The Admirals Fight At Midnight

Despite being dreadfully sick today, this has been quite a fun weekend. We started by having a "girl's night" in Norfolk, dress shopping and drinking. My camera battery was almost dead, but here are a few shots.

This was the first dress the girls tried:

This they tried for Kevin's sake. It was after this particular pose that the sales woman declared, "You girls are fun!" She was not saying that 438 color choices later.

Here's the dress we actually decided on, because it is NOT too short and does NOT make anyone look "hippy":

Find it at www.davidsbridal.com, Style: 83707. We picked it in clover, after much debate. Here was the runner up:

Psych. But Jill and Janet both modeled it for us, just for fun:

The peacock feathers really just make this dress. Afterward, we went out for dinner and drinks at the Olive Garden since most of us are forbidden from going there. A little boy in the booth behind us tapped me on the shoulder at one point and said, "Excuse me. You guys are too loud." Evidence:

Looks innocent enough to me. We plan to "dress shop" more often!

Last night, we went to an Admiral's game with some firemen. It was packed there, for some reason. I waited in line for nearly half an hour for about 4 nachos which cost approximately $1 each, I'm pretty sure. The view:

As per usual, we decided to spice things up by playing the "envelope game". (Basically soft-core gambling for hockey games). Kevin was the first winner:

But the BIG winner was M.O. who got the envelope with exactly 5:59 on the clock (Chis Zach had it until 6 minutes). The other team had already scored 4 points so this was a HUGE win:

Smug face, eh? He will not be invited back. Finally, I leave you with some audio (the video is hard to see) of Maddy's latest vice: human-like snoring. Enjoy. I know I am.

Winter?

This is what Maddy has been doing for the past several weeks:

She recently determined that it is perfectly fine to sleep on the couch whenever she wants to. So, after a busy week of Matt Fest 2010, we decided to take her to the beach to enjoy the unseasonably warm afternoon.

The ocean was looking a lot more friendly than the last time I saw it:

(Remember?)

Maddy and her Tater were both very excited to see the beach this time:

Pretty much no one was there, except some others with dogs. Maddy had a fun time playing:

She still likes playing with Tater best, though. Doesn't it look like he's about to face plant?

She was actually kind of brave, going towards the water:

Then, Raftery spotted a fire in the distance:

And the sun was starting to go down anyway:

So we decided to go "stem the call". I was reluctant to leave... but Raf and Maddy waited patiently.

Can't wait to go back tomorrow, after some Chick-fil-a breakfast. Weekends are the win.

(Continued)

So today Maddy is back to her old tricks:

But here is what she was up to yesterday:

We spent another lovely morning at the beach:

The three of us parted company for the rest of the day: Raf to a VCU game with Heard, me to a jewelery party at Karen's, and Maddy to her crate for a long day of resting. The party was fun... evidenced here by Haylie and Brynn's attire:

The best part, though, was the dance party and debate that followed. Here is the skeleton herself, getting down with her bad self.

All that dancing was tiring though.

We also went to Smokey Bones for some UFC fighting, which was lovely. Today is another lazy day.

Polar Plunge

 

Polar Plunge 2010.... before pictures. Listening to BPM (beats per minute) and getting our Jersey Shore on. Check out that "faux hawk".

 

Raftery is Pauly D aka "The Conqueror" and Wendell is Ronny.

Here's Pauly D and J-Wow, pre- plunge.

 

And then it started snowing... we started to feel a bit crazy. We bundled up before we headed out.

 

(This is supposed to be an action shot of me shivering.) The girls:

 

The boys:

 

The car ride over was a little crazy... we all crammed in to Heard's car:

 

Some pictures of the road on the way over:

 

Here's Hugh Mongous:

 

A couple more:

 

  

  

  

And then we arrived.

 

Heard was our sober, non-plunging driver. We needed him desperately.

 

Conditions were crazy, for sure.

 

The waves were HUGE...

 

But we plunged anyway!

The towel head (and "coffee") were the only things that saved me. 4 hours later and I'm only just now getting feeling back in my feet.

 

Quite the crowd!

 

But overall, it was a good first plunge.The car ride home was a little rough, but...

 

Good times.