wine, cheese, and chocolate; oh my...

we ended off my birthday celebrations on sunday with a trip to a winery. back in march i had bought a living social deal that was $25, which involved a wine tour and then a tasting and pairing with cheese and chocolate.  just like niagara falls, we are so lucky to live so close to wine country; not only is it beautiful, but it's a fun day date, too. going to wineries is also a great way to scope out possible future wedding venues. we both kept an eye out for what we liked and what we're looking for ;) (no engagement yet!)

chateau des charmes. 

(i was planning on taking a picture with the real camera after the tour, but it was absolutely pouring, so instagram camera phone will do)

....

 enough glasses?

 finishing off with icewine.

.............................

the tour was great; it was about an hour and we saw all the parts of the wine making process and learned some interesting things. it was nice because there was only about 8 people in the tour, so it was an intimate little setting. once the tour was done, we went upstairs to a room with chairs set up and a view of the vines out back. we  got to try 2 different white wines, 1 red wine, and icewine to end. each wine was paired either chocolate or cheese. i'm still learning to like wine, if that makes sense, but the icewine was definitely my favorite! oh my gosh, it was so sweet; you definitely couldn't drink more than 1 glass of it, but it would be delicious with dessert. we ended the tour in the store, where we bought one bottle that isn't available in the regular liquor store.

i'm pretty sure we found our new hobby. as soon as we were in the car driving home, i was looking on my phone for another deal. what do you know, i found one and we snatched it up. it was $35 and it gets you a wine tour and tasting/pairing for 4, plus a $40 giftcard to spend in the shop and buy wine!! that's a little crazy right? we're getting more money than what we're paying along with a tour. couldn't pass it up! 

time to start getting a bottle from each winery and saving them for special occasions!

a bump in the road...

i'm not really sure how to write this post, and i wasn't sure i was going to at all, but dylan said this our journal and this is a huge part of our life. therefore, might as well just come out and say it. if you follow me on twitter, you already know. as of thursday, dylan lost his job. and as you know, i just moved here 4ish weeks ago, so i still don't have one. he had found out that it was a possibility the previous friday, so we tried to keep our hopes up. he was hoping he would find out on monday, but nothing. then tuesday, wednesday..no word. i found out wednesday night i had an interview on thursday afternoon (at a measly barely above minimum wage job. diploma and degree? no help here!).

just after 12pm on thursday, dylan told me he was taking a half day because he really wasn't feeling good. stupid me didn't even clue in. he came home and came with me for the trek to my interview because i wasn't quite sure how to get there. once the interview was done, he asked me how it was and what i thought about it. i said it seemed a little off and i wasn't a fan of the hours, and it really wasn't what was advertised; it said reception, but turns out it's actually more so sales. yeah, i'm not a seller. he pretty much told me if it was offered to me, i would have to take it because he lost his job that morning. of course that's why he came home. duh! i thought i would be fine, but right there on the street, i just started crying. he said he didn't want to tell me before my interview because he didn't want the added stress and pressure going in. thank god.

as for where we are now, we'll be looking for jobs, which is a given. i have no doubt that dylan can find something fairly quickly; he's got a lot of connections. he's still got some money coming in, and luckily, i'm really quite frugal, so i have decent amount of savings to use in the meantime. he's also signed up for a course (in september) that takes one week and allows him to make quite a bit of money once he's licensed. it's completely different than what he went to school for, but if it works a bit, then that'll do. even if it took us a couple months to find jobs, we will still be fine financially, so that eases the pressure quite a bit.

i know we'll be ok, but there's nothing else to say other than it sucks that we're facing this problem just a month after moving in together.

two unemployed fools.

she's got electric boots a mohair suit...

it's funny that not too long ago i was saying how we live so close to niagara falls, yet never go. turns out, last saturday we had the chance. dylan's brother and his girlfriend had tickets to go see rocket man; a tribute to elton john at the casino and asked if we wanted to go. not one to pass up a free show (and free birthday entertainment), we went. they were staying over in the falls, and had booked a hotel room, so when we got to the casino, we went up to see the room while they finished getting ready. when we walked in, i couldn't believe the view; looking right out to the falls. i kind of forgot how awesome it is.

 my handsome date.

birthday duck face gone to far. just because.

 the falls! there was actually a double rainbow, but it's not visible.

 apparently, it's hard to focus on us and not have the falls whited out, so the focus is on the falls!

dylan's brother in the back..

his brother also played the $100 slots. yes, a spin=$100. he lost. there goes $100! i felt sick just watching him. (it was money he won 5 minutes before; put $40 in the $5 slots, left with $220)

before the show, we went out for dinner at brasa, a brazilian steakhouse (which also serves chicken for us mostly chicken eaters), where they come around with huge skewers of meet and ask if you'd like some. there must be 20 different kinds going around. there was also a  great salad bar. but i think my favorite was the grilled pineapple covered in cinnamon which gets all crispy on the grill. as pricey as this place is, his brother picked up the whole bill; talk about generous!

as for the show, i thought it was great! i was thinking it would be one guy with a live band, but it turned out to be a bunch of singers, dancers, and costume changes. quite entertaining to say the least. and we were the youngest there by about 15-20 years. yeah!

tequila for two...

friday was another night with friends and another cake. perhaps birthdays are not good for the waistline. i drank too much sangria ( a whole bottle ) and had to leave the bar early because of a really bad stomach ache..i think i just had way too much liquid in it and way too much sugar. i took a tums at home and felt instantly better; love the tums.

fish eye lens.

tequila shots, none for me thanks.

how am i 25?!

red velvet, cream cheese icing; it was gooood.

stomach ache is in full force here..'get that camera outta my face!'

someone almost blocked the photo, hence the face on the left. and dylan kind of looks like a walrus.

let them eat cake...

on my actual birthday, my girl friend came over so we could go out for a drink since she was going to nyc the next day with her mom (obvi major jealous over here) and couldn't come out on the weekend. she showed up with a little cake for the 3 of us and we had one of our usual trio dates.

 so cute and delicious! (the cake, not me)

 yes, the candle caught the fondant!

 met in gymnastics when we were 2; how do you like that?

 strike a pose (also, please excuse the hideous fuse box, we still need to find some sort of canvas to cover it)

oh look, dylan was there, too.

we went for a drink and nachos at a nearby bar then came home and crashed from fullness. my friend then snuck out while we were still sleeping at 6:30am to go to nyc with her mom. again, uber jealous. 

until the end...

unfortunately for me, a thursday birthday meant that dylan was working. most of the day, i just hung around, cleaned a bit,  got my free birthday drink at starbucks, relaxed and read. my parents came by after work with some mexican food and presents while dylan missed out because he works later. don't worry, he had a burrito for when he got home.

i had pinned the necklace i wanted on pinterest eons ago and kept bugging dylan to get it; our anniversary-the perfect opportunity!; christmas-even better...still no necklace. i badgered him relentlessly. finally, i knew i was getting it for my birthday. even though the gift itself clearly wasn't a surprise, the words he would choose to have engraved would be. i love how the message is at the back of your neck and it's like a little secret.

the sterling silver fortune cookie necklace, from here.

'until the end of the world'

the card with a sweet note in it.

clearly, i get real dressed up for my birthday and for my parents.

an ice cream cupcake.

the gift. it fits an iphone perfectly, which is what it's meant for.

and a little moolah.

birthday and housewarming cards fill the tv stand.

i don't think i've ever been so spoiled with so many cakes in all of my years. seriously, it was  insane. and awesome.