Wildwood Vacation Day 1

Well hello!  We have returned from our mini anniversary trip to the beach and are still trying to roll back into routine.  Nothing like the brute force of a Monday to kick the vacation vibe out of you.

We had a splendid time on the Jersey Shore for a few days which I'll recap in a couple of posts this week.  Thanks for your patience.

Thursday morning Dan and I packed our bags and grabbed donut motivation to get on the road.

We were really fortunate this year that Dan's boss offered to let us borrow his car.  This was so nice because we didn't have to take public transportation into New Jersey and then rent a car.  It saved us time and money and we love that.

For our homey-moon last year we stayed in Cape May which is just the cutest town ever.  We had a blast and stayed at an old Victorian home turned bed and breakfast.  While planning our trip this year, we wanted to go to the same area but felt like we had done most everything in Cape May.  Wildwood New Jersey is about 15 minutes away from Cape May and had a boardwalk and lots of other attractions so we decided to check that out.  The idea was to stay someplace new but be close enough to go back to where we were last year.

We found a bed and breakfast online and took a risk.  It is called Summer Nites and was 1950s themed.  It looked cute, had great reviews, was about the same price wise as Cape May, and seemed fun.  I was a tad bit nervous that it would be totally tacky and gross.  We were both pleasantly surprised when we pulled up.

The b&b we stayed at in Cape May was an old Victorian house that was shabby-chic, to put it nicely, and had no amenities.  This year the b&b was in a fully renovated home with fun 1950s details everywhere and perks galore.  Sheila invited us in and showed us around right away.  Everything had 1950s memorabilia and decor.  There were jukeboxes and the kitchen was diner style.  In the basement there was an old fashioned coke machine and a game room with old pin ball games. So fun!

Each room in the house has a different theme like Elvis, music, or movies and it is fully decorated in that theme.  Our room was the Marilyn Monroe room and it was perfect.  Pink walls, Jacuzzi tub, and a painting of Marilyn on the wall.

Everything was so clean and nice. The bed was comfy and there was a flat screen TV for watching cable or picking a DVD from the house collection of vintage movies.  The A/C worked and the floors were level.  We were so happy with our find.   There was a lot more to check-out about the b&b but we wanted to get to the boardwalk!

We threw our swimsuits on and headed the two blocks to the boardwalk.  Now, Wildwood is wild.  It is exactly what you image a boardwalk on the Jersey Shore would be if you ever watched the show Jersey Shore.  It was 2 miles of arcades, fried food, ice cream, and people yelling at you to buy their crap and I say crap because that is what it is.  It was not quaint or cute like Cape May but they had three water parks and Dan and I were craving a lazy river.  We got the reduced admission price for it being after 3 pm and we did the lazy river five times as well as a bunch of water slides.  It was fun but let's face it, we aren't kids anymore so some of the slides we only did once because they were too fast or uncomfortable, like the one that spit you out 15 feet above water.  It felt like a full body belly flop.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the our room and tried out the Jacuzzi and games.

For dinner, Sheila recommended we try Jersey Girl.  We had hot crab dip with tortilla chips for an appetizer and then shared a chicken Caesar salad.  The hot crab dip was my favorite eat from the trip.

After dinner we walked along the boardwalk to explore and then got tickets to see the Doo Wop neon tour.

Apparently, Wildwood was a really hip and happening place to be in the 1950s.  The motel trend started in Wildwood and it was the place where American Bandstand was broadcast in the summer.  It has a history of rock n' roll and doo wop music so a lot of that 1950s charm has been preserved.  That tid-bit made our b&b even more fun.

Ever heard the song "Wildwood Days" by Bobby Rydell?  Neither of us were familiar with it but we sure know it now because they blasted that darn song on the boardwalk and beach all day.

There was a cute little museum we looked at and then we got on a school bus for the tour of all the neon doo wop motel signs in the town.

I have no pictures from the actual tour because we couldn't see out of the bus windows.  Here are a couple of signs I took pictures of during the day.  Just imagine lots of neon signs and fake palm trees.  

Most of Wildwood is motel style lodging with original 1950s charm.  Dan and I both think motels are tacky but some were really nice looking.  

After the bus tour we walked back on the boardwalk which was super crowded and like Vegas with all the lights.  We rode the giant Ferris Wheel to see the boardwalk from above next to the pitch dark abyss of the Atlantic Ocean on the other side.  What a juxtaposition.

We enjoyed some "polish water ice" on the boardwalk for dessert.  It was the same as Italian Ice.

In bed we watched The Seven Year Itch starring Marilyn Monore.  The caliber of movie plots have really improved since the 1950s.  That's all I have to say about that.

Stop by tomorrow for Show and Tell Tuesday and then Wednesday I'll share Day 2 of our trip. 

Beach Bound

Well, it's only hump day but in my book it's Friday!!!  In just a few hours the work day will be over and we will be officially on vacation.  Tomorrow we're headed to the Jersey Shore.  

We'll be missing from the blog world until Monday.  I'll try to Instagram if you are interested in live peeks from our trip.  Follow me at rockypantsadventures

This time last year Dan and I were total stress-heads doing last minute details for the wedding.  This Sunday will be our one year anniversary.  Eeek!!! I can't believe it's been a whole year.  I re-read my posts about the wedding this week and I am hands down thrilled I never have to go through that again.

It was a beautiful day and we made beautiful memories but I am happy to say that married life has been a million times better than the wedding day.

Happy Wednesday from Rocky Pants.  We'll see you back here on Monday. 

Weekending it

It was a low-key weekend for us and it helped me to prepare emotionally for fall.  We did so much this summer and I am starting to feel ready for quieter weekends.

On Friday, Dan and I met at Lowe's after work.  We stocked-up on households and picked a paint color for the entryway.  When we got home we recharged our batteries with some Papa Johns pizza and some Parks and Rec before clearing out the furniture in the entryway.

Then we taped everything off and "cut-in" the trim.

We started at 7 pm and finished the first coat at midnight.

Saturday morning we started with some donut motivation and tackled the second coat of paint.

By the afternoon the paint had dried and we put all the furniture back. 

The project took less than 24 hours and we LOVE it.  It feels like a whole new apartment and I am crossing my fingers that the color stays clean and/or conceals any hand-prints that riddled the white walls.

In the afternoon we took a long walk through the fancy part of our neighborhood (think mansions) and got some real ice cream.

Then we sat on a bench overlooking the water and taking-in some sunnies.

Sunday was the last day of our Soccer/Arts camp at church.  Praise the Lord.  The kids had a blast but Dan and I are beat.  If we do the camp again we need to rethink volunteer recruitment.  

The craft was supposed to be watercolor paints but we couldn't find them in the bins so the little kids did play-doh and magna tiles and the two older girls shared the one set of paints I brought from home.  At the end all the kids went up into the service and got certificates of participation and goodie bags.

To celebrate the end of camp Dan and I got ice cream again which we justify because it is a mile walk to the ice cream parlor and back but mostly because we survived the seven-week camp and we are not about restricting ice cream.

Now we are staring down just a three-day work week before we leave for our anniversary mini trip to Wildwood/Cape May New Jersey.

Happy Monday!!

Peeks from the Week

I am loving these hot August days.  I feel alive in the summer heat.  It has cooled off a bit today but I hope the heat wave returns next week for our trip to the Jersey Shore.

Anyways, this week was pretty good.  We hosted two sets of friends for our breakfast for dinner tradition.  On Tuesday night we had our friends Janet and Peter over for German pancakes, fresh fruit, and bacon (or fake-on for the vegetarian).  We played Pandemic and lost, big time.  That's the first time that has happened.  Dan and I have always won.

Thursday night we had Harry and Jennifer over and I made the same menu because it was yummy and easy. We heard all about their amazing trip to Belize and then played Settlers of Catan. 

We are trying to build new friendships and strengthen older ones so simple dinners are working well.

The other big news from the week is Dan and I are now officially debt free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had a massive amount of student loan debt from graduate school at NYU.  I had made my peace that I would be paying it off the rest of my life.  Because I work at a non-profit, I was on a really low repayment plan based on my income.  We did the math and I would never, ever be able to pay down on the principal while on that payment plan but we couldn't afford a bigger monthly bill.  It was a huge burden for me coming into our marriage with so much debt.  Even though I have been paying my bills for over four years I still owe more than I did on the day the loans went into repayment because I was accruing $6 of interest every single day (that's over $2,000 a year).  Student loan debt is ridiculous if you work in a profession that cannot pay you enough to offset the cost of your education...the so-called education you needed in order to get that job in the first place.  Ugh, I'll stop there before I get carried away.

Anyways, a few months back Dan and I started talking and we decided that if we moved things around and pinched a little we could pay the loans off using the money we had been saving to start our family.  We both knew that we wouldn't ever get this opportunity again once we start having kids.  Now we are pinching pennies to refill the nest egg.

On Wednesday the debt cleared.  I'm bitter about it.  I'm thrilled its gone but annoyed that we ended up paying so much money for two years of  "education" that was not worth the cost.  Oh and that $6.15 left in my account...that's the interest accrued on the same day I paid the loan off! Ridiculous.

There are only two more Summer Fridays left.  Big ole frown-y face about that.  Summer is slipping through our fingers so fast.  Plans for this weekend include painting the apartment entryway room and perhaps a picnic.

Hope you enjoyed this peek.  Happy Friday! 

Show and Tell Tuesday: Flashback to the High School Days

It's Show and Tell Tuesday with Andrea!  Today's theme is who were you in High School?

Oh geez, high school...not something I want to relive.

Guys, I was not, nor will I ever be, in the "cool crowd."  I wasn't exactly uncool but Mandy and I definitely fell in that in-between lost in the shuffle have friends that aren't really friends group.  The high school day reminiscing is plural because in those days, Mandy and I were inseparable.

We were so nervous about high school as it was our first public school experience and as everyone knows, it's all about having the right clothes and saying the right things.  We hyper obsessed about fitting in and yet never quite figured it out.  Oh sure, we had friends but they were nearly all superficial friendships.  If I was to sum-up my high school self in one word it would be "self-conscious."   I distinctly remember the feeling of walking down the hall and being so overwhelmed with fear about what I was supposed to do with my arms and hands.  Do they hang at my side? Should I cross them?  Do they go in my pockets? Does that look weird?  Is my hair ugly?  Is everyone starring at the pimple on my chin?  What do I DO with my hands!!!????

I confessed this fear to a youth group leader one time and she laughed at me.  She didn't understand why I would be hyper focused on that.  I'll never forget how lonely and ashamed I felt in that moment.  Oh, high school Stephanie I want to give you a hug. 

A note about that pic above.  Mandy was a cheerleader freshman year.  It did not work out well, she just didn't have the typical cheer personality.  I played violin (quite terribly) in orchestra all four years of high school. 

I had crushes (oddly they were both named Kyle and they both had blonde hair and they both obliquely resemble Dan...apparently I have a "type.") but I never talked to boys, ever.  No one ever approached Mandy or me about being interested so therefore we never dated.  Evidently our shyness came off as unapproachable.  It's probably for the best, we wouldn't have known what to do.   We hung out with our parents at home on weeknights and weekends.  We never got invited to parties or to the mall.  We were late-bloomers in every sense of the word...not developing until we were well past age 16 and we were tall, skinny, and gangly.  Not quite looking comfortable in our own skin. 

We drove our great grandmother's 1984 pee yellow Volvo station wagon with poop brown leather interior.  No one can recover social standing when you drive that to school.  It didn't help that Mandy and I were vigilant about arriving to school early.  Our car was the first in the student parking lot every morning.

We went to prom with our only solid friend from school, a girl I knew through orchestra.  We forced each other to go, feeling like if we didn't we would regret it.  We had delivery pizza for dinner, Jessy did our hair and make-up, and our dad drove us to the location.   It was lame.

We were studious.  Did very well in classes and got straight As.   We graduated in the white honors robes but were still "less than" all the kids in AP classes and International Baccalaureate. We were awkward, unsure of ourselves, anxious, and always worrying about other people.  I am still very similar to my high school self.  Learning to Be My Own Rainbow is a genuine struggle.

When I was in college I was seeing a therapist who happened to be the mother of a girl at our high school.  That girl was a grade below us (and in the popular crowd).  She told her mom (who then told me) that everyone was curious about us (Mandy and me) and they thought we were beautiful.

I didn't believe the therapist.  I thought she was making it up to try and get me to regain confidence I never had.  But thinking back about it now, we were beautiful.  Maybe we didn't feel it outwardly but we have genuine beauty on the inside.

Mandy says she dreams regularly about high school more than any other memory recalled in dream state.  I dream about it too.  Mostly about being late, not knowing where my classroom is, not having my schedule, being in an awkward social situation.  Truth be told, it wasn't entirely miserable for four solid years.  We had laughs, fun times, and moments of pride and confidence but the hard memories are always the ones that surface first. 

According to Dan, in high school he was the "nice guy who was reserved."  He played basketball freshmen and sophomore years and tennis all four years.  He was also on the debate team.  He doesn't have any specific memories from those years but says he was just "trying to figure out who he was."  Weren't we all.

  Three cheers for leaving high school in the past!