Greetings From Block Island!

We are in Block Island! For weeks I have heard co-workers talk about their weekend trips to Block Island, so this weekend Todd and I decided to see what all the hoopla was about. Now I know why they love it...Block.Island.Is.Awesome!!! It is located just 13 miles off the coast of Rhode Island and takes a little less than an hour to get there 'on the slow' ferry. We got there around noonish and immediately went to one of their many restaurants overlooking the water. Since it was a holiday weekend, there were tons of people there. It is full of cute little shops and restaurants and people riding on bicycles and mopeds. The island has only 950 residents year-round and over 15,000 in the summer and only 60% of the island is allowed to be built on, so there is a lot of open space. It is gorgeous! After lunch we window shopped for a while before renting a moped of our own and explored the island! We had so much fun driving around seeing the sights.

We also decided that we are absolutely going to retire there! Todd is a bit skeptical as he says I want to retire to most places we visit but this time I am totally serious. I can totally see us in our later years living in one of the many Cape Cod style homes on the island overlooking the ocean. We've already started hammering out a plan. Once we move there, I will open a bakery that I will call 'Shan Tarie's Tasty Treats' to which I will bake delicious pies, cakes and cookies, and possibly sell tubs of my mom's guacamole (yes, its that good) and Todd will open up a Moped rental that he has decided to call 'Todd's Mopeds 4 Less'. We will become friends will all the locals and be incredibly happy. Sounds like a pretty good retirement eh? ::sighs::

On the ferry

Eating some lunch and people watchin'

Moped Rule #1: Safety first!

Cute hubs testing out our ride

WEEEEEE!!!!

Toddi in front of the Southeast Lighthouse. If you are interested in its history click here

what's up?

On the ferry headed home. :(

Hanging with my people!

Today we decided to see what was going on downtown so off we went and walked right into the Newport Irish Festival! We love this town! Of course we had to stay for a Guinness, it is my heritage after all and anytime I get to hang out with fellow redheads is never a bad time! :) There were tons of live bands, Irish food, vendors selling everything Irish and of course beer, we had a great time!

Hello.

I should just be locked up!

Ever wonder how you can have 2 states, none of which you live in, annoyed with you? Well...here's how. First never irritate Massachusetts for one, and 2 never register your car in your current state without telling your previous state because they don't like that. Yes, we can now add California to the apparently growing list of states that have a beef with us. UGH!

The process of registering my 98 Civic in Rhode Island has not been an easy one. I would have happily kept it registered in California. Unfortunately, to be street legal in CA it needed a smog check, more specifically, it needed a smog check from a 'California certified' smog check station. Seeing that RI doesn't offer such services and I was not going to drive the civic back home for that purpose, the only option was to register it in RI. I thought it was a win win situation to be honest with you. RI registration is cheaper and good for 2 years. Hooray! But no...RI has their own issues. They don't care if the car spits out black fumes, however window tinting is a huge vehicle no-no. Not all vehicles mind you, only cars, SUVs can tint to their hearts delight...ya...wrap your head around that one. Regardless after being here for a while, I kind of understand why they don't like tinting. We adore living here but Rhode Islanders, hands down, are the worst drivers in the world...I will save that vent for another post however anything that might help them see better through their windows is appreciated by all on the road. Anyhoo, $400 in tint removal costs and some tears the Civey was street legal again and happily registered to its new state.

Well little did we know, California DMV was still waiting to get paid! Today I got a call from my lovely mom ::hi mom:: that she received a letter that said that due to my delinquency in renewing my registration it has now gone to collections. Awesome. I am happy that my little 98 Honda Civic is so popular, but collections? I had no idea you had to let them know! So immediately I call CA DMV and was alerted that I needed to send them a copy of my new registration and they would 'investigate' the situation. Awesome. Since my new name is on the RI registration and that will probably confuse them, we are just going to send them copies of our new reg, RI insurance card, marriage license, pics of the Civic and perhaps a blood sample and hope that all will be forgiven. Sheesh!

The thing that is frustrating is I am really responsible and try really hard to do everything correctly, oh well its a learning experience. I'll definitely know for our next move! ::looks out the window at the problematic civic:: :)

When West Coast Coyers meet East Coast Coyers

Fortunately Todd and I didn't get to be sad for too long, heck we barely were able to clean the house again because the very next day after the Tranbarger's bid their farewell...the Coyer's came!! YEA! My brother and sister-in-law are AWESOME! I am so fortunate to have married into such an amazing family! Brian and Sandra have such good hearts and we just laugh and laugh when we all get together. Every time they come to visit, Brian somehow improves our quality of life...(this time he hooked up our HD) and Sandra is so nurturing and always wants to take care of us. We have started such a fun tradition where we meet up at least once a year. I love it and I always look forward to their visit and am so sad when its over. Once again, we ate (a lot), drank plenty, played wii and laughed for a good week. We did also squeeze in some sightseeing as well! It was such a bummer to see them go but we will see them so soon at Christmas! Now if only they could have taken with them the 5lbs. that has stubbornly attached to my midsection due to the mass quantities of food we ate! ::stares down at wobbly stomach:: Thank you guys so much for coming....come back soon, we miss you!

Boston, in front of my favorite Bunker Hill monument. Sandra and I were peer-pressured to climb it and I, once again, nearly had a heart-attack. Brian and Todd of course had no problems....show offs! I waddled around for a good 4 days after, my poor legs were so sore!

Cute Coyers on the Cliff walk

Me and the lovely Sandra

Her name is Lola....she was a show cat....::whistles Copacabana::

We have a roommate! Since my cousin Kate and her new hubs are on their honeymoon for three weeks, we happily agreed to take care of their cute kitty, Lola. On day 1 Ms. Lola spent sometime looking around, checking the place out until she came to a conclusion that this place may be a-ok. Since then, she has definitely made herself at home! We find her everywhere! She especially has a crush on Todd. If he sits on the couch for a minute, she's on his lap. He says that shes just so darn cuddly that it makes him sleepy so I have found them napping together quite a bit. She has taken on quite a few new nicknames, The Lol-ster, Lolikins, and my favorite...Ninja Kitty. We will be convinced shes in the upstairs office sleeping and then all of a sudden she strolls out of our downstairs bathroom all ninja-style. Sneaky.

So far she has been a perfect house guest. Greets us when we come home, sits with us while we watch tv, watches over the house while we are gone, it will definitely be hard to give her back. Perhaps we should get a cat of our very own.....::smiles and bats eyes at hubs:: :)

Cute hubs, cute kitty. I think Toddi nodded off shortly after this photo was taken

Ninja Kitty

Sitting on my lap while I blog

Whoa family!

Let me just premise this post with: If you read this blog often then you know how cool we think our families are so if you are just plain sick of hearing it then you might want to skip the next few posts cuz they're going to be a doozy.

With that said....OUR.FAMILY.IS.AWESOME.

This week we had the whole Tranbarger family in town for my cousin Kate and her lovely new husband Joshua's fabulous wedding. It was so much fun. My folks, sis and bro-in-law all came in on Thursday and we crammed as much as we could in til we had to leave for Kate's wedding in Harvard, MA. Katie and Joshua's wedding was beautiful and we had such a good time. I loved being able to see all my cousins (who have all turned into supermodels) and my aunts and uncles...again...my family rocks. I forgot how much I miss them!

So Friday before the wedding we decided that we needed to show Erin and Adam as much of Newport as possible. So off to the Cliff walk we went. We were so lucky, it had thundered and rained heavily (which I think my dad loved watching) the night before but we woke up and it was clear, no humidiy...the perfect day!

Cute Dad outside our home

Getting ready to do some walking!

Eastons Beach at the beginning of the Cliff walk

Erin in front of the Aster's Beechwood mansion. I think she looks like she should live there, my sis is so high class :)

Our favorite squirrel made an appearance for the fam. Todd was thrilled.

Katie and Joshua's wedding was so much fun. My cousin Kate was the epitomy of bridal beauty. She looked absolutely stunning and her new hubs looked dashing in his tux.

Kate walking down the aisle with my Aunt Janet and Uncle Gary

Exchanging Vows

The Tranbarger/Goldfarbs/Coyers

Whoa redhair! The happy couple and all the cousins. All my cousins tower over me, and I'm 5'7!...sheesh always the runt :( I'm not gonna lie though, how goodlooking are my sis and cousins? Seriously!

In front of the beautiful sunset at the reception

We never miss a photo op

Cheeky Billy!

One of the best parts of the wedding, besides watching them get married of course, was the photobooth. Once all us cousins caught wind that there was one we monopolized it for hours. Unfortunately my cute hubs had to leave a bit early as he had to work at 4am the next morning, so he didn't get to partake :(. It was so much fun. There are probably many many photostrips circulating of us probably making the same poses over and over again. We're vain, what can I say!

Love that photobooth!

The day after the wedding we all went to Kate and Joshua's house for brunch and then off to show Erin and Adam Boston. Unfortunately we only had a couple hours and didn't get to walk around much but I think they loved it. We will definitely make more time next time they come visit!

At the infamous Bunker Hill...well infamous to me, Adam climbed it no problem...show off!

After Boston we ran home as we were hosting a BBQ for the family at our house. My sweet Todd had the whole house set up and ready by the time we got there. My mom of course looked so cute in her apron and whipped up her famous guacamole and got everything ready. I was so happy that my whole family came and was able to see our home!

The 'kids' table in our backyard

Hubs and Adam bbqing, they really know what they are doing, the meat was so good!

Checking out pictures in our living room


The next day, Sunday, we all went to the Officer's Club on base for brunch. It was a gorgeous day!

This isn't even all of us! This crowd gets bigger! When the rest of my cousins get married and we all start having babies, we are going to have to rent out a reception hall at holidays to fit us! How cute is my grandma?

After brunch, we decided to walk around downtown Newport. We ended up convincing my Dad (or at least my mom did) that a harbor cruise would be a great way to end the weekend. When we signed up for the 4:30 cruise we were the only ones on it, by the time we left only 2 more people signed up so we basically had our own chartered boat. It was awesome and I think my Dad loved it too. Todd and I will definitely be doing that again. Thanks Dad!

On the boat

Dad driving the boat, he looks pretty at home doing this...perhaps a sail boat purchase might be next?

Just call him 'Captain'

Unfortunately the next day everyone went home :(. After visits like this, I definitely get homesick. The days just went too fast but it was a great weekend. In typical Tranbarger fashion, we ate, drank, sightsee'd and laughed like it was going out of style. Next time everyone has to stay for at least a week! I wish we all weren't so far away. ::sighs:: Come back soon!!!

I fought the law...and the law won...maybe...

So a few weeks ago, I wrote about the lamest traffic violation ticket ever. Since then I have had a lot to think about it...should I pay the ticket and let my insurance go up? Fight and hope that the judge sees that this silly little ticket is merely a blemish on my otherwise sparkling driving record and let it slide? Oh decisions. So I decided to consult my attorney ::waves at Dad:: who promptly advised me that ignorance to the law is no defense and as a law-abiding American I should educate myself to the varying traffic laws in every state ::frowns at Dad::. So then I turned to my co-workers, who do not hold law degrees but have lived in these crazy states for quite sometime, thus being a valuable resource. Their answer was a bit more complimentary to what I was looking for. They said that often times courts will throw out minor infractions to first-time offenders and that I will probably never receive a court date ::ding ding ding!::. So I contested it, mailed off my ticket and hoped for the best. Six weeks passed...nothing. Well today the mail came and I have been issued a court date! UGH!!! Apparently this Rhode Islander (by way of California) needs to be brought to justice! So September 29th is my day in court...bleh.

After receiving my court date, I realized I had not called my insurance company to confirm that my insurance would in fact go up, being in different states and all. So off I went and called my local insurance representative. I explained my story which got the typical reaction..."Seriously, you got a ticket for that?!?" and once she had stopped laughing, looked it up and my insurance will indeed be knocked 2 points. Bleh.

So here is my dilemma....Do I take half a vacation day, drive the 3 hours round-trip to the courthouse and pray that the 'not nice' highway patrol man fails to appear or just pay the darn thing and suffer through the fact that I am no longer a perfect driver?

Head-scratcher.

I should probably just take my attorney's advice ::waves at Dad again:: as he's pretty smart and usually right and I should know better. Ugh, I hate being a traffic criminal :( ::hangs head in shame::