Countdown to Becoming a Full Time Wife

In 21 days, I will be making a very big change in my life. I will become full time wife to my husband Chuck. We got married on August 1, 2010. I had 3 teens at me the time, 2 who lived with me, and their brother who lived on his own. The girls did not want to move into Chuck's house because it is 30 minutes away from my home that they grew up in, as well as their school and friends. There were some other personality issues that came into play as well, so we have each been living in separate houses, 30 minutes away from each other. The plan has been that this Fall, when they turn 18, I would move into Chuck's home and it would become "our" home. We have spent every other weekend together when the girls were at their Dad's, and as much time together as we could given our busy schedules during the days in between. It has been hard, and Chuck has the patience of a saint. BUT,on September 20th, my twin daughters will turn 18, and on the 21st, I will be leaving my home and moving into Chuck's home with him. One of my daughters will be leaving for college in September, and the other one will most likely move in with her Dad. My house will go on the market in the not too distant future. For the past few months I have been preparing for the move. I have been emptying out my house, clearing clutter, making a list of repairs that need to be done before the house can go on the market, and preparing for a huge yard sale to get rid of the excess items that the kids and I have accumulated over the past 24 years. For the most part, I have looked forward to this move. But then I hit a patch where I was concerned about how it will be to live with Chuck every day and night. Will we drive each other crazy with our little quirks? Of course I was most concerned with mine....hopefully I don't have too many that will drive him crazy! Will we disagree about routines since we already have our own routines that we follow separately? Last weekend, we had an amazing time together, and I could actually picture the two of us happily cohabiting and forgiving each others quirks as we get used to them. So, we are down to 3 more weeks. I am excited, nervous, and looking forward to being chuck's full time wife instead of the part time role I have been living for the past 2 years. And as each day goes by, I get more and more excited. Stay tuned for more blog entries as we get closer to the move in day!

Rabbit Hill Inn Getaway

Chuck and I just got back from a wonderful romantic few days at the Rabbit Hill Inn in Lower Waterford, Vermont. Oh my gosh, talk about an absolutely wonderful and relaxing experience. We have Chuck's friends Bob and Ken from the COLA group to thank for this experience. We received a gift certificate to this Inn from them and their wives as a wedding gift, and haven't been able to use it. But we decided that Wednesday through Friday was the right time. And we used it to celebrate our second anniversary. From the moment we arrived we had a wonderful, romantic and relaxing experience. The owners and staff could not do enough for us. It was amazing to have someone care about us and our needs so well. And it never felt phony. It always felt as though they genuinely cared about us. During our time there, we played checkers, read, explored Vermont, took a walk down a country road at night, took another walk in the morning through the woods to the Connecticut River, sat on the front porch in wicker rocking chairs and watched hummingbirds feed while drinking champagne, relaxed while listening to romantic cds in front of the fireplace in our room, and enjoyed home cooked meals of the kind I have never experienced before. One of the things I especially liked was that there were no TVs in the rooms or in the inn at all. Internet service was available if you brought a laptop, but I never even opened my laptop once! For those of you who know me well, I LOVE my computer and am on it daily, so that's saying a lot. In the past, I was never one to like inns and B and B's much because I always felt like I was living in someone's house, and that has always felt awkward to me. But this experience was very different. And the food was to die for. The breakfasts were especially good. And each afternoon we were treated to afternoon tea with pink lemonade one day, iced tea another, and delicious pastries each day. It was a truly amazing experience and we will go back there because the time alone away from it all helped us reconnect with each other and remember to stop and smell the roses...uh well, actually to rest together for awhile and watch the hummingbirds! I will be writing a whole review of the Inn and our experience there and publishing it on Hub Pages within the month. But for now, I just wanted to share our experience with all of you. It was a truly wonderful getaway and I highly recommend this inn to any of you that want a romantic getaway. Although browsing the website is fun, it doesn't do justice to the experience of actually staying there, but here's the website: http://www.rabbithillinn.com/ More to come when I do the review, and you will love the pictures I took!

Wine Festival Adventure

On Saturday, Chuck and I went to the Shoreline Wine Festival at Bishop's Orchards in Guilford, Connecticut. I had never been to a wine festival before so I was looking forward to it. My suggestion to anyone else who wants to go to one is that it's best to head later in the afternoon or early evening. The festival started at noon on Saturday and went till 7 p.m. We got there at about 1:30 or so. We had to pay an entrance fee of $30 each, which seemed rather exorbitant to me, but it was a new adventure so I was hoping it would be worth the money. We were given a punch card and a glass wine glass with the logo of the event and the date etched into the side. A very nice memento, but certainly not worth the $30 yet! The tickets had a listing of the 7 wineries that were giving testing samples that day. There were 2 tents that housed winery booths, as well as arts and crafts and other types of vendors. The object of the tickets were to go to each winery, have tastings of each type of wine they had present that day, and get your ticket punched so that the public did not leave totally intoxicated by having unlimited tastings throughout the day. Believe me, due to the heat, and the 7 wineries offering testings, I didn't need to go to anywhere more than once to feel the effects of the wine. Other than a feel of the winery booths that had samples of wine crackers to give out, there was nothing free to eat. It was possible to go outside the winery tents and purchase other food and sit down in smaller tents with tables and chairs.Each winery had a few pourers who would collect the tickets, punch them and give them back to the participants. Then they would pour small amounts of wine into our glasses, all the while explaining details about that particular wine. By the time we were done at each booth, we probably had 1/2 to 3/4 of a glass of wine. I must say here that out of the 7 wineries, I only found 2 that were interesting. One was a winery named, Hopkins" from New Preston, Connecticut that had really unique wines, including a dessert wine called, "Night Owl." I found it very sweet and delicious, and a wine that would have been the perfect end to a good meal. Of course I am a night owl anyway, so I was already hooked just by the name itself! I also was quite intrigued by the wines from Bishop Orchards. These wines are not made from grapes, but only from the produce grown at Bishop's Orchards themselves. This included an apple/pear wine and a peach/honey sangria. The sangria would have been great served with fruit and ice. One of the issues that made the experience less enjoyable was the fact that it seemed a bit too early in the day to be drinking wine. Had we gone later in the day, say 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon, and had our food as a dinner, when it was also less hot, I think the experience might have been a better one. We did go outside the wine tasting tents halfway through the experience to get some lunch. I had a wonderful piece of tomato pizza from a brick oven pizza truck. We ended up not buying any wine. Although I did enjoy a few of them, Chuck was not as impressed. What we were impressed with was the Bishop's Orchard's store. After the wine festival experience, we went into the store to see the produce. Chuck bought some fresh tomatoes, some cheese and a loaf of garlic/buttered bread that was still warm. On the way home we each had a piece of the loaf. It was honestly the best piece of bread I have ever tasted. It was the salt/butter and garlic tastes mingled with the rich freshness of the bread that made it a winner in my eyes...and in my mouth as well! That night, we had a simple dinner of bread, sliced tomatoes, the fresh cheese, and a bit more wine. I can honestly say that our dinner together was the best part of the day for me. And just thinking of how fresh and delicious that bread was topped with a slice of fresh tomato and the cheese is making my mouth water even now!

My Birthday Dinner...When Best Laid Plans Go Awry

My birthday was last Friday, July 27th. Because my birthday is in the summer, I love being near the ocean because it's warm, and I love to watch and hear the waves crashing nearby. Chuck and I have never actually celebrated my birthday near the beach. I asked for that as a special favor this year. He agreed, and we made plans to go to Watch Hill, R. I. for dinner that night. Watch Hill is about one hour away from where we live so not exactly just down the street in terms of travel time. I told Chuck about a restaurant I had been to years ago in Watch Hill, that had a deck outside where we could eat and enjoy the sunset. This particular restaurant also looked over the Watch Hill harbor, and was a beautiful sight with all the boats in the water as the sun set just beyond them on the horizon. Chuck called and called repeatedly to make a reservation, but to no avail. Finally he contacted the Inn that was upstairs from the restaurant and the innkeeper told him that restaurant had been out of business for two years!!! Hmm, I guess it really has been a long time since I was at Watch Hill. We found another restaurant nearby, and decided to go there, although it was not quite as romantic. I was still looking forward to a nice romantic walk on the beach after dinner with the love of my life. As in many second marriages, kids can often interfere with the best laid plans. I had to do some errands with one of my children after he got out of work on Friday. Unfortunately, the errands took a lot longer than originally expected. By the time I was done, and got home,it was late and I wasn't even showered or dressed yet. Chuck and I discussed the situation and due to traffic heading in the same direction as the beach, we would most likely get stuck sitting on the road instead of in a nice restaurant. We decided to save that trip for another time. Was I disappointed? You betcha! We decided not to totally scratch the evening.I still wanted to go out to dinner near the water, and since the ocean wouldn't be available due to traffic conditions, we chose a nice restaurant in Old Saybrook, CT called, 'The Dock and Dine." We have always had a good experience here, and the restaurant itself sits right on the water. This water is not ocean water, but on the Connecticut River where it nears the mouth of the Long Island Sound. The whole restaurant has huge floor to ceiling windows that allows one to have a water view from most of the tables inside. After rushing around to get ready, we headed to Old Saybrook. Once in the parking lot, we were dismayed to see that there were no cars there. This was unusual because it has always been a very popular restaurant.I saw a sign posted on the window. We drove closer and read that the restaurant had been severely damaged by Hurricane Irene, and was undergoing extensive renovations. Unfortunately, these renovations had not been completed by my birthday. So, now our plans had gone awry not just once, but twice. Still wanting dinner by the water, Chuck turned into the driveway of the restaurant across the street. I had not wanted to go here originally because I thought it was too expensive, and being the frugal Yankee that I am, I don't like to spend money unnecessarily, especially at overpriced venues. Chuck insisted that this restaurant would be fit the bill, so I reluctantly agreed to give it a try. As we pulled into this parking lot, of the Saybrook Point Inn, we noticed that at least it was open, and actually quite full of people. We mused that maybe some of these people were also there because the Dock and Dine was closed? We will never know for sure. We walked through a quaint outdoor bar area complete with a fire pit, and lots of people eating and having a drink. Once inside the hostess told us it would be a 25 minute wait, for either inside or outside. At that point, we didn't care where we sat so we said we would wait. We sat at the bar and had a glass of white wine, with a shrimp cocktail while we waited. Outside the windows were boats of many varieties in the marina surrounding the restaurant. We were called not even 25 minutes later and were seated a at great table in the corner, right between a window and a large fish tank. The tank had a variety of about 12 different types of fish, which entertained us most of the night when we weren't looking out the window at the boats on the water, or making toasts to my birthday and to us as a couple. As the night went on, the outside grew darker and the inside more romantic. As I looked at the menu, I was happy to see the prices were not as totally exorbitant as I had originally expected. We both enjoyed a dinner of swordfish, potatoes and spinach, good wine, good conversation, and even better company. On the way out, the fire pit was glowing in the darkness of the night sky. As we walked down the sidewalk, we found 2 Adirondack chairs calling our names. We sat there for awhile, holding hands and talking about our past, and our future, which includes a cruise this fall. And it was a very happy birthday dinner, in spite of our original 2 sets of dinner plans not working out. Flexibility, and having a husband who believes in the saying, "Happy wife, happy life" is conducive to having a very happy marriage.

Fairs and Festivals Can be Great Getaways for Date Nights!

Last Saturday night Chuck and I were looking for something different to do. He had seen in the paper that the local town of Niantic, Connecticut was having a street fair all day, and ending it with fireworks at 9:00 p.m. We decided to go check it out. Main Street was blocked off and we could see it was crowded with people as we tried to find a parking space. We finally did and as we walked toward the fair, we saw a cute little carnival area with rides, cotton candy and candy apples for sale just before the main area of the festival. This was a great place for kids and families. Once we got to Main Street, there was booth after booth of businesses, food, crafts and products for sale. Music played in the background from a variety of musicians as we walked down the street enjoying the festival. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we searched through a myriad of choices,including sausages,tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers, clam chowder, clam cakes, ice cream, shaved ice, fried dough, and any other food you can imagine being sold at a street fair. We settled on clam chowder and shared a plate of clam fritters at a booth run by the East Lyme Rotary Club. As we left with our food, our server thanked us for supporting the Rotary Club. That was a nice touch to go with our delicious food. We found seats on a set of stairs and watched people dancing to music from speakers set up nearby. A little before 9:00 p.m., we walked down toward the area where the fireworks could be viewed best. They were being shot off from a barge on the water on Long Island Sound. Promptly at 9, we were treated to an exceptional fireworks display for 19 minutes that ended with clapping and cheering from the whole crowd on Main Street, as well as people from boats on the water behind the fireworks barge. This is what home town America is all about...communities coming together and celebrating the businesses and residents that live there. This made a great date night for us, even though our kids are older, and aren't around us much. Although perfect for families with kids, this type of community activity should not be overlooked as a date day or night for couples who can find a relative, older sibling or babysitter to stay with the kids for a few hours. The bonding experience you will get as a couple is well worth the cost of a babysitter.

A Hug Can Make My Day

The other day, both Chuck and I spent the whole day together, working at home. He was sitting on one side of the dining room table working away on his computer, and I was on the other side writing on mine. We spent about 5 hours like that, sitting across from each other, taking a break only to use the rest room, or to get a drink of water, etc. We took a short rest after that, and it wasn't until dinner time, as he was walking by me, that I stopped him, put my arms around him, and gave him a hug. When he hugged me back, it was as though the whole day's worth of tension, of working on our respective computers, faded away, and all that was left was this incredible love I have for this man, and the feeling of his arms around me, loving me back. We had spent all day together, but I felt more connected to him in those few seconds than I had all day. I have always heard about the importance of physical contact between couples, and how it helps a relationship thrive. But it really hit home to me on that particular day that it really can do wonders to remind two people how much they care about each other. So I highly recommend hugging your partner daily. Dare I say a hug a day keeps the divorce lawyers away???!!!

Reception Poem

When Chuck and I got married a few years back, I wrote him a poem about how I felt about him, and in the future, if he needed anything, I wanted to be the one there to provide it for him. He was so touched, he said he wanted to read it during our wedding reception, so people would know the type of woman he was marrying. As he started to read it, people began to giggle, then outright laugh as he continued to read. He couldn't even get through the whole thing because it was causing such a commotion. We never understood why people found this funny. Any thoughts on why the laughter? I am including a link to the poem here so you can read it: http://karenhellier.hubpages.com/hub/I-Want-That-Someone-To-Be-Me