Holidays 2022

December 2022

Central NY area.

My  mother usually gets all of us tickets to see some performance around this time of year. This year it was The Little Mermaid. 

It was me, my mom, Alexis, Alicia.

Of course the show was great, who doesn't love a show about mermaids? 

Kelly and I took a trip to Destiny Mall for a little shopping. 

We had some coffees and found some fun sodas. We also found this ornament store that had all these decorated trees. It was a Christmas wonderland. 

I held a party at my house. 

and hung out with some of my friends. (David and Renee, Carol, Kelly and Dawn. Matt and Gavin also joined us.)

I put up my Disney Tree. 

and featuring my 2022 ornament. 

I put up my regular tree too.

I went to the annual gift exchange dinner. 

I had dinner and gifts at Kelly's for Christmas Eve.

Then I hosted Christmas day at my house. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

 

Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills Trip- Buffalo NY

December 10-December 12 2022

This was a Tulip Travel trip. I had never seen a professional football game in my life and I was super excited. We left central NY and made our way to our hotel and had a nice dinner at Tully's. Annette and I enjoyed the hotel pool and hot tub later that evening. 

The following day after breakfast, we made our way to the stadium. We had to wait in a long long line of cars just to get into the parking lot. 

These pumpkin guys were in someone 's lawn with RIP. 

The plan was to get to the stadium and pre-game by tail gating a nice lunch. There were a ton of other people with the same thoughts....but none of us remembered that it is December in NY and it is cold out, and to make it worse, it started to RAIN. 

We tried to make the best of it. But I was bummed.....It was cold and the wetness just made it worse. Lunch was good though. 

We finished up lunch and made our way into the stadium. It was so crowded. It was insane actually. The lines to the bathroom were miles long. People were crazy, drinks were flowing and the nuts were out. 

We got to our seats, and soon the game was about to begin. Now, all I can say is the energy was infectious. Fighter jets flew over us and fire works went off and then the entire place lit up. The roar of the crowd engulfed me and I was taken over with the spirit of winning. LETS GO...BUFFALO

The music rang, fireworks boomed and out came the Buffalo team....

The cold wetness no longer mattered, the excitement of the game had me all heated up. WOOOOOO, here we go. 

Yes, I can totally feel the lure. People were up on their feets screaming and yelling. The fan base was off the charts. 

They were playing the NY Jets. Now, I do not know a thing about football. I like to watch the superbowl and I usually root for the underdog. I have some idea about the rules, but otherwise I have no idea about the players, the teams or what was really going on for most of the game. I actually found that I could not keep track of where the ball went. 

So 90% of the time, I didn't know what had happened. I decided that although being here was indeed fun and the excitement was insane, if I really want to watch a football game and know what the hell is going on, Id better watch it on tv. I felt like you would see the ball be thrown on you would see someone go down, but you never really knew unless the audience had a moment of pure delighted screams that any points were scored. 

Overall it was a great time. I do wish it hadn't been so cold and wet. 

Buffalo won 20 to 12 in the end and we couldn't have asked for a better final, Getting out of the stadium was a nightmare, and then my group couldn't locate the van, but we finally all made it back to the hotel for the night and were proud to call Buffalo our team for the day. TTFN

Florida, our new home

Florida or Bust: A visit to our new home

November 24th 2022

There has been a big change that has been happening in my home. (Although at the time of this writing over a year later, the change has slowed to a standstill, but that story is for another day.) At any rate. In this time November of 2022. Mark, Me and Riley took a trip to Florida to visit our new home. In Oct. 2022 a lease was signed on this place, with all intentions on calling Florida home sometime in the fall of 2023. Our son Ben lives here currently as does Mark's mom. 

The long term plan is for Mark to do locum. The idea of traveling for work for the rest of our days has been on the life goal for several years now. Mark has been working towards retirement and setting things up for an early retirement with the state of NY. Our plan is to find placement in Florida. Ideally where our place is would be best, but we are willing to move around as this would ultimately be what we are looking for. Florida would just be our landing pad.

(I identify as a Unicorn Princess.)

Our plans have changed a little over the development of this goal. For a bit I had hoped to simply take the RV all over the place. We thought about buying a home in Florida. I was longing to be on the gulf coast. This is my favorite area of Florida. When my mother in law said she was moving to Florida (She had originally thought somewhere near Orlando) It was I who suggested that we get a place with her instead of buying a house that we would not be living in for 90% of the year. That became our final plan and she decided to find the place. She chose closer to our son on the Atlantic coast. 

This trip was to both visit family and emerse ourselves in the apartment. It's absolutely lovely. 

Pool and hot tub are my favorite. We  are only a 10 min drive to the beach as well. 

Mark enjoys time with Ben's roomates pup.

The apartment has a ton of activities and areas to enjoy. There is a putters course, tennis court, BBQs and a fire pitt.

Inside is a art room, gym, meeting room, 

movie room

and a large gathering area where they host parties, drink nights and entertainment.

I am very excited about our future new home. I cannot wait for our new life.