PA Vaca

I've wanted to write so many times this vacation, but there was just so much to say, and so little time! I did post the pictures from the shower, which was wonderful! Here is a breakdown of the whole trip. :)

Bridal Shower - August 12th, 2016

The shower was amazing! It was hosted by my mom and cousin Liz, who went to school with my mom and married my cousin Kevin (making her my cousin by marriage.) It was beautiful! Liz made the centerpieces, which completely blew me away! Three Cinderella ones, a Rapunzel, an Ariel, and a Belle. She gave them to me to keep, which I love, and we can use at the shower that Julie will throw me before the wedding. I have heard so many good things about them from a lot of people.

The food was delicious, made largely by Liz, and her mother, and my mom also. It was a ham dinner, and my mom purchased two platters of fancy cookies! The cake had Disney Princesses on it. It said "Congratulations Josh and Tina!" and the Sam's Club staff called mom to verify that it was, in fact, the cake that she wanted for what appeared to be an engagement. She told them that yes, she had selected the correct cake. (lol) 

We played a candy wedding match game, "Over & Under"--a Little Mermaid game where guests guess if the number provided is over, or under what is true, Pass the Gift, and a "Name that Bride" game that was played at my mom's bridal shower! What was really interesting is that my mom's bridal shower was at that same place when she married my dad! 

I designed the candy bar favors, which were very tasty! 

Everyone LOVED my dress (shorter 2015 Cinderella) that I was wearing that I made! No one could believe that I had made it. :) I wore my glass slippers until I got blisters, then I put on my $5 man sandals from Walmart.

It was so nice to see so many of my friends and family! I felt so loved and supported! I got some very special gifts, and a lot of cash gifts and gift cards. I deposited all the money in Josh & I's house savings account. 

Towards the end, after the gifts, someone said "Speech!", so I started with the "Four score and seven years ago..." speech, but that's as far as I got, because I honestly don't remember the whole thing. If I kept going, I knew they would figure that out quickly, so I transitioned into my real speech, which was definitely not planned, but I was just really happy and grateful for my shower. 

Family Reunion - August 13th, 2016

The family reunion was great! I loved seeing so many of my relatives in one place. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with many of them, and to meet some people I had never met!

Some of it was sad because my uncle George has cancer, and they believe this will be his last visit. They had a sing along and his sons led everyone in singing a song called "This Old House". That was sad. 

Josh had a great time visiting with the aunts and cousins, and regaled them all with the tale of our first date, and getting engaged. They all loved him--he was a hit! Josh did so great, I was very proud of him.

There was a silent auction, and Josh and I bid on and won the Istanbul basket that my cousin Kathy put together--that was pretty cool!

After the reunion was winding down, my cousin Jake and his family invited us to go jump off "the cliffs" (some big rocks at a deep creek). Josh had never done this, so we decided to go. It was cold at first, but a lot of fun!

Day with Mom - August 14th, 2016

Sunday, the guys left. They ended up being able to give up their seats for $500 + airline money, which was amazing, and super exciting! The downside--they spent their day at the Pittsburgh airport, but they were fine. For $500? So worth it.

Mom and I went down to Altoona and spent the day going to David's Bridal to look at potential Mother of the Bride dresses for her, we went to the bookstore (an activity we both love!), had dinner at Olive Garden, and ended the day at home, watching episodes of Outlander, Season 2. It was a great  day. 

Styx Concert - August 15th, 2016

 Monday, mom and I got ready and drove to Lancaster for a Styx concert! We had dinner at Shady Maple--the Disneyland of buffets. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Shady Maple. It is about the size of a hotel, and they have so many different types of AMAZING food.

For desert, I got a few different things, but I decided to be daring and try something with a weird name that I had never been bold enough to try before--Shoo Fly Pie. Turned out to be the best desert there. I loved it! It made me wish I wasn't super stuffed, so that I could have more of it. I did get the recipe on a post card from the gift shop though, so I can make it someday! 

Speaking of their gift shop... it is also huge. It has so many different aspects, and items, my mind can't even comprehend. My favorite things there were the Disney Princess figurines! Of course, I wanted to buy them all, but of course, they were way too expensive. My next thought, was to buy one (the princess of each of my Princesses in Waiting) for each of my bridesmaids, but again, too expensive... They also had Disney Princesses as BRIDES. I went nuts over this. They even had a few of the Disney Princess cake toppers I have been obsessing over online, however I decided not to purchase any at this time for financial reasons. 

I also loved the Thomas Kinkade square paintings of all the Disney Princesses for $90! That was an amazing deal, although I did not purchase any. Loved looking at them though! They have three for 2015 Cinderella, that I loved! 

After we managed to pull ourselves away from the gift shop, we went to the Styx concert. We had FIFTH ROW CENTER SEATS!!!! Mind blowing. I loved it so much! I was standing, rocking out, most of the show. Unfortunately, I did figure out that when the band members were flicking their pics into the audience, they mostly only went as far as the 3rd or 4th row, however, after the show, I went to the stage and asked a roadie for a pic and he gave me a TOMMY SHAW PIC!!! My mom has always loved Tommy Shaw, and I'll admit, that kinda spilled over to me too.

Mom and I both got shirts, and after the show, we waited out back for the band. I met a nice girl named Erin, who also loved Styx, and she helped me get Lawrence and Ricky's signature on my shirt, but the rest of the band didn't come out while I was there.

We left and started driving up to New York, but we were getting tired. When we started looking for a hotel, we stopped at three that were either sold out, too expensive, or both. Ironically, when we looked at where we were, we realized that we were only about 20 minutes away from where my Aunt Ruth lived. We called her at 1 am and she answered and said we could come stay with her, so we headed over. Their new house was very nice and had a huge basement, full of nice rooms. We got to stay there--it was so nice to finally crash! They were very gracious hosts, and the next morning, they gave us breakfast before we headed off to NYC! 

NYC - August 16th, 2016

The first thing I did that morning was enter us in the online Hamilton lottery--both mom and me. We spent all day holding our breath for the drawing at 4pm, but in the meantime, in NYC, we bought some backup tickets. We went to the TKTS booth in the center of Time Square to get some discounted tickets. If we weren't going to see Hamilton, I was open to any show mom wanted to see, so we got tickets to On Your Feet--The Gloria and Emilio Estefan Musical. 

While we waited for word on Hamilton, and our show, we went to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum and took a ton of pictures with some of our favorite celebrities! We did that on our first NYC visit, and it was really nice to do it again. While waiting in line for our turn to sit in the oval office with the Obamas, we learned that we did not win Hamilton. I was heartbroken, but decided that, in order to do my best for the country, I must carry on. We'll just see it when it goes on tour. 

We had a nice (EXPENSIVE) dinner of appetizers at the Applebee's next door before we headed over to our show. 

The show was actually a lot of fun! I recognized a few of the songs, and right before intermission, for the "Conga" song, the cast came into the audience, and since we were orchestra, aisle seats, they pulled me into the aisle to conga with them! Of course, being an awkward white girl who had no idea what she was doing, my conga was rather less than impressive, but it was still a lot of fun!

Bushkill Falls - August 17th, 2016

After the show, we decided to leave the city to try to get a better priced hotel. We had been planning on going to Bushkill Falls on the way back, so I found a hotel called "Bushkill Falls Inn" and booked us a room there. It was $100, and mom asked me if I didn't want to check around before I booked it. It was a pretty good deal, and I was not up for trying multiple places. 

We made it there only to discover that we made a really great decision to stay there. It was kind of a resort, and the room we got had a beautiful Jacuzzi! We were in love! Unfortunately, the walls weren't as thick as we might have liked, and the people next door were clomping around like small elephants early in the morning--ug. Other than that though, we hit the jackpot!

We got a nice breakfast and went and hiked Bushkill Falls! We had done this on our last visit to NYC, so it was really nice to do it again. The last time we did it, I had taken a picture that had won me 1st place in the photo contest at work, so that was a good memory!

After the hike, we drove home and got my favorite PA pizza at Italian Village Pizza, and watched some more Outlander. 

Flight to Vegas - August 18th, 2016

The next day, mom drove me down to the airport. I barely made my flight, but it was ok because there were 30 available seats and I wouldn't have been able to give up my seat anyway. :/ Hey, at least the guys were able to. I had a safe flight to Vegas, where my Aunt Annette and cousin Joey picked me up from the airport. 

Spa Day - August 19th, 2016

Josh was going to drive down and meet me Friday evening, and the plan was to spend time with my cousins, Teresa and Mary, but sadly, their dad died and they had to drive down to CA. I was alone, but they set up a beautiful schedule for me, that they completely covered, including a massage, facial, mani & pedi, breakfast, lunch, and a nap. <3 It was amazing and I had a wonderful day of relaxation.

Around 3 pm, my cousin Christy picked me up and I spent the evening with her and her beautiful family. This was nice because I had never really gotten to spend quality time with them. They were babysitting her nephew, Liam, a nine month old who was six days older than her son Ezra. I got to play with them, and her two-year-old daughter, Emma. They were wonderful little kids and I enjoyed spending time with them. Emma even helped me do the dishes! I was super impressed because she actually really helped--not that thing that happens when you are letting little kids pretend to help, she was really helpful! 

We watched Zootopia, and Christy's husband, Aaron took me back to Mary's apt, where Josh and I were staying. I watched some Netflix until Josh got there and we went to sleep. 

Bridal Show - August 20th, 2016

We woke up and got ready the next morning, then I took Josh to the wonderful breakfast restaurant that Mary had me go to the day before for my spa day--Egg Works. I got the biscuits and gravy (same as the day before) again, and it was delicious (again). Josh really liked it too!

Then, we drove over to the show, and were one of the first ones in, so we got a free bag! It was so nice to see our venue there: The Ritz of Las Vegas. We explained to Gloria what we were there for (photography, videography, and hair & makeup), and she introduced us to a wonderful vendor for the hair and makeup--great deal. Excited to use her. Gloria also said to write to her today (Monday, which I just did), and get the info for a photographer & videographer that she knows.

We waited around because we were entered in a contest, so we waited till after the fashion show--we didn't win, but oh well. 

Found some good deals on suits, if Josh decides to have his guys do that. Of course, I would love them all to be Disney Princes, but if I were to make those, it would be a lot of work. :/ Also, Josh isn't too keen on that idea. He said he wouldn't make his guys do that if they didn't want to. He also said I could be in charge of my side, but he was in charge of his side, and he got to make those decisions. Ok, I guess, but I would love, bare minimum, to have them do the Superhero shirts under their tux's--that would be cool. Princesses & Superheros, I could deal with. :) 

We went and got some boba tea after that, hung out, got dinner. Mary got home late and it was nice to spend some time with her--she's one of my Princesses in Waiting.

We left the next day--back from our wonderful vacation to our real lives. 

It's ok though because there are many things to look forward to in the future. :)


P.S. I almost forgot to mention the best part of my trip! It's this little treasure right here:

She lights up my life. <3 Her name is Chupakaya and I love her SO MUCH.