but I realized that I had the draft for this fun Connecticut date just sitting there for weeks!

Perhaps the only aspect of our time here that we won't miss is living in a hotel for months. I suppose its nice having someone else clean our bathroom and take out our trash, but not having a kitchen has been difficult. Cooking and baking is a bonding and stress relieving activity (usually!) for us, so at times its been frustrating not really having that option. And while I have come up with some pretty ingenious ways to cook meals in our hotel room that consist of more than microwave dinners (shall I write a post about cooking in a hotel room??), we both always enjoy those nights when we're able to get out of the Chalet and sit down to an oh-so-tasty meal that wasn't made in a rice cooker.

So a few weeks ago we went to a super cute, locally recommended pasta shop, Paul's Pasta. You guys, this place is so great! I probably love it more because the weather was gorgeous (not even 80 degrees!) and they had outdoor seating, so we twirled and slurped our pasta on a cool, covered deck overlooking the Thames River. Eating Outside--my favorite thing!

What better place to indulge in clam linguine and lobster ravioli than New England! It was heaven. Cheesy, warm, garlicy, rich, creamy, tasty heaven. My mouth is watering just thinking about it again. I  think I need to stop writing about such deliciously fabulous food all the time... 

Cannolis--my favorite thing! Ha or at least one of them. But hey, Outdoor dining and cannolis? Talk about double satisfaction. Probably my favorite aspect of this particular cannoli was the pastry shell. Light and flaky but without a taste and crunch that's reminiscent of stale supermarket cream puffs that I so often find with the bakery favorite. But hey, I'm no expert or anything. 

After dinner we decided to take a short drive over to Mystic and do a little window shopping while simultaneously walking off some of that to-die-for pasta.

Oh be still, my heart! We love the whole vibe of Mystic and the other similar coastal towns. Though if we're being specific, Mystic is technically a village---I didn't even realize "villages" still existed!

The cool thing about being an adult is, if you want two desserts, you can have 'em! And we wanted ice cream. We had heard good things about Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream so we decided to give it a go. For our Lexington/Buena Vista friends, it was similar to Sweet Things but far more expensive with a staff that was quite rude---or at least unfriendly at best. And there's no Johnny Cash music either. The actual ice cream was still refreshing and delicious, but we're eager to be back at Sweet Things again.

While sitting on the dock and eating our ice cream, we watched the drawbridge go up for a sailboat to pass through! I suppose its no big deal for residents of Mystic, where the bridge lifts about once every hour, but for us it was quite the exciting experience. Oh and did I mention that meanwhile, there was a man playing bagpipes (the sailor's Hornpipe, no less) from his balcony on the opposite side of the water? New England culture, seafood, water, and scottish bagpipes---my heart is home!

Ok. please hold back your judgmental scoffs. But In addition to pasta, a cannoli, and ice cream, we maaaay have gotten a slice of pizza too.

I know, I know, oink oink. But how could we go to Mystic and not grab a slice from Mystic Pizza? Remember the whole, philly cheesesteak in Philly thing? Its just part of the experience. So we went for it---it being a slice of white pizza with bacon and scallops. It was mighty delicious, although in hindsight we probably over did it as we were a liiiiiittle bit stuffed the remainder of the night. But nothing that relaxing with a movie can't fix! Except perhaps a few hours on the elliptical...

Oh New England, we sure do love you!

Dates Like This Make Us Love it Here.

Last month I was sitting in out little hotel room (which I'm officially ready to get out of and back to our own apartment. If only that wasn't in South Carolina....) and caught a commercial on TV for this place---

So after Joey came home from work I convinced him to take me here for a mid week date, as well as a break from dinner at the hotel. I'm so glad we went because it turned out to be a great pick me up and a fun afternoon!

Seagulls, sailboats, little islands---this place is just flat out cute. We felt very...New England-y. Is that a thing?

The food and experience was just what we had been looking for. I don't know if we just haven't found them yet, but there aren't any cool little oceanside dock restaurants in Charleston, and when we go looking for seafood there, most of the time its fried or paired with southern foods and flavors. And southern food just isn't our thing. So being up here in Connecticut with seafood and flavors that we enjoy better has been really fun for us.

Obviously they're all about the lobster, but they also have some great oysters. Boy, those were some intense oysters! They were incredibly fresh, but the most briny ones I've ever had. Thank goodness for lemon and tabasco sauce for cutting through some of that saltiness. While I enjoy raw oysters, I think its one of those things I can only do sparingly. So after these ones, I think I'm set for a few more weeks!

This. This is what we really came for. We had been dying to find a good lobster roll! Now, such a task is apparently harder than we thought---see, most lobster rolls are like lobster salad on a bun, with lobster meat swimming in mayo and all that. What we wanted was a hot lobster roll. Its warm lobster, butter, sometimes some herbs, and a grilled roll. That's it. And its beyond tasty.

After we ate we stood on the edge of the dock and fed our left over oyster crackers to the giant fishies swimming below---Abbott's actually encourages it! A pretty nasty storm rolled in as we were finishing up, bringing too much wind for my copious amounts of fine, tangle-prone hair to handle. Luckily we got in the car before the torrential rain began--so glad we opted for an early dinner!

I can't help myself, this gave me a good chuckle. 

Thanks Abbott's for a great New England dinner!