Good Irish Times!

Nicole: Hey There!  I'm about half Irish and Justin is none, but we live on the south side of Chicago so you GOTTA celebrate St. Patrick's day!  St. Patty's day is one of my favorite holidays, you wear green (my fave color), attend parades, drink, and everyone is in a jolly mood.  It doesn't get any better.

This year to celebrate we met up with our fave twosome and headed out to Irish Times Pub.  We had awesome (all you can eat) fish fry, tasty Guinness, and great company.  There were even bagpipers!  It was an all around good time and a great way to celebrate the Irish heritage.

Justin:  I love pubs.  I don't drink a lot but I love going to pubs.  It's something about the atmosphere that just makes me really enjoy being in a cozy, warm place with good food and great friends.  Jeff and Aireen are great friends.  Aireen and I used to go to the same grammar school and we rekindled our friendship a few short years ago.  It's been a blessing and honor ever since getting to know them.  Whenever we think of some place to go we always call these two.  We seriously wish we were neighbors.  Nicole ALSO forgot to mention the car bombs!  That's my drink/shot or whatever.  I think I downed four that night...which I needed after the hellish weeks I've been having.  We actually talked about shots quite a lot as we plan on having an epic shot party in San Diego in a few weeks!

We topped the night off with a viewing of 21 Jump Street.  HILARIOUS.  Nicole fell asleep but it's all good she'd seen it already and she knew how much I wanted to. 

N: The next day we headed down to central Illinois for my friend Kristie's big 3-0 celebration.  We took our time getting there and stopped for lunch and a letterbox on the way.  It was a cemetery box and one of the easiest letterboxes we have ever found. It was a great start to our letterboxing season.

All my Girls Weekend girls were in attendance, it was so great to see them so soon after our official girls weekend, I felt spoiled!  Kristie's husband Jeffrey grilled out for all of us and he even made an awesome cake for her.  Sadly, we couldn't take any pictures because we left the camera at our lunch stop...

J:  ... Yeah I was pretty upset about that since we got our first letterbox of 2012 and we wanted it documented.  My camera fell out of my vest when I took it off.  Luckily I called the place (yeah it was a Pizza Hut so what!?) and they kept it for us til we could pick it up the next day.

N: We had a late night of game playing and chatting and then it was to bed for everyone and up the next morning for breakfast before we all went our separate ways.  I already can't wait for the next girls weekend that we already have in the works!

Merry Merry Maryland

Justin:  So this past weekend, When I Was Little was a part of the SPX 2011 show in Maryland which you can read all about: here!  The great thing about these "workcations" is that we get to go somewhere fun!  In June we went to Louisville and had an amazing time.

On this trip, we were heading to Bethesda but we were staying with my cousin Jonathan who lives out in Gaithersburg which wasn't too far.  We took a plane ride Thursday night and spent most of Friday in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The morning before the Harbor, due to the weather, we had to change plans and decided to go somewhere for brunch.  On the fly, we found  Blue Moon Cafe as seen on Triple D!!!  They are famous for their Cap'n Crunch French Toast.  The place was soooo good and we were excited to continue our trend of eating at Triple D restaurants while on vacation.

At the Harbor, we got to find a letterbox at the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse.  This took forever.  We got all confused direction wise and ended up going back to this lighthouse four or five times before we actually realized the box was hidden in and around the lighthouse.  This was special as it was our first guest box we did together.  My cousin Jonathan was really excited that we found the letterbox and it sparked interest in him trying it too.  Wooo recruiting!

After the letterbox we decided to check out The National Aquarium, talk about amazing.  The way that building is layed out is very linear so that you can see EVERYTHING in the aquarium.  It sounds like it'd be boring but it wasn't at all.  Especially because of the fact that you can start at the top and walk down in a spiral within a shark tank.  It's one of the coolest things about the building.  That and these two turtles totally trying to do it.

 Nicole: So besides the absolutely amazing Aquarium (not gonna lie, the Shedd's got nothing on it) and SPX, which took most of our time, we got to walk around quite a bit and eat out at some very tasty places!  I think we definitely got our fresh seafood fill and I can only dream of having seafood as great as that here.  There may have to be more trips to the coasts in our near future ;o)

One thing I was looking forward to doing was going to Crystal City.  There is a rotating restaurant and they have dancing till 2am.  Sounds like my kind of place!  Unfortunately, we were so tired from the full days event of SPX and the previous day of walking around that we couldn't keep our eyes open to make it there.  No worries though, that just means we will need to go back!

Justin:  Don't forget to mention that was saw the virus/outbreak flick Contagion instead!  What a paranoid movie every time someone coughed we wigged out.  Annnnnyways I think this blog has seen quite a few movie reviews on here already so I don't want to go into detail.

Nicole:  Uh yeah thanks for interrupting me!  Along with the seafood and triple D place, we attended a birthday brunch full of Filipino food.  This is where I took my love for ice cream to the extreme and tried cheese ice cream.  At first there was only a slight taste of cheese and then it was sweet creaminess, not so bad, I could it eat.  it wasn't until my last bite where I had an actual piece of cheese that I thought maybe trying it once in my life was enough.  I'm so glad I did though!  Oh the love and commitment I have for ice cream...

Justin:  And now the seafood pictures YUMMMMMMMY!  Over the trip we went to Phillip's Seafood and The Wharf.  Seriously. Best. Seafood. Ever.

 

 

 

It's like going on a treasure hunt...

Nicole:  So a little over a year ago I found this really cool hobby that I wanted to try out.  It is basically like going on a treasure hunt.  How could you not love that?!  You get a set of clues that may be specific or very vague, go out and follow them, and (hopefully) find your prize!  This hobby is called letterboxing.

So when I first told Justin about it I was very very excited and couldn't wait to get started.  Well, it turns out you need a few things to start - most notably a stamp, ink pad, and log book.

After we finally got these items I printed out a few clues from the various letterboxing websites for boxes near where we live.  Now I didn't know much about boxing at all so I didnt know that some boxes may have disappeared or been ruined or anything like that and there is a way to see when they were last found.  So as we set out looking for multiple boxes that day and didnt find a single thing, we were very disappointed.  Luckily though, I have researched it more and have learned quite a few useful tips and we have found quite a few letterboxes this past year!

We don't have time to go letterboxing a lot, so when we have an opportunity, we usually take it.  We have tried quite a few times to attend various events that have occurred throughout the year, but something always comes up and we are unable to go.  So our new goal is to try to attend at least one event!    Also, with the several trips that we are taking this year, we are trying to work a little letterboxing into the schedule so that we can find new boxes in different parts of the US.

Justin:  I must admit when I first heard about letterboxing from Nicole.  I was like cool but was like eh because I'm not really an outdoorsy person.  I don't like the heat and me standing around dripping in sweat looking for a camouflaged box didn't sound all that appealing.

But I wanted Nicole to have a hobby other then just tagging along with me to conventions.  I wanted her to find something she was passionate about too and this certainly sparked her curiosity.  I gave it a shot and the first day we went, we spent three hours in the woods and found jack squat.  I was definitely done.  I gave up too quickly but I checked my attitude and gave it another try because I could tell she really wanted to get into this and I know how much of an out doors person she is, especially during the summer.  I also realized it's good to get out in the heat and work/hike/walk off some poundage instead of staying in a nice AC'd room stuffing my face with ice cream and watching reruns of Jersey Shore.

So on the second try I actually found the first letterbox!  I was really excited and all that work with our bodies and our minds (to figure out the clues) really pays off when you find that letterbox hidden in a bush, buried in a tree, or covered by some rocks.  It's the satisfaction that you get can when you place your mark and say that you've been here that is the most rewarding.  Also it creates a way to work together.  It builds communication, team work, trust, and a sense of accomplishment when you find the box.  All key ingredients to a healthy and happy relationship.  Don't ya think?

We recently went to Louisville, KY for the Derby Comic Con and we planned a mini vacation around that.  Part of the vacation included some letterboxing at Cave Hill Cemetery in which we hit 5 for 5 boxes in one afternoon.  Quite an accomplishment for some amateur letterboxers.  Woot!