Most Things in Life Just Kinda Happen to Ya

It's been a busy few weeks. How does time pass so quickly?

We've actually been doing things, instead of sitting inside and playing video games. Well, ok, we still play video games but we do see sunlight occasionally.

The weekend before last, we had a nice celebratory dinner with my parents. It was a trifecta of occasions seeing as how we had yet to celebreate mine or my father's birthday. My parents had also gone to closing that morning to sell their house that had been on the market for close to a year. Plus, it had been awhile since all of us go to sit down and just spent some time together.

We went to Capriccio's here in Mount Pleasant, which all of us but my dad had been to. We chose it again because my dad has spent a lot of time in Italy and loves the food and their dinner customs. We figured Capriccio's was right up his alley because it was small, quaint and their food is excellent! We definitely weren't wrong. Let me tell you, if you haven't been there yet, do go. It's located on Chuck Dawley right next to Mustard Seed. Their service was amazing and their food was excellent. I had Linguini alla Romana, which was basically linguine pasta with mushrooms, cream sauce and prosciutto. Steve had the gnocchi, my mother had a salmon special and my dad had their tuscan chicken. My food was excellent but my dad's chicken was the best of the table. The house chianti was perfect and for dessert, we had an awesome creme brulee and some mouth watering cannolis.

To top it all off, the waiter was wonderful. Very nice and personable, always checked up on us and made sure we were happy. We were there for a good two hours or so on a Friday night and not once did we feel rushed. And after mentioning that we were celebrating two birthdays, they brought our desserts out and announced it to the restaurant (and not in that corny, annoying clappy hands kind of way either) and were nice enough to give both my father and I gift certificates for our next visit there, which we will definitely be doing.

So go there and give it a try, especially if you like good Italian food with a quaint cafe feel and excellent service.

Restaurant reviews aside, the next evening was spent formally celebrating the sale of the parentals house with a housewarming party at their new place. I'd had way too much wine the night before so there was no drinking for me but we did have a very good time once they broke the karaoke machine out and everybody cut loose. Good clean fun with the parents! Never thought I'd be saying that. LOL

Oh, there's two other things:

1.) We bought a Nintendo Wii. We had been looking for one for awhile. Not seriously, but just seeing if stores had them when we were there (they never did). Finally, before we went to dinner at Capriccio's, we stopped into Wal-Mart to replenish the Baron's supply of nicotine patches (still going strong and doing well) and popped into the electronics section. They had three there and both of us looked at each other with our eyes glimmering. It was the first time ever that anyone had any in stock and we knew they would go fast so on an impulse, we bought it and I can say that I'm happy we did. Where the XBox is for hardcore, super-graphics, intense gaming the Nintendo is cute and fun and easy. And the best part is: you can download tons of old games from back in the day. I've spent the last week playing Super Mario World (originally from the SNES) and I'm geeking out like I'm in seventh grade again.

The only drawback: the controls are a bit hard to get used to at first. I'm sure my neighbors downstairs are appreciating all the noise we're making from playing the sports games and swinging the controller around. It's like yea, give the klutzy and completely uncoordinated girl a video game where she actually has to move around to control the game.

And we still play the XBox. Trust me on that one.

2.) We got a puppy! Well, he's not really a puppy but he's ours. We spent the past few months visiting the local SPCAs and searching for the perfect dog. Seeing as how we live in an apartment and the Baron is allergic to most dogs, we had difficulty just randomly picking one. They were too big or too hairy or were going to get to big. Most of the dogs at the SPCAs were too big for us and it's a shame that they end up there because of their size. If we had a house with yard, I swear I would've walked out with all of them.

Regardless, we never found the one. Until Saturday, when we walked into Doc Williams SPCA in Goose Creek and saw Sammy in his little cage in the back. He was quiet and craving attention but he wasn't a ball of energy. It wasn't until we took him out of his cage that he opened up a little more. He was an adult dog and very loving and calm. He's some kind of terrier mix and he had this crazy, punk rock hair. We literally can spike it up all the way down his back and give him a mohawk. After spending a little while with him, we decided he was perfect for us and we were going to take him home. He's been with us for a little over a day and I've already fallen head over heels with him. If you want to see more about him, you can read his Dogster profile: Sammy on Dogster!

And tomorrow, the Baron will be getting a truck. A truck that's better on gas and a little bit nicer for long drives than his Jeep. It's newer and it's a Ford, so he can work on them. And I'm happy for him because he hasn't really had a nice vehicle in awhile and he's really excited about it.

So see, we've been a bit busy. Life is good though. It's a little over a year since we've been here and it looks like things couldn't be better.

Well, except for that speeding ticket I got on Saturday. My first one ever. I was about 25mph over but the cop was nice enough to knock me down to about 10mph. However, he wasn't nice enough to pull over the Jetta who was going much faster than me. I guess I was just going with the flow of traffic - the traffic being that Jetta apparently. I'll know better next time but now, I guess I've got to go to court and do that whole thing. I'm sad about it and upset at myself but thank god I didn't let it ruin my day because we never would've gotten Sammy.

Otherwise, all is well. Life is good, as I said, and I don't want to complain about anything because my luck could shift just as easily. I hope life is well for all of you!