A Day in Savannah - St Patricks Celebration

We bought a Groupon with the Schreibers for Paula Deen's Lady & Sons. We went to Savannah yesterday to eat there and most of us didn't realize that it was St Patrick's Day weekend. Savannah has the 2nd largest St Patrick's Day parade in the country. It was a fun day to go just because there were stages everywhere with live music playing, tons of people in the street too. I loved seeing all the fountains around full of green water. I bought a super cute shirt and a hat so I could fit in with all the people. It was a great day! I'm happy to have such great friends and am sad that they are now in a different ward than us since our ward split 2 weeks ago.

 

 

6th Wedding Anniversary: Trip Continued

On Saturday - really our anniversary - we went to Sea World. We were supposed to meet Denise again but she and her friends who flew in on Friday didn't show up. Saturday was a gorgeous day - perfect weather and Sea World was empty. All the rides took about 5-10 minutes! We went on Manta Ray 2x, Atlantis, Kraken, Turtle Trek, looked at the different aquariums and of course spent at least 30 minutes at the Stingray pool - my favorite. Our ticket admission also included admission to BBQ, Bands, and Brew which had Hank Williams Jr performing. We didn't stay the whole time but he is extremely talented and good at putting a show on.

 

love that this turtle has all its legs up warming himself in the sun

My favorite spot at Sea World is at the Sting Ray Lagoon

The whole reason Omar likes Sea World is for the turkey legs

 

We went back to Kissimmee and picked my sister up so we could go and eat papusas together. Omar can't resist having some each time we are there. It was Kelly's first time eating papusas. We then went to Mo Merrill's 60th birthday party - it was so good to see some people who have been such an important part of my life growing up. It was a great anniversary weekend.

papusas

6th Wedding Anniversary Weekend: Victoria & Albert's

After working a really long day at work Omar drove us in my new car (YEAH) to Orlando. Friday morning we woke up and met Omar's "sister" Denise and her friend along with my parents and my sister Kelly at Disney Hollywood Studios. I don't remember the last time that I went there. We had a great time going on Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Beauty and the Beast show, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (I was an extra in it!), and Star Tours. We were there for a few hours and left to go home and rest a little until our anniversary dinner at Victoria & Albert's.

Victoria & Albert's was amazing. It was a 10 course meal. It was not cheap but it was totally worth it. I would be interested to see how price changes through the years so I will just say it cost $210/pp not including tax and gratuity. It was beautiful and very private in the room we were in. We had 2 servers that pampered us. The awesome thing is they are both married to each other and it was wonderful to see how they interacted and treated each other. The whole meal took 3.5 hours! I am surprised we made it through that long at dinner as normally we are at restaurants for about 30 minutes on average. But it was an amazing experience and the time flew by. They gave me a shawl to wear as I was a little cold. They explained each component of the entrees with expertise and suave. I loved it and would go back in a heart beat. What isn't pictured below are the 3 different types of breads and butters they gave us throughout the meal. We were stuffed by the end. Even Omar enjoyed everything

Amuse- Bouche: Maine Lobster "Jar" with Siberian Osetra Caviar



Octopus "A La Plancha" with Black Garlic Aioli

Hot "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing

Fennel Crusted Diver Scallop in a Pink Himalayan Salt Bowl surrounded by aromatic salts and spices

Truffle butter that was made to go along with the truffle brioche bread



Poached Chicken Egg and Sausage

Colorado Bisno with Caraway Seed Vinaigrette



Australian Kobe-Style Beef with Potato Sphere



Selection of cheese from the trolley

Buffalo Mozzarella (Upper left corner); Parmesan; Honey Comb; Dried fruit strip; dried apricots; 2 cheeses I don't recall; candied walnuts and blue cheese

Apple Quark Panna Cotta

percolators brewing tea

Peruvian Chocolate Timbale with Roasted White Chocolate Gelato

One of our waiters describing the various chocolates

My First Car Purchase

Lovin' these new wheels

I have never bought a car before. I learned how to drive on my dad's Acura and when that basically died we had a Toyota 4-Runner as a kid car to use. I was fortunate enough to use that car few semesters at college. I then served a mission and I had the same car my whole mission - for a missionary it was a super beat up car, surprisingly enough - a white Impala. When I came home from my mission I used my mom's Honda Civic until I got engaged to Omar. He had a 2007 Toyota Camry that he never used and so it became my car.

The old Camry

I used it tons of course. We have kept it in good shape taking care of it. I went to get an oil change a few weeks ago and they said there was no oil touching the dipstick which is odd because our car really wasn't overdue for an oil change. I had been noticing it working a little harder than normal when using the RPMs. Omar asked some friends and they thought the oil was going into the pistons or the transmission might start to be going since we haven't seen oil on the ground or anything. It was time to look for a new car.

We used USAA car buying service and I got my first auto loan through our local credit union. At night in the dark after work Omar and I would go to different auto stores to find the right vehicle. I thought that I wanted something different and so we weren't planning to go to Toyota. I wanted a mid-size Sedan since they tend to have better gas mileage and I drive 80 miles a day at least. I wouldn't be opposed to a hybrid but the battery takes up too much room in the trunk which doesn't work for our traveling needs.

We went to Ford and Chevy and decided those were not the cars for us without even doing a test drive. We went to Nissan and test drove the Altima - it was pretty nice. We went over to Honda for the Accord, but the ride was way too loud. We then went to Hyundai but the car felt too cramped and the ceiling was low.

Just to double check we went over to Toyota to drive the new Camry. It just felt right! We were able to get $6k for our trade-in, which Omar was shocked that I was able to manage that much for it. We walked out the door with another grey 2014.5 Camry SLE for $16k and change. The funny thing is I didn't see my car in the day light for about 2 days. I am loving my new car and all of its features, especially the seat warmers.

I hit 1,000 miles within a week of owning the car and it came to me with 6 miles on it!

 Now to pay this car off in a year and a half!

My new car on the lot - right after buying it!