Well, it has been a very busy week and a half.  I have tried several times to get back to blogging, but something always prevents it.  Today, I plan to catch you up on recent happenings.

 

First of all, my 21st birthday was great.  Josh had to work the night before, but he got home late and we went out for a first drink at midnight.  My very first drink was a Cosmopolitan (Josh said I should make it something that won't be hard to remember).  We slept late and got up to see a Christmas concert performed by the Air Force Band.  Then, we rode the Metro up to Silver Spring and found a great sportsbar with a large collection of pool tables and big screen TVs.  Josh made me get drunk and call my parents, who were very amused!  All in all, it was a fun night for both Josh and me.

 

Then, Josh's birthday was on Wednesday.  We didn't have a chance for a large celebration, but I did a few special things to let him know how special he is to me and we went out to dinner.  I know he was disappointed that I hadn't planned an extravaganza, but we were both looking ahead to our weekend trip to Atlantic City.

 

By the time Friday rolled around, we were SOOO ready to hit the road.  The drive to Atlantic City was rather short and not at all boring.  We had managed to get a room with a balcony overlooking the ocean at Days Inn, which was so nice.  We were a brisk walk away from the shopping and restaurants and casinos.  The weather was GREAT!  Of course, it was a little breezy, but the sun provided just enough warmth that walking was pleasant.

 

We had planned for the trip well -- we knew that to hope we might win would be hard on our patience, so we just went to have fun (with plenty of money to do so).  We only played slot machines and a little video poker, but there were so many machines to choose from, it was hard to get bored.  We had our favorite machines, they had lots of bonus games and fun characters.  Our favorite place to play quickly became Caesar's, if only because they had my favorite game, Lucky Lemmings!

 

At about lunchtime on Sunday, we were both tired of throwing away money and decided to spend the money we had left on a nice lunch and a movie, maybe do a little shopping.  So we took a walk down to the IMAX theater at the Tropicana and bought tickets to a late showing of "Happy Feet" and sat down for lunch and a beer at a BBQ joint.

 

To waste some time before the show, we hung out in the hotel room, then took a walk on the beach while the sun was setting (now I see why that's such a popular pastime), and did a little roaming through the shops along the boardwalk.  With way too much time left before our movie started, we ended up much further down the boardwalk than we had been all weekend.

 

About a mile and a half from our hotel, we found an art dealer's shop in disarray from a construction project on the building.  He welcomed us in, even though most of the other shops were closed for the night, and we discovered a mish-mash of useless stuff, from doilies to used jewelry.  We had to squeeze in between old bronze statues and some antique crap, but the back room had a large collection of framed artwork.  Most of it was strange old stuff that only my grandmother would appreciate, but in the mix I found a very nice oil painting of a cobblestone street in front of a Cafe.

 

It was four feet wide and three feet tall, marked at $995, but I knew there was no possible way it could be worth that.  The dealer told me that because of the construction and the mess in the store, he needed to get things out quickly, so the paintings were 50% off and then 50% off again.  He figured my favorite painting at about $250.  To make a long story short, Josh and I tried to walk out of the store twice and I finally got the painting for $150!!!

 

Josh and I joke that I stole it from the guy, and on the mile and a half walk back to the hotel room, we laughed about what a great story this will be when this painting is hanging in the kitchen for years to come.  It was an interesting walk, with everyone we passed staring to see what we were bringing home.  It was already dark outside and although it wasn't cold, the wind was blowing pretty substantially, making the transport of the huge painting VERY difficult.  It may have been the most fun I had all weekend.

 

The movie was GREAT.  You should all go see it.  Robin Williams is a favorite of both Josh and me, and he did a wonderful job as the voice of both the Adelie Amigo and the Guru Lovelace.  I was giggling through the whole movie.

 

So . . . super good time for both of us.  This week, we're both back to work.  We've managed to get our Christmas shopping done and I just have to get family gifts out today.  I'll try to get some pictures of our tree and the trip on the page soon -- especially the new ginormous painting.  Everyone have a great day and I'll be back again soon!