Three Days of Christmas!!!

On December 23rd Anthony and I headed to Wauchula for three days of Christmas celebration. Tuesday night we went to my Nana's for my families Christmas gift exchange. Everyone was there this year except Daniel Cook who had to work a night shift at the mines. We exchange gift cards every year playing the "dirty santa" game. You may know it by some other name, but the basic concept is to draw numbers and then number 1 opens a gift. Number 2 can take number 1's gift or open a new gift. It continues that way until the end of the game. It's always a lot of fun and there is usually a gift card everyone wants. This year's hot choice was a 30 minute massage from Master's Touch. Anthony and I ended up with Target and Barnes and Nobel!

After leaving Nana's Anthony and I went to Jessica's house for a few minutes of hanging out. It's so hard to get to see everyone now that we all live in different parts of the state! It was nice to see Jessica and Kelly, even though it was only for a few minutes.

Christmas Eve we stayed home most of the day and helped my mom bake cookies. Well, I helped and Anthony played Wii. My parents have a Wii and we aren't fortunate enough to own our own so we have to enjoy it when we can! Anthony did pop in and help me make and decorate spritz cookies. All of the cookies turned out fantastically!

That evening we went with my parents to church for the candlelight service. There we were able to see Damon and Alecia's new baby, Caleb. He is beautiful! After church we had Christmas Eve dinner with my parents. It was delicious! My mom made prime rib, twice baked potatoes, and green beans. All of it was very tasty!

The dining room for Christmas Eve...


After dinner we opened our Christmas pj's from my parents. This year I had blue monkeys with santa hats. Anthony's had Christmas trees! It was his first year celebrating the pj tradition my family has. Every Christmas Eve my mom gives us our Christmas pj's and we wear them all day on Christmas. My aunt Susan also let us open all the gifts from her. We received so many cool gifts!! We've been really into game night lately and we got Pictionary, Taboo, Apples to Apples, and Rumikub! My aunt also gave Anthony some grilling accessories that we are looking forward to using!! I got a free night in an Orlando hotel that we'll be using for our anniversary trip coming up! There was so much more I'll just list a few: reed diffuser, tanning lotion, gift cards, and perfume.

Christmas morning we woke up kinda early to have a terrific breakfast! Note the sleepy look of our eyes!


My mom made her traditional pancakes with hot apples and dad grilled sausage and bacon. It was all so tasty!! Then we all settled in the living room to open our presents!





First we opened our "Santa" gifts. Anthony got a Rubix cube that is electronic and I got a Pixos. Yes, me and every other 4 year old out there got a Pixos Studio for Christmas this year! I loved those things as a child. If you grew up in the 80's then you know what they are. My mom aka Santa, said she couldn't resist buying it for me because of how happy they made me as a child. I'm excited to have a whole week off to play with it!



After opening all our gifts and spending most of the afternoon with my family, we packed everything into the car and came back to Fort Myers. Anthony opened all the gifts from his parents. The most interesting thing that happened during that was the remote control spider. I am deathly afraid of spiders and all things involving spiders. Anthony was letting me help him unwrap his presents and unknowingly gave me a remote control spider to unwrap. I only tore off a small amount of paper before screaming and flinging the present away from me. It was amusing! Here he is with his presents!




He and I were going to open our presents on the morning of the 26th but we just couldn't wait! We opened our gifts from each other last night and had so much fun! I loved all the gifts he gave me, and he really liked his too. I took pictures of us with all of them wrapped and unwrapped and a few of us unwrapping. They tell the story...

 

I think that this was the best Christmas I have ever had! It was very amazing to be able to share the entire thing with Anthony and have him be a part of my family traditions. I hope all of you also had an amazing Christmas!

Ready for xmas

This is the first post from me (Anthony) on here. I'm not much for writing on things like this, mostly because I think people just don't care to know this much about me, but whatever. Anyway... ready for christmas to come and excited to be sharing them with alisha. Hope everyones christmas and new years is great. My one and only wish from you guys is stop the politically correct bs. It's merry christmas, not "happy holidays". If you're jewish, wish people happy hanukkah, or whatever else you do... or I might cut you :). Anyway, the police still haven't found my car, so if you still got some money left over from the holidays that you're not sure what to do with, I wouldn't complain if you bought me a car. Just saying...

Happy Holidays!

It's been a while since I have blogged so I have a lot to catch up on!!

Since my last post we have had good news and bad news. I'll get the bad news over first. Anthony's car was stolen the weekend after Thanksgiving and we still haven't recovered it. The police told us there is a really good chance of getting it back, but at this point we're not sure if it will be in that great of condition if we do ever get it back. Thankfully, we live very close to his job (a 2 minute walk) so he can still get to work without too much trouble.

On to the good news....

My first chorus concert with my new students went very well last Thursday. I had been so nervous about their behavior and their sound, but they ended up making me very happy. I watched the video with them on Friday and they were also very pleased with the way that it turned out. We have a week left before Christmas break and we're going to spend it picking out new songs.



My younger brother proposed to his girlfriend Meg on December 9th. I will finally have a sister! Everyone is very excited for them. I think the wedding will be sometime around May 2010.



Anthony and I went to Busch Gardens this weekend so that we could use our pass one more time before they expired. It was a great day, a little chilly, but the lines weren't too long. The Christmas decorations were also very pretty.



Now we are just finishing up all of our Christmas shopping and getting ready to spend the holidays with family. Here are some pictures of how the apartment looks for Christmas!!

Thanksgiving...

Anthony and I had Thanksgiving in Wauchula with my family on Thursday. It was really tasty, and very nice to see my family. This year some of our extended family dined with us. It gave me an opportunity to introduce Anthony to some family that he probably wouldn't have met any time soon.

We avoided Black Friday this year and I really am not that sad that we did. No one seemed to have great sales. We did go to the outlet mall around midnight to check out a couple early sales, but were disappointed.

If you are a fan of Christmas movies you should check out "Four Christmases." It was really funny and had a nice storyline. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday!

One Word
TYPE ONLY 1 WORD. IT’S HARDER THEN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your significant other? amazing
3. Your hair? darker
4. Your mother? wauchula
5. Your father? same
6. Your favorite thing? love
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. You’re in? pj's
11. Your fear? spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you’re not? sleepy
15. Muffins? baked
16. One of your wish list items? engagement
17. Where you grew up ? WAUCHULA
18. The last thing you did? decorate
19. What are you wearing ? pj's
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pet? pest
22. Your computer? hp
23. Your life? meaningful
24. Missing someone? friends
25. Your car? dirty
26. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
27. Favorite Store? target
28. Your summer? moving?
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Now it’s 4 answers
32. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME? mom, susan, jan, jaime
33. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: pasta, pizza, lasagna, broccoli
34. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW? bed, north carolina, new york, beach

Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do.....

There has been a very exciting change in our life this week. I have been hired at Hardee Junior High as the new chorus and music appreciation teacher. I am very excited about the new position!!! It was also very nostalgic to be back in middle school choir after all the time I spent there as a middle schooler. Of course the room is very different since it is now located at the new junior high, but it still took me back to listen to them sing the cheesy songs that they will perform in two weeks.

In other news, I wanted to share this super cute picture of Anthony and his mom.



It's made me excited about Christmas!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I recently had my 25th birthday and Anthony made me a beautiful birthday cake complete with magic candles and sprinkles!! I wanted to share the picture because I thought it was very thoughtful and special that he made a cake for me instead of buying one that was already decorated. He has gone out of his way every holiday to make it extra special and my birthday was no exception. I truly do have an amazing guy!

Here we are at the Ale House for my birthday dinner...



Here we are out for my birthday with our friends Matt and Shanna...

Name Game

I stole this from the Lourcey's....


1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Alisha

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus -izzle.)
Ali-izzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal)
Blue Puppy

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number)
Gayle Cedar

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
MooAl

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink)
Pink Coffee

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dads name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms first name).
Lomuvda (wow that was kinda ridiculous!)

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents' middle names)
Jane Royce

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets).
Black Kirby

That was actually a lot of fun! That Iraqi name required a lot of work. I hope everyone enjoys learning their new names!

PUMPKIN!

Yesterday Anthony and I finally carved the pumpkin that we bought weeks ago. We found our pumpkin at a pumpkin patch beside Daniel's apartment. We have been waiting to carve it because I read that pumpkins don't last very long after you carve them. Here is the finished product.

Whitewater Rafting!

These are the pictures from the whitewater rafting that we were able to do while on vacation. It was so much fun and I can't wait to try a harder rapid next time!

Pictures from our trip

I wanted to add a couple pictures to go along with the blog about our trip. I have several more that I will try to upload later.



In the caves...


Downtown Charlotte...

North Carolina!

Anthony and I just came home Tuesday from a week long vacation to North Carolina. We had an amazing time! Last Wednesday we left Fort Myers and drove until we made it to Georgia that night. We finished our journey to Charlotte on Thursday afternoon and checked into our hotel. Aunt Susan was awesome and let me trade my Christmas plane ticket in for some hotel time (she has a ton of free points for flying and hotels). We were able to get three nights in the Fairfield Inn in North Charlotte, it was really nice!

The weather was fantastic Thursday so when we finished unpacking we left to explore. A man in our hotel had told us where to find a great sushi restaurant so we headed in that direction. The shopping plaza where the restaurant was located was really pretty and while we were waiting on our table we were able to walk around and enjoy the cool weather and atmosphere. I didn't realize how much I missed trees and greenery until we were surrounded by trees in the mall! The sushi restaurant was fantastic, and was a great way to end our first night.

Friday we spent most of the day checking out potential job opportunities. We walked around all of downtown looking for different gyms and talked to several people about personal training while we were there. Anthony received a lot of positive feedback. I contacted the school board for Charlotte schools and found out the the job fair is in April.

Friday night we went to Dave and Busters. It was a lot of fun and I was really excited to play arcade games!! I had never been to a Dave and Busters before so it was a great first time experience for me, Anthony was excited to go back.

We spent most of our day Saturday exploring different areas of the town and even did a little apartment shopping. We went back to Dave and Busters that night. :-)

Sunday we left Charlotte and drove a couple hours into the Smokey mountains. The drive was very beautiful, the scenery is so amazing to me as I am use to a flat surface. We drove into Marion North Carolina and went to the Linville Caverns. I had never been to caverns before so it was a really special experience for me. We were able to see really awesome stalactites and there was a pond of water under the cave that no one knows the depth of. We were even able to see a small bat while we were in the cave. The only part of the experience I didn't enjoy was when our guide turned out all of the lights for us to truly appreciate total darkness. I wasn't a fan...at all.

We only drove a little while longer and stopped for the evening just outside of Asheville. Monday morning we woke up and drove to the Nantahalla River for our whitewater rafting trip. It was a lot of fun and the water wasn't as cold as I feared it would be. Anthony and I had a blast and it is definitely something we will do again! After the rafting we started on our journey back to Florida stopping off in St Augustine on the way home to see my friend Jessica.

Our vacation really was amazing and it was fun to spend so much time together without having to leave for work. I really can't wait to go back! If you are looking for a vacation spot, Charlotte is awesome!

Duck Ambush!

The ducks that have been our friends are starting to get a little creepy. Sunday when Anthony and I left the apartment they were outside of our front door. We came home almost 3 hours later and they were still there hiding in the bushes. Once one of them saw us, they all came running at us. Anthony took bread outside for them and instead of the timid ducks we are use to, they were running all over his feet and eating the bread.

Yesterday afternoon I went out onto our back patio and they were waiting. I also noticed how the ducks were no longer timid and afraid but seemed to be almost demanding. I am worried that maybe they are becoming too dependant on us. And a little worried about the stalking!!

Season 3!!!

If you don't watch the series Heroes, you really should! It's amazing!! I am really excited to see where the show is headed and what new developments the characters will have!

Vacations!!!

I'm getting really excited about our upcoming vacations! This weekend for Labor Day Anthony and I are going to Siesta Key with my family. My Aunt Susan has a time share on Siesta Key that we always spend Labor Day at. This year she rented an extra condo so that our entire family can enjoy Labor Day together. I'm looking forward to spending time at the beach and spending some time with my family. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

In September, Anthony and I are going to Charlotte, North Carolina for several days. I'm really excited about taking a road trip and checking out a new city. He and I are trying to decide where we might want to move and this is our first step in narrowing it down.

Clean Pores!!!!

Anthony and I noticed that we had very clogged pores on our noses recently, yea I know that is kind of gross. So today I bought pore strips and we now have very clean noses. Just thought I would share our "cute" picture with everyone! :-)

Are there nice teenagers in the world?

After today I am going to say yes. As part of our preparation for the tropical storm that is headed our way, I went to get sandbags for our patio. At the local fire station there was free sand and bags, you just had to fill them yourself. I asked a few people there how many bags I should take for a sliding glass door and they said between 15 to 20. I started to fill my bags alone, and it was quite a job. Once I had 8 bags filled I took them to my car to make room for the people who were arriving. When I got to my car I noticed that two teenage boys who had also been filling their own bags were carrying bags to my car. At first I thought they were helping me with the 8 that I filled, but soon realized that they had stayed to fill the bags I needed. I thanked them and thanked them for being so kind, one of them just said, "You just looked like you needed the help ma'am, I was just being polite." Aside from the whole calling me ma'am thing, I was so thankful for their kindness. It was nice to see that teenagers can still be polite.

The Dark Knight

This weekend Anthony and I saw The Dark Knight with Dan and Meg. I went to the movie expecting it to not live up to all the hype that has surrounded the movie and was very surprised. The movie was amazing, easily the best movie I have seen in the last couple of years. I was finding it hard to believe that Heath Ledger delivered the best performance of a villain until Sunday, and everyone was right, he was amazing. Creepy and dark, but in a believable way. You should definitely go check it out if you haven't already. Did anyone else see it? What did you think about it?

Our Apartment...

I wanted to put up a couple pictures of our apartment...

Here is a picture of our living room.


The other half of the living room...


The dining room.


The kitchen.


That's really the only decent pictures I have of the new apartment right now. When I have a few more I will share them with you. Let us know what you think of the new place.

Doughnuts...Not Just A Food...

So I've been driving around for a week or so with my rear tire going flat. I fill it up almost daily and it still leaks. Anthony patched it and we thought that the patch would be a solution. Well last night after grocery shopping we went by to put a little more air in the tire. As Anthony was filling it up I noticed that it looked like big bubbles were moving around in the tire. I asked Anthony what it was and he said "Just get away from it." About 5 seconds later the tire blew up. Well, it wasn't quite as dramatic as that just sounded, but a big hole appeared. So...I am now driving around on a "doughnut" tire until this afternoon when they will put my new, shinny tire on the car. Maybe I will take some pictures when I get home.

Happy Birthday to You!

My dad's birthday was on July 17th, so my parents came down to Fort Myers to celebrate. Dad really wanted to go to a Japanese Steakhouse so we went to Tokyo Bay Friday night. It was a lot of fun for everyone. Dad, Mom, Susan, Daniel, Meg, Anthony and I all enjoyed our food and the show by our server. It was the first time I had seen a server try to make everyone at the table catch food in their mouths! Meg was the only successful catcher. After dinner, the waitress brought out ice cream with a candle for Dad, but didn't sing because he hates being singled out.

Everyone came to our apartment after dinner so that we could show off our new place. I was able to be a hostess for a little bit and serve coffee to our guests. :-) Anthony taught Mom, Susan, and Meg how to play Boggle and later we played Scattergories. Overall it was an enjoyable evening with my family. Here are some pictures from dinner and game time.

Princess of Power!!!

I don't know if any of you use to watch the T.V. show She-Ra, but I use to love it! It was a great 80's cartoon about a princess who fights evil. Well Anthony and I were talking about it this weekend and I said how much I use to love playing with She-Ra and He-Man and how they were a Super Couple. He died laughing and told me I was sick. Then he told me that they were brother and sister. I thought he was wrong and we argued a bit about it. Well I looked it up online, and during the theme song She-Ra says that she is He-Man's twin sister. Seriously? How did I miss that one?

Fireworks!!

Anthony and I enjoyed our first 4th of July together last Friday. We spent most of the day with one of my really good friends Lindsey and her husband Tony. It was nice for Anthony to finally meet some of my friends who have been such a large part of my life.

We played guitar hero and spent the afternoon in the pool before heading downtown to watch the fireworks show. Anthony, Lindsey, Tony, and I met up with our other friends at the docks. It was very nice to watch the fireworks over the water.

After the show was over we headed downtown for a little while. It was nice to show my friends from Wauchula where Anthony and I spend our weekends. All together it was a nice weekend. I hope everyone else had a great 4th too!

Ducks!!

Most of you know that Anthony and I recently moved into a different apartment. Now instead of living on the third floor, we live directly on a lake and it is very pretty.




With this new view also came new friends; ducks!



Now when we are leaving the apartment we look to see if there are ducks to feed! :-) There are also the cutest little ducklings that follow their mother around. Most of them are brown, but there is also a yellow one that I really like.



We have really enjoyed our new duck friends, and so has Kirby. He will sit in the window and stare at the ducks and the lake.



It's nice to still be able to enjoy a small piece of nature when we live in the middle of a city!

Slide Show!

Here are some pictures of Anthony and I with some of our friends. Most of these pictures were taken while we were either downtown or out somewhere. A few of them are from Chris and Jenn's wedding. Hope you enjoy, let us know what you think!

A little more about us...

Hello! Recently I realized that Anthony and I have friends who mean a lot to us that we have not been able to introduce each other to and sometimes are not able to talk to often enough. I wanted to start this blog so that our friends can know what is going on in our lives and hopefully feel like they are getting to know us better at the same time. There are several of our friends who probably do not even know how we met! So, I am going to tell you about it....

Anthony and I met in December of 2007 when we were out with mutual friends. Neither of us were looking for a date that night, fate just put us in the same place at the same time. We went out that night with our friends and didn't really spend that much time talking but we were introduced. The next day we talked over Myspace and then eventually on the phone. We spent time together on New Year's and I knew I had to be his girlfriend. Over the next couple of days we continued spending time together and getting to know one another. We've been dating ever since!

For those of you who do not know me, I hope this blog will help you feel like you do over time. Today I am just going to give you the basics. I am originally from Florida. Wauchula to be exact. It is a tiny town in Central Florida that I have a learned to love now that I am not living there. I went to the University of South Florida and have a degree in Elementary Education. My parents live in Wauchula and my younger brother, Daniel, lives in Fort Myers. I just moved into our new apartment that Anthony and I share with my cat Kirby.

Anthony is from New York, somewhere in Long Island that I ALWAYS forget the name of. He is a personal trainer at the Omni Club, a huge gym in Fort Myers. He loves his job because he really likes being able to help people improve their self image and their health. I love that about him! His family is in New York and I am hoping to meet them soon.

I hope this blog will help you feel like you are a part of our lives even if you live far away! Feel free to give us feedback on what we write, we would love to hear from you!!