Yesterday, Yes; April Fools Day... was our 7 year anniversary! It's been seven years since we defined our relationship. (See our time line!)

This is the first April 1st, anniversary that we've actually gotten to share in person together, since we started our long distance relationship! 

We decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory up at Willow Grove Mall for our anniversary. We drove up there right after I got back from work on the train, so we missed the evening rush and were seated right away.



(Yes I know I'm wearing the same shirt as our last picture together, but at least I've got different jewelry on and a different hat. I'm growing out "bangs" so you'll be seeing me in hats until the end of this year, lol!)

I got a long island iced tea and F.B. got strawberry lemonade. We were going to order 1 appetizer and 1 of their "small snacks", who knew their small snacks were pretty much a huge appetizer as well, lol! We got onion rings and Spicy Ahi Tempura Roll.

Don't mind F's fingers, lol.

I also got a bowl of clam chowder but no pictures, their "cup" of soup is quite big so I didn't finish it, but it was amazing. F.B. got Hibachi Steak with mushrooms and wasabi mashed potatoes and I finally tried a Portabella "burger", which was sooo amazing! Still have half left for lunch later.



And of course you have to get cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory! When I went to Florida with my cousins in 2007, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch but we didn't get cheesecake, (big mistake, lol!)

F.B. got classic Cherry Cheesecake and I ordered Red Velvet Cheesecake. Mmmmm.



We had a great time, but it's definitely an anniversary type restaurant. ;-) We were so full we walked around the mall for a few hours afterward. F.B. got me Charlotte Brontë's, Villette. I own Jane Eyre one of my favorite books, but I've never read any of Charlotte's other books, this one looked interesting.

Last weekend F.B. and I went to King of Prussia Mall, the largest mall on the East Coast. We walked the entire mall. (Tiring!) I got to get a few things from L'Occitane!

At Macy's I picked out these gorgeous dishes that were on sale, we only got enough for two place settings, but I love them!



F.B. got me this cute purple Chinese Zodiac Rat from a little Chinese Shop at King of Prussia.


P.S. I missed my blogging anniversary on March 17th! But it's been 3 years since I started this blog! :-)

At Walmart last night I finally picked up some Sally Hansen Salon Effects! My coworkers and I keep seeing the ad in magazines and we wanted to try them. They are actual nail polish strips that you peel and put on your nails. They took about 15-20 minutes to apply and you don't have too, but I put a top coat of Sally Hanson hard as nails over top of them.

They are gorgeous!!! (Color is: Misbehaved.) I want the Zebra color sometime, but it's hard to find. They are $8.50, and they give you 16 strips in case you mess up, which I did mess up one nail and had to remove it with nail polish remover. Now we'll see how long they last... lol!


I've also gotten some new music in the past few weeks.

Panic At The Disco- Vices & Virtues, which I love every song on the album! They went back to their original sound from their 1st album, their 2nd album had a very mellow sound and I didn't like it at all, but this one is great!















Avril Lavigne also has a new album, Goodbye Lullaby. I only like about 5 songs on the album, but it's nice to have some new music by her.















(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a book or music when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)

After a Sunday of cleaning rat cages, the bathroom, our bedroom and doing laundry. F.B. and I cooked dinner and dessert.

We made Ginger Tofu Stir Fry with mixed veggies and broccoli. (Same sauce I use when I make my Ginger Chicken Stir Fry.)


And for dessert. (We ate these before dinner, hehe!) The Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puff's. They were amazing! Though of course anything rolled around in butter and covered with cinnamon sugar is going to be good!

F.B. & I have been so busy the past two weeks. I went back to work this past Monday.

Last Friday F.B. & I went and saw 'Gnomeo & Juliet' but we didn't like it that much. Then we headed up to Willow Grove Mall to walk around and hang out. We went to Jannie's Chinese Japanese for lunch and had sushi and young chow rice, tempura.



Saturday morning we went to my CPA to get my income taxes prepared. Then because it was still so early, we decided to take a train downtown to Center City Philadelphia and walk around 30th Street Station, see Love Park and City Hall. It was pretty cold and windy though.

Seagull sitting on bridge above Schuylkill River.

Philadelphia!

 That evening we went out to Applebee's with my cousin Jessica. And she took a picture of us to share with everyone, because we've been lazy. :-p



We picked up a Wegman's Cheesecake for my family and this amazing fruit tarte for myself.



Monday it was back to work, so we didn't go out until Wednesday night after work to pick up some groceries at our new Giant Supermarket around the corner from the house. F.B. drove finally and he's been driving me to the train station and picking me up after work. His SSN card and Resident card came in the mail earlier this week.

We got Sushi and Baby Octopus Salad at Giant. The baby octopus weirded me out at first because they had heads. But they were actually really good in this spicy chili sauce. It was like a Bizarre Food's Episode, hehe. See you never know what you'll find even in your own supermarket! :-p



We made Shannon's veggie lasagna Wednesday night. We couldn't find medium zucchini's though so our "noodle" slices weren't very big so it turned out more like a casserole. It still tasted amazing though! We just had some leftovers for lunch today. So want to make this again, might add in some eggplant next time too. :-)


 Friday evening after work F.B. drove back up to Willow Grove Mall so we could get headphones we saw on sale last weekend. We were lucky they were still there. F.B. got noise canceling headphones and he bought me a pair of earphones that were marked down from $69.99 to $19.99. Hehe! The bass sounds really awesome on them!

We also had to pick up a new router because our old one kept shooting our internet signal out for two frustrating days. This time I got the 2 year Best Buy warranty on the new router for $14.

F.B. treated us to Arby's again for dinner. It's one of his new favorite fast food places in the USA. I only had the small fries and regular roast beef though. Their salads had more calories then just the regular roast beef sandwich! It's been a very busy two weeks! 

I know you guys have probably been impatient to hear about F.B.'s arrival to Philadelphia. :-) We've been so busy this week I haven't had a chance to blog yet. Today it's raining and windy so we decided to just hang out at home today.

Sunday when F.B. arrived it was raining and windy about around 59 degree's. (Pretty warm for March around here). My brother and I drove down to Philadelphia International Airport to pick him up. He called me collect from a payphone but it wanted me to enter a credit card number, so we pulled to the side of the road at the airport so I could enter the number, I hit a wrong digit and the darn thing hung up on me! (His cell phone network didn't work in the USA). My brother and I decided to just start driving slow past the doors in baggage claim. I thought I spotted the yellow lining of the hoodie I got F.B. (Thank goodness he was wearing it!) I pulled the car over and ran into the airport. He was still at a payphone about to try calling me again. So that's how we found him! (No I don't have any pictures, it was so hectic how we picked him up from the airport).

We stopped and picked up some Wendy's for lunch and headed back to my house. F.B. was pretty tired that day, he napped for several hours. We had apple pie and Hesh's Bakery chocolate chip pound cake for his arrival.

Monday we got up early and headed to the Social Security Office to apply for a number for F.B. It only took less than an hour, because we had already printed and filled out the application before we arrived. After that we went to Target to look for a prepaid cell phone but we didn't find one. Then we headed to Franklin Mills Mall. We both got jackets at Modell's. And some clothes from Old Navy. And we browsed Five Below and got some Hello Panda cookies (So hard to find in the USA!) and F got a mouse for his laptop. We had lunch at Arby's and F.B. had their beef 'n cheddar roast beef sandwich.


We finally found him a prepaid T-mobile cell phone at Best Buy.

Tuesday we went out grocery shopping late in the afternoon and picked up some stuff for meals at Bottom Dollar and Food Basic's. We made chicken Caesar salad for dinner with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Wednesday we headed to Chinese Buffet with my parents and brothers. F.B. liked the bacon wrapped crab meat best. Hehe. He called it "Health Food". We also stopped at Dollar Tree before heading home from buffet.

We had to take Lily to the vet on Wednesday evening. She was limping on Sunday night, so I gave her some children's aspirin to try and reduce swelling, was also putting ice on her foot, but as each day went by her foot just kept swelling more and more. It was starting to look purplish near her toes so last night we took her to the vet because the swelling wasn't going down. She had to have an xray so we could make sure nothing was broken. Nothing was.

The vet gave her some kind of cortisone steroid injection. Which worked like magic because today her foot is back to normal size, just a bit bruised looking and she's not putting pressure on it again instead of limping around. He also gave her an antibiotic, she started getting scabs around her toes from the skin stretching so much so he wanted to make sure she doesn't get an infection. She's been spending the week in a hospital cage until her foot is looking better.


Tomorrow we will probably go see a movie and maybe go to a mall and have lunch out. (We'll try to take pictures, we've been lousy about it, lol!) Saturday morning we have to go to my CPA to get my taxes prepared and then we are hanging out with my cousin Jessica around 5pm and having dinner out. Sunday we'll just hang out at home, since I have to go back to work on Monday... yuck. lol. It's been a very busy week. F.B. still isn't quite used to the time change he keeps waking up at odd hours, like 2am, etc. And then we have Daylight Saving Time Saturday night too! lol! So we'll be losing an hour. :-p

Tomorrow I will be picking up F.B. at Philadelphia International Airport! He left for his flight to the USA about 7 hours ago. He will arrive in Los Angeles around 6:30pm this evening. (9:30pm Philadelphia). Then he will catch a flight to Dallas Texas around 12am. (3am Philly). He will leave Dallas around 6:30am and arrive in Philadelphia around 10:30am. Praying he doesn't have any delays. We talked on the phone last night and he texted me this morning before boarding his flight. Unfortunately it's supposed to rain heavy tomorrow so hoping he arrives on time!

Yesterday & today I spent getting the last of the cleaning and organizing done. I'm finished! (And exhausted, lol!) I only have to put clean sheets and make the bed tomorrow morning.

Besides the toiletries and a few clothing items I got F.B. I also have a snack pack for him in a Spongebob tin, hehe. There's Herr's thin ripple chips, Ruffles chili cheese chips, Goldfish Pizza crackers and two Snapple Iced Teas in the tin. Plus a belated Valentines day card, since we decided not to send any packages.

I also hung up our 'Sarah' & 'F.B.' hearts that originally were on his bedroom door in the Philippines on one of my trips there. They are on my closet door now.


My cousin Chrissy and her husband Matt who are in Georgia, sent F.B. & I cute 'his & hers' towels and a pretty frame. :) I put one of our wedding photos in the frame.



I have the whole week off work to spend with F.B. and get settled in. We will be heading to the Social Security Office probably on Monday to apply for a number for him and also do a little clothes shopping. Were also going out to Chinese Buffet with my family this Wednesday. Lot's to do!

In ratties updates! I've had to take 3 ratties to the vet in the past few weeks. After Basil passed away I decided to try integrating all my girls so I could open up the levels in the Ferret Nation cage. There were a few scuffles and some fighting but it wasn't so bad. Until I noticed where Honey had bit Iris and Clover they had swelled into lumps. This happened to Jasmine a few months ago and she had to go to the vet and get a Baytril injection and antibiotics.

Iris was bit in the neck and it swelled exactly like Jasmines wound had. Clover was bit on her back and it swelled into a painful lump. They were given Baytril and antibiotics and now Iris's lump is all gone and Clover's is just about gone. I've never seen rat bites swell & get infected like that, and it's only when Honey bites someone that they do swell. She has a viscous bite.

Iris

Clover

Then Barley, my hairless rat started to have this weird odor to him. I couldn't figure out what it was. I gave him a bath and I could still smell it. I thought maybe it was coming from his mouth, maybe he had gotten food stuck in his teeth. The smell turned out to be coming from his left eye! He had a vet appointment this past Tuesday. The vet used a magnifying camera to examine his eye and also ultraviolet drops and light to check his cornea.

Barley had something in his eye that the vet removed. They thought it was a piece of litter, but I don't use litter. So it was either food or lint or who knows what that had gotten stuck underneath his left eye and that's what was causing the odor. So strange! Hairless rats do not have eyelashes so they can get stuff in their eyes. He has an eye ointment he has to have for 10 days. But he is doing much better and doesn't smell anymore! Poor guy! :-p

Barley

Sadly... I did not get my SRR Rat Train rats today. Our driver went MIA and never contacted Brittney. The original driver even disconnected their phone number and unfriended Star's Rat Rescue Facebook page. So weird... I don't understand why someone would go to such lengths if they didn't want to do the drive anymore. It would have been nice to just say they had changed their mind. Sooo... we are back to the original plan and Brittney is hoping April or May we can get this rat train going!

I've been very lucky lately with blog giveaways! I won 2 recently! And besides my prizes, I wanted to share these awesome blogs with you guys!

I won Sprinkle's Cupcake mix, heart cupcake cups, other goodies & a cute green apron from Jessica at Jesstagirl & Her Officer! I'm saving the cupcake mix to make when my husband is here!


Please check out Jessica's blog. She is a newlywed living in Georgia with her military spouse, Kenny. They are about to start a whole new adventure when they move to Italy soon!

I also won some Pelle Beauty Mocha Lipbalm & Pelle Beauty samples from Marnie at What Red Said. Marnie sells Pelle Beauty products which are all natural. Check out Marnie's blog which is a mix of health tips, life & humor and also check out the Pelle Beauty website!


There is just about 1 week left until my husband F.B. arrives from the Philippines! He will be here NEXT Sunday... which is just crazy! We've been together 6 1/2 years and have been married a little over a year now. It's weird because we spent our first year apart. We were only together 1 month after our wedding before I had to come back to the USA and we started on immigration. It will be a big adjustment for us both to be living together for good. And it will also be a culture adjustment for F.B. moving to the USA.

Our new bed from Sear's arrived today! I have to put our new pillows, sheets and blankets on the bed next weekend before F's arrival. I also still have to hang up some of my pictures since the walls have been painted. I got a full Sealy bed for now, since my room is on the small size. It's really comfortable! It's got a pillow top with a layer of memory foam. It's also REALLY HIGH up, lol! I feel like I need a step stool to get into bed now, hehehe!

I am so exhausted! It has been a busy day! I woke up at 7am this morning and my brother Scotty and I went to Starbucks for breakfast. For some reason they were offering Pumpkin Spice coffee today (Whoo Hoo!) so we got two of those. And we also got the new Bacon, Egg & Gouda Cheese sandwiches they have.

Then we came home and got everything ready to repaint my room. The color I picked up at Lowe's is called 'Minty'. I wanted a similar color to what was already on the walls to make it less complicated. Everything just needed to be refreshed. We were done painting around 11am.

After painting I transferred some money out of my savings and we headed off to a 2nd hand store, Big Lot's and Walmart. At the 2nd hand store I got 2 nice comforters, 2 big fleece blankets, and a few pillow cases. At Big Lot's I got two full bed sheet sets for $12.00 and 2 nice big towels for $4.50 each. At Walmart, I got new pillows on sale for $2.50, a rice cooker for $13.00. I also got F.B. a lot of toiletries for his arrival. I spent more than I have ever spent at Walmart, but I got everything I needed. Including a Hane's flannel pajama pants & t-shirt set for him.

All of F.B.'s toiletries.

And I may or may not have spent $21 on nail polish... why oh why does Walmart now sell Essie & OPI... I couldn't pass up these colors!

(Turquoise &  Caicos, Merino Cool, The Next CEO)

F.B. finished up his seminar that was required by the Philippines before he leaves for the USA. He still has to go get an international drivers permit before he leaves. So he can drive over here for a year. (He will need to take the test again for a PA drivers license.)

He also booked his plane ticket! He will be in Philadelphia on March 6th at 10:25am!!! Lucky boy doesn't even have to stopover in Hong Kong or Shanghai or even Tokyo, he gets to fly from Manila Philippines straight to Los Angeles, CA. Then to Dallas, TX and finally Philadelphia!

It's going to be a very busy 2 weeks. I spent all evening cleaning and organizing after the paint dried and I still have some more to do tomorrow. The new bed arrives next weekend. I was approved to take March 7th-11th off so I'll have a week off work to spend with F.B. and help him get settled in.

Also, on March 5th, I will be getting my 2 boys and 2 girls from Star's Rat Rescue in SD! They will be traveling 1,500 miles to Philadelphia! There are a few others adopting rats in Philly too we'll be meeting our Rat Train driver at a Petco in the area.