"It's a Wonderful Life"

That is my all time favorite Christmas movie. Every year it is tradition for me and my parents to go to the historic Tampa Theater and watch the movie. For the past two years it has just been me and my Mom since she can't stand to be around my Dad. Which makes me feel guilty because it is his favorite Christmas movie too. Anyway we went yesterday to see the movie and I brought along my best friend, she absolutely LOVED it. She had never been to that theater or seen the movie. Which is a sin in itself. 

After the movie we went back to my Mom's apartment and had white chicken chili that had been cooking in the crockpot all day. It was so yummy! I cannot wait until next year when I bring peanut along and start the tradition all over again with a new recruit.

I just love Zuzu! She is the most adorable little girl. "Look Daddy, teacher says every time a bell rings an Angel gets his wings"

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A twin story

Since I could possibly be having twins, some of you might be having twins and some of you do have twins, I thought it would be a good idea to share a twin story coming from a twin. How many times did I just say the word twins?

I think some of you know that I am an identical twin. I don’t talk about her much but I think I should; she is my world. I cannot breathe without her. We know each other like the backs of our hands and I just pray that our twins are the same way.

She moved away last year to be with a boy. Not just any boy, the love of her life, one of my husband’s best friends. Now they live in D.C. and I can’t wait to visit her. But that is not the story; the story is about the freakiness of being a twin. You hear stories on TV about twins who have never met but have the same haircut, same clothes and marry a guy with the same name, things like that, right? This is not fake and it probably does happen. For example, her boyfriend and my husband’s nickname in high school was the twin towers because they are both over 6 feet tall and look a lot alike. Getting back to the story. . .

Sunday night I randomly texted my sister to tell her I was making “Savory Lemon Chicken” for dinner. We found this Campbell’s soup recipe several years ago and it is super easy to make and delicious. Five minutes later I get a call from her.

Amanda “Which Lemon Chicken are you making?”

Me “The Campbell’s recipe”

Amanda “Whoa! I am making that for dinner tonight too”

We went on to talk about how we both sat down Sunday afternoon and made a weekly dinner menu and then went grocery shopping. Neither one of us has ever planned our grocery shopping around a menu plan but it seemed like the organized thing to do that day. Out of the hundreds of recipe we share we both turned to that one and thought it sounded good to make for dinner that night. Freaky!

Things like that happen all the time. We will text my Dad the same thing at the same time, a lot. It totally freaks him out. I don’t think these things happen just because we are close but because we are twins. I know a lot of close siblings and they don’t have these freaky occurrence. Her ears are probably burning right now and she will probably call me in five minutes wanting to know if I just blogged about her.

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Griswold Anniversary Dinner: Part Deux

7:00 pm - Finally The Captain walks into the restaurant. It amazes me that although he dropped me off on time he was still a half hour late to dinner. How did that happen? At this point I am trying really hard not to let this ruin our evening even though my husband left me sitting in a restaurant by myself for 30 minutes, got a parking ticket under my name because he didn't want to not tip the valet guy. 

7:15 pm - We finally place our dinner order and tell our server that we are trying to make an 8:00 play so please put everything in at once. The theater is only 2 blocks away so it is a very quick walk. My husband will not stop sulking even though I have reassured him that I am not letting this ruin our night, so be happy. 

7:50 pm - That's right, our dinners have not arrived yet. Pretty sure we aren't seeing the play. Our server comes to the table and says...

"you said your play was at 8:00 right? I don't think that is going to happen. There are a lot of tickets in the kitchen". 

 Is she for real? I would never say that to a customer. Ever. She is talking to the wrong group. My husband is a GM of a restaurant and I have worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years. 

Well we didn't leave the restaurant until almost 9:00 that night. We ended up with a $25.00 parking ticket, an empty tank of gas in the car, and the worst steak dinner of my life. It was tough, stringy and waaaay to salty. 

I ended up drinking a whole bottle of Champagne by myself due to the Wii beer pong we decided to play when we got home. I can't tell if I won or lost? We did end up having a great time just playing games and laughing at each other all night. Definitely an anniversary to remember. Who knows maybe next year we will need a babysitter. . .

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The Griswold anniversary dinner

I promised you the anniversary story so here it is...

We both had to work the day of our anniversary with it falling on a Friday and all, but The Captain managed to leave the restaurant early (gasp) and made it home about an hour before I did. When I got home from work there were a dozen roses on the dining room table waiting for me. They were beautiful!  We had the perfect night planned, reservations at this new french bistro in downtown St. Pete and then tickets to the local theater to see a play. (back-story: I love the theater! It was/is very much a part of my life. So this was a special evening for me)  
 
Keep in mind dinner reservations are at 6:30 and the play starts at 8:00. 

The Captain is notoriously a half hour or more late for everything. I mean everything. I have to tell him to be somewhere a half hour early just so he shows up on time.

6:15 - Leave the house and drive to the restaurant. The Captain decides at the last minute he wants to take my car. He never wants to drive my car. ever. I say "okay but I am going to need to get gas on the way home tonight, I am just under a quarter tank". He replies "okay that's not a problem". little did he know.

6:30 - The gentlemen that he is, he drops me off on time mind you, at the front door of the restaurant while he can park the car. Now, it's First Friday in St.Pete, that means there will be no free parking on the street, I inform him of this.   


Me: "we should just use the complimentary valet since we won't find a parking space".  
Him: "I don't have any cash to tip the valet guy" 
Me: "So, don't tip one time it's not going to kill you, it's complimentary"

My argument did not work. Now would be a good time to tell you that I did not bring my cell phone with me since we would be together all night.

6:32 - I give the hostess are name and she tells me that I can wait at the bar while the other half of my party arrives. I kindly inform her that no I will go ahead and sit since he is just parking the car.



6:40 -  Still no Captain. WTF? How long does it take to park a dang car? I think people are beginning to think I got stood up. Great, the hostess just gave me the stink eye. Maybe I should order something.


6:50 - Still no Captain. F*ck it, I order a glass of wine. Now it is starting to rain outside, I hope he knows I have an umbrella in the car. Remember, I don't have my cell phone with me. I kindly ask the hostess if I can use their phone apparently my husband has been abducted by aliens. 


Me: "Are you alright? What happened to you?"
Him: "I can't find a parking place that isn't metered and I have no change"
Me: "Just come back and do valet, you have been gone 20 minutes"
Him: "I found a spot and walking there now, I am 2 blocks away. Great, the meter maid just wrote you a parking ticket"
Me: *crickets* 


I hung up on him and went back to the table. He wouldn't do valet cause he didn't want to be the guy who doesn't tip but can get his wife a $25 parking ticket. 


To be continued. . .

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Off to Tally. . .

You've got to fight, fight, fight for FSU,
You've got to scalp 'em Seminoles.




My sister in law is graduating from FSU tomorrow so we are off to Tally to celebrate. The whole family is going. Tallahassee watch out! I am so proud of my sister in law, she is the only sibling to graduate from college. It will be a big day for her parents tomorrow too. She already has the whole trip planned out for us.

You've got to win, win, win, win, win this game,
And roll on down and make those goals.



We are driving up after the restaurant closes tonight. It is the last day of the month so that means INVENTORY. Ugh! We won't be on the road until 1:00 am which means won't get to Tally until 4:00 am, maybe later. The Captain's brother is driving up with us so at least I can sleep the whole way. :)

For FSU is on the warpath now,
and at the battles end she's great.


Tomorrow her class is graduating at 2:00 pm so we will have brunch before and then dinner after. After dinner we are bar hopping. I am so excited! The last time we did this was in New York last year but it was just the girls and we had a blast. We get to show the boys how it's done!

So fight, fight, fight, fight to victory,
The Seminoles of Florida State.









I am expecting a hangover for the drive home Sunday. . .

F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E
Florida State, Florida State, Florida State!

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