A few months ago, Matt booked a plane ticket to see his best friend Derek who lives in Albuquerque, NM. His trip was from a Thursday to a Monday and happened to coincide not only with wedding cupcakes that I had to do (most times, it's just easier to bake and decorate when he isn't even home) but also a free weekend for me (which doesn't happen too often around here, especially with the cake business). I decided I would make some rounds to visit my parents and some friends.
Matt left very early Thursday morning, so I was able to spend some time after work finishing up the cupcakes and cake for Friday's wedding. Then, I had popcorn and wine for dinner. And, yes, it was a great decision.
I took the day off of work on Friday and delivered cupcakes to a wedding that was about an hour and a half away from West Chester. Everything went smoothly (after some major traffic due to really great construction on Rt 100 in Exton) and the bride actually showed up while I was setting up the cupcakes. She "ooo"d and "ahh"d and that made me really happy. Instant gratification is the best part about baking goodies for others! These were some of my favorite cupcakes to date, so any of you brides out there-- I have the supplies to make these over and over again!
After I got home from delivering cupcakes, my good friend Lizzy (who I played field hockey with for one season in college) came to visit for the night. Unfortunately, we were too busy catching up for me to remember to take a picture, but she's really cute! Also, at one point on Friday, I got this picture from Matt.
There were lots of texted pictures of Matt and Derek eating what looked like very yummy food. I'm thinking a visit to Albuquerque must include me next time.
On Saturday, I met my parents at our (our including my mom as well!) alma mater Millersville University for the field hockey game. For those of you who don't know, I spent my entire college career playing field hockey as a Lady Marauder.
When I played there, our record was less than awesome. Nevertheless, I had so much fun and I am so grateful for the fact that I will always have had the experience of being a college athlete. It wasn't easy, but it was so incredibly worth it. And I will have some really great pictures of myself playing to show our kids someday!
Anyway, the not so great record is a long gone fact anymore, and MUFH is currently 5-0, stacking up to the competition in the PSAC and making us former Lady Marauders so jealous proud of the accomplishments this program has made in the past few years. It is sincerely an honor to have been a part of this program, despite what it looked like when I was there. The strides the program has taken are a direct representation of perseverance, willingness to change, and down right hard work. I was so glad to be present on Saturday when this happened:
That scoreboard says "4-0" in favor of Millersville, by the way. Nice work, ladies. Way to keep killin' it.
I didn't leave campus before driving past 116 Pickwick Place, the townhouse I spent my last 2 years of college in, the address that was my first "home" (other than the dorms) that wasn't my parents' house, and the place I was living when Matt and I met. I almost wanted to stop and knock on the door and ask to come in, just for a quick look. Maybe next time...
Saturday night was spent with my parents. We watched "42," fitting with the theme of sports for the day. It was an excellent movie! Who doesn't love a good old fashioned, feel-good sports movie? I'm a total sucker for them.
On Sunday, I headed back to West Chester, but I made a pit stop in Lancaster to visit a few people. I met up with a couple friends for coffee, and then went to my 2 absolute favorite spots in Lancaster with my cousin Annie. For dinner, we went to Lancaster Dispensing Company and then to Carmen & David's Creamery for ice cream. If you haven't been to either of these places, make a visit to Lancaster immediately and go to both of them. There is nothing I love more about small(ish) towns than restaurants that are just so good, they become staples in a visit.
My favorite thing to get at Carmen & David's is the sampler bowl-- 3 mini scoops-- because who can decide on just one flavor or eat as much ice cream as their indecisiveness, especially when presented with 20+ flavors, would call for? The answer is no one. For my sampler, I chose pumpkin cheesecake, sea salt caramel, and cookie dough. Annie, who chose her flavors completely on her own and didn't hear what I ordered, got the exact same order. How about that for excellent choices? Even looking at this picture is making me want to jump in the car and make the 2 hour round trip to eat it all over again...
As you can see, Matt and I both had a really great weekend, despite the fact that we didn't spend a single minute of it together. We texted here and there, but for the most part, we let each other have our time with our friends and families because that's important to us. In your marriage or relationship, you may find that you really hate spending time apart, or that time apart really only results in you texting or calling each other constantly because you feel like you're missing out on something, and all of that is completely fine. I'm sure that once we have kids, we won't want to spend as much time apart because that means that one of us wouldn't be with our children, but for now, we take advantage as much as we can to spend time doing the things that we like to do individually. As much as we are one now (as I so lovingly emphasized in my first blog post), we still find it important to grow and develop ourselves as individuals, because isn't that what brought us together in the first place?
Besides-- spending time apart makes the reunion that much sweeter! Needless to say, I am definitely happy to have my husband back, because the body pillow I use to take up his spot in the bed is most certainly not as cuddly as he is.
