He puts the "Prize" in Surprise

Ryan and I are both very competitive, whether it's about our college basketball teams, playing Super Mario Bros. Wii, bowling, carnival games, or iPad trivia games, our blood definitely gets pumping and our competitive sides show.  I've managed to win a lot of these competitions over the past few months (much to Ryan's dismay - in fact, last night he said "I've lost games to you and my 8 year old niece lately. What's wrong with me?" )  But one way I can't compete with Ryan is with surprises - he is full of them, and they're always really good.

Don't get me wrong...I've pulled some off.  Nothing says "Surprise!" like an iPhone 5 being dropped on your head in the morning when you're still sleeping or an iPad on a bare foot when you're kissing goodbye.  (Sorry, RyGuy.)  I've even pulled off some less painful ones when I kidnapped him and brought him to St. James Gate for the first time and later booked a night in Vermont for us.  But Ryan's surprises are so much better than mine (not to mention, less painful.)

Of course I've already written about our first date, which is still marked on my calendar as "Adventure with Ryan" because, instead of asking me out, he asked to take me "on an adventure."  It certainly has been an adventure and still is. 

One day I was at the CCafe and was utterly bored without him there (this was before we were official.)  I went, hung out at the end of the bar, and spent the whole time texting Ryan about his trip to Vermont.  I thought he was still up there since there had been a pretty significant snowstorm and I had cancelled my trip to New England that weekend.  As I was just about to walk out and as one of our favorite songs to dance to came on, Ryan walks in, grabs my hand, and pulls me out onto the dance floor before I could even register what was happening.  I was so happy he was there!

Valentine's Day, which he told you about earlier, was very nice.  I surprised him with a broken  finger and he surprised me by wearing a red shirt to match my red dress, took me to the Straight No Chaser concert, gave me a beautiful Claddagh heart necklace and roses, and took me out for a wonderful dinner.  But my favorite surprise of that night was slow dancing with him in my living room to "Lady in Red".  After I had gone on for days about how "I don't care what we do on Valentine's Day, I just want a reason to wear my red dress" he made sure I was able to.  "Lady in Red" has always been my song.  Sure, now that I work for a blue school I wear a lot more blue but growing up and to all my college events I have always worn red.  It's my favorite color, and thus it's one of my favorite songs.  Since I first heard the song I dreamed of finding a guy who just knew that was my song and who would want to dance with me to it, and he made that dream come true in my living room that night.

Another surprise I received was when we were attempting a new dance, the "Travelling Cha Cha."  We had almost perfected it when I spun the wrong way and his elbow moved the right way and my nose met his forearm.  Ouch.  That was the night Ryan saw what I looked like with a beer bottle on my face to ice it down.  He felt really bad about hurting me, and I decided to capitalize on his guilt and got to tease him about the time he elbowed me in the nose for the rest of the month (he put a deadline on my nose jokes.)  I'd make him kiss my nose whenever I saw him that month to help it get better (even though it really only hurt for a few days), and that reminded me of the Colbie Caillat song "Bubbly" where she says, "When you kiss my nose, the feeling shows."  Well, one day this early spring he told me he was kidnapping me after work and was all concerned about the time and traffic.  We had dinner at a nice brewery near Rutgers and then walked to our surprise which turned out to be a Colbie Caillat concert at the State Theater  We had 3rd row seats and she was amazing! She is stunning in person and an incredible singer with such fun positive vibes in her music.  

Then there was the time he got us tickets to a Mets game.  I am a San Diego Padres fan and the only time they were playing in this area this year was for the first few opening games. In San Diego that would be great because it's always 72 degrees and sunny but in Queens it is still very possible for the mercury to climb above 28 degrees in the first week of April.  Luckily, I think out loud a lot when I'm around Ryan and was, in great detail, telling him what I was going to pack to bring to work that day to change into and be warm at the game.  I'm not sure if it was when I got to the part about a down jacket or another pair of long johns when he finally confessed that our seats were in the Hyundai Championship Club!  This club is an indoor and outdoor seating area with a private, all-you-can-eat buffet and bar! I was so happy to leave some layers at home that night and enjoy a ballgame from the luxurious surroundings of Citifield's Hyundai Club. We did try to brave an inning or two in the outside seats but, man, that wind blows cold in Flushing (which explains why the Padres lost so badly!)

One night when I was feeling particularly exhausted by a long day of phone calls at work, I was napping on my couch.  I hadn't heard from Ryan in a while but I was okay with that as I was peacefully relaxing in my quiet apartment.  All of a sudden my phone starting blowing up with calls and texts from a mutual friend of ours who happens to call me quite regularly.  Since we had already spoken that day, I ignored the call, and the texts.  In the meantime I received a simultaneous text from Ryan and knock on my door. No one knocks on my door because I have a private staircase I only share with my downstairs neighbor.  People don't just show up unannounced.  Well, most people, not Ryan! There he was at 10pm wearing his pajamas and a smile just to come see me.  I was so freaked out at first by the late night knock but he calmed me down.

Ryan always keeps me on my toes, and I try to keep my electronic devices off of his.  Just another reason why the fun times keep coming.  Don't worry, I've got a surprise of my own in the works as I write this...if I can only figure which device to drop where next!

St. Patrick's Day Week in a Weekend

While I don't have any Irish in me, I probably celebrated St. Patrick's Day more this year then any O'Brien, O'Malley,  Kelly, or Houlihan you'll ever meet.

Ryan wasn't kidding when he said he loves St. Patrick's Day.  I was happy to oblige and be a part of it (and prove to his mom that this dziewczyna could hang.)

So buckle up, (slowly) pour yourself a Guinness, and relive the week's worth of events in three different states in our 48 hour weekend:

Friday Night:

Part 1 - Irish Dinner, St. James' Gate, Maplewood, NJ - I brought Ryan back to St. James' Gate - a place a kidnapped him and surprised him with when we first started dating.  With its authentic atmosphere,  Guinness on the menu as an appetizer, and creamy Mac N Cheese, it's hard to resist when kicking of St. Patrick's Day Weekend.  We met some folks involved in the Newark Parade, talked Seton Hall basketball, and coated our stomach to prepare for the weekend ahead.

Before I go on to the next part, later in this weekend we had reservations to stay at a hotel in the Poconos with a fireplace in the room.  Before we left for the trip, we needed to find some firewood for the fireplace.  According to Ryan, the country boy, you buy firewood at ShopRite, so we found the closest ShopRite to St. James.  The bulks of wood at ShopRite were a bit much and a bit costly for our brief stay so we went where all the country folk go to fetch some kindling: Walmart.  Being a pretty typical man (or so I was learning) Ryan wanted to build the biggest, baddest fire the Ramada Limited in Tannersville, PA, had ever seen, or so it would seem, as $2.99 at Walmart gets you enough wood to keep Smokey the Bear up at night.

Part 2 - After our errands were run for the latter portion of the weekend, we weren't quite ready to call it a night. We knew we had an early morning the next day so wanted to keep things local.  A new Irish pub called Darby Road just opened up not too far from my apartment and earlier in the day I noticed they had put up a tent and were having a big Irish festival so we decided to check it out.  Surprise was on us! They had two bands, one rock, one Irish, and great food and drinks.  We wound up drinking a few beers and listening to the great music.  Of course Ryan couldn't resist the chance to pull me out onto the dance floor for an East Coast Swing to "Galway Girl".  I swear the band lengthened the song so the crowd, who was in absolute awe of our dancing, could cheer us on for more.  Fully exhausted after the dance, we retired back to our picnic table for another round of beers.  A young waitress came by handing out free raffle tickets for a door prize to be announced later that night. I jokingly said, "We're gonna win this."  Well, sure enough, a few hours later, they pulled our ticket number and we won Devils tickets for later that day!  (Which we had to give to my parents and Ryan's sister and niece since we had more places to go and more celebrating to do!)

Saturday:

Part 3 - No rest for the weary, or slightly hungover...we had to be at Seton Hall University for St. Patrick's Day Mass and breakfast as later that day we'd be representing Seton Hall PIPE (Pirates of Irish Persuasion & Extraction) in the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade!

 Part 4 - We headed into the City via ferry so we could do our our thing while we killed time waiting for our step-off time for the parade.  I think we surprised some ferry riders with our silly glasses but we were feeling festive. We made our way into mid-town and went right to one of my favorite Irish bars, Legends.  My friend O'Malley joined us for some lunch where we shared some fish n chips, Guinness grilled cheese, and, of course, some Guinness.  As we left Legends the parade had begun and so did the snow! It was snowing like crazy but put us even more into the spirit.

He's not choking me here, I swear.

Part 5 - We marched in the Parade! After much waiting and lining up between a jazzy high school marching band and the TSA's Official Pipe & Drum Band, we stepped off in our official sashes to make the 50+ block walk up 5th Avenue, past St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Ryan and I got a little too used to walking and waving like the King and Queen of 5th Avenue.  A little wet snow and freezing temperatures didn't slow us down at all! It was so heart-warming and exciting to see and hear the people still standing along 5th Avenue (more than 4 hours into the parade) cheering us on as we walked by! The City was truly alive in a way I hadn't seen it before and I was so happy to share this experience with Ryan.

When we made it to the end of the Parade route Ryan did the impossible and hailed a cab uptown to whisk us back to the 39th Street Ferry Depot to head back across the river.  We had more places to be, and another state to get to.

Part 6 - A quick drive across New Jersey across Route 80 brought us (and our wood) to the Poconos to see one of Ryan's favorite cover bands, Unforgettable Fire (a U2 Cover band whose lead singer goes by the name of Tone-O) at Mount Airy Casino.  After quickly drying off and warming up, we headed out to the show to enjoy cheap beers and good music.  Our glasses, of course, had to be worn.  

After a really late night dinner we headed back to the hotel to enjoy the fireplace and finally warm up.

Sunday:

Part 7 - We woke up the next morning refreshed (and warm) and headed back to Mount Airy for the brunch buffet, which, in true 1970s Poconos style, included a lounge singer right in the middle of the salad bar and pasta station singing hits from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Michael Jackson, Boys II Men, and even threw in a little "Danny Boy" for the sake of St. Patrick.  Before our trip I read online that if you downloaded the Mount Airy app, you'd get $25 in free slot play, and if you sign up for the player's club card, you'd get $10 in slot play.  We cashed in on our freebies and headed for the slots where Ryan turned his free money into $75 and I made my $10 last quite a while.  I then had the idea to cash out, and take our money to the roulette table, where Ryan turned his freebies into enough cash to make up for the cost of the room! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Part 8 - We cashed out and headed back to Jersey, this time to stop at Ryan's mom's St. Patrick's Day party in Hackettstown.  On our way we stopped so I could see the giant M&Ms outside of the MARS headquarters in town.  The house was packed and smelled like delicious corned beef.  We went out on the back deck where Ryan's sister Heather and dog Quinn were hanging out near a fire pit.  Heather said to Ryan, "We need more wood" to which Ryan said unexpectedly, "Oh I've got some in my car"and headed out to the street to retrieve it.  We built up a big fire which Ryan's mom asked me to move away from the house.  I wasn't sure how to actually move fire so I assigned Ryan the job.

Part 9 - We moved our party to Bea McNally's, the new Irish pub in Hackettstown, which was alive with festive locals. Somehow we got two seats at the corner of the bar which later turned out to be the best seats in the house, as a Pipe and Drum band marched in and gave a show right in front of us.  When they were done, students from the Peter Smith Irish Step Dance School performed in front of us as well.  Both groups were very talented.

Part 10 - We wrapped up our St. Patrick's Day weekend at Mama's, one of Ryan's clients' restaurants.  The owner kindly offered us a free dessert from his menu.  The cannoli and sfogliatelle were the perfect ending to my Irish overload weekend.

And no, Mrs. McC, I still don't have any Irish in me.