Staying warm and getting cultured.

This past weekend was adventure packed.  Friday I got off work early since I went in super early for nothing.  Although on Friday, I was finally rewarded my Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Metal.  It will be the ribbon I am most proud of for a long time.  There were no photos posted yet, or I'd share, but our MC2 is... yeah well.  anyways.

Friday evening we were lazy and stayed home, watching The Office.  We hadn't planned on having daytime activities on Saturday because we were attending the Burns Supper on Saturday evening, but Teh Coast Guardian called and asked if we wanted to go watch crazy people do a polar plunge.  We figured why not.  It started snowing right about 5 minutes before we left the house.  I looooooooooved it, to say the least.

Since Teh Bear is pretty much a FL boy (although he is happy to tell you he was born in MA), his car hasn't moved since... I'm not actually sure anymore.  I've done all the driving since its been winter weather-y and poor Yurtle needs a bath in a way I can't even explain.



I made Teh Bear take the photos of the snow since I was driving on the messy roads already.
See, I'm a good driver!



Ice on the pier at Breton Bay

Teh Bear and I were attempting to keep warm.



Teh Humanitarian, Teh Bear, and Teh Coast Guardian waiting on the jumpers




Legalities...



Trying to stay warm.. and failing.

Not sure if you'll recognize this guy, but we had tea and cookies together in Scotland.  He did the plunge!

In they go!  (at which point I started taking video)

Trying to get warm.

After watching the crazies jump in the water, we went to Salsa's for lunch since we were already in the area.  It was delicious as always. 

We had to be at dinner at 6, so I spent most of the afternoon getting ready.  By 5:30 we were headed to dinner all dressed up.  There were a ton of photos (and a video) from the night, so that will be a post later in the week, but I will share one with you.

I'm not sure why Teh Bear is making that face, but at least its a good photo of me.

If you aren't familiar with Robert Burns, he was a Scottish poet in the 18th century who lived a very brief life, had a lot of illegitimate children, and wrote poetry.  Even if you think you don't know his work, you actually do if you've ever heard Auld Lang Syne (the "New Years" song).  Apparently, Burns Supper is a big annual celebration that I had never heard of until the Brits arrived at VX-1.  Our hosts had been in contact with all the distilleries in Scotland asking for donations and the scotch was plentiful... and free.  I had volunteered to be the designated driver since Teh Bear drove for the Christmas party, and he didn't argue that and seemed to take FULL advantage of the free liquor and no-driving pass.  He kept the laughs going with his various accents and very white dancing.  We finally headed home at 1am and we both went straight to bed after letting Phil out.

Sunday was church, in my case, and recooperation in Teh Bear's case.  We had a projector crisis and the soundboard was being wonky, but we figured it out.  After church, I went home and made a cocoa cherry pork tenderloin, which was a flop because I followed the directions.  I'm not sure why using 1/3 cup of vinegar (of any sort) is a good idea ever, but I think it definitely ruined this good idea for me.  Then again, I'm a fan of the sweet, so sour just doesn't do it for me.  After reading the directions, I used apple cider vinegar vs regular white vinegar and that still wasn't very good.  We tossed the sauce, but the tenderloin was still edible.  For the first time ever, I actually added chili pepper to a recipe by choice (although I did halve the amount the recipe called for and omitted the 2nd chili powder it called for).

Sunday afternoon I was called into work 3 times, which we won't talk about, and we watched The Office (we're almost finished!) for most of the afternoon.  With the exception of watching Despicable Me 2 in between trips to work and my afternoon nap.  On my last trip home from work, I realized that headlights were bothering me, which meant a really good headache was coming on.  I could pretty much be a weather-woman because I can tell you when a high pressure system is rolling in based on my headache status and I can tell when its going to rain based on the birds on the ground.  I went to bed with a headache that woke me up around 2am.  All in all, a great headache adventure. 

Monday came, despite my wishes that it would winter precipitate and work would be cancelled.  Although, its the warmest its been in a while, a whopping 41°F outside and the icy path that has been the driveway is finally starting to turn to sludge (that I'm certain will refreeze when this pressure system finally passes through).





Linking up with all these ladies: