I finally got my tank set up after all these months! It's been up for about 3 weeks and my casualty rate is about 25%. Freshwater fish are a lot cheaper so it's not so bad. Apparently, our city adds a lot of phosphate to our water supply so it is reeking havoc on the pH and other stuff I obviously don't understand. I have been taking water samples to Petsmart every other day to get tested because I don't trust my wimpy little test strips. After a week of topsy-turvy chem tests I finally got them leveled out, but my water will be cloudy for another few days. So, I brought home 5 new fish on Thursday! Two of which are the black mollies. On Friday, I noticed tiny black baby fish! Wahoo! How fun is this?! Because I have larger rocks on the bottom, they are able to hid in the crevasses, under the larger rock, and in the little sunken ship. I am tickled pink! My husband...not so much. He does get upset when they die though. Recently, however, he took pleasure in flushing 2 trouble-makers that were biting chunks out of the other fish. I know I have been a delinquent blogger... but you know... life happens.
Today we took an all-girls trip to Philly. The 4 of us girls are related by marriage- our husbands are all cousins. I moved from CA, E from Idaho- then DC, N came from Iowa, and D is from northern Jersey. Now we live less than an hour apart (D lives next door), and we see each other at least once a week. I am so thankful for their friendship. They are amazing women that are fun to hang out with and interesting to talk to. We have spent time with each other in pairs on many occasions, but this is the first time all 4 of us went out together.
D used to live and work in Philly so she knew her way around really well. We took the train in, and our first stop was to an upscale boutique that she used to work at. Whew~ I was breathing air over my price range, but I politely sipped my champagne and munched on my biscotti and watched everyone else ooo and aah over things. We finally found the 'pricey' dresses upstairs and I saw this hat that seemed to be shouting my name. Had the price not been so close to a mortgage payment, I would have been tempted. So, we settled for trying things on and prancing around. Then we wandered around and did a little shopping, before settling into a quaint sidewalk cafe named Rouge overlooking Rittenhouse Square. The food was delicious, and the experience... positively divine. Before calling it a day we took a taxi over to Fabric Row off South St. Keren you would have loved it! It's just like LA except it's much smaller. I even found a shop that sells feathers and silk flowers! Nothing near the Millinery Supply store, but enough to get me by. What fun we had walking the streets, talking, laughing and having an all around good time just being girls.
I can hardly believe it, but Friday was our 6 month anniversary! Wow. Time flies by. I hate to admit I really had no idea, until a bouquet of roses was delivered to the house. Hubby had said he wanted to take me out to our favorite restaurant after his soccer game, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. He can be so incredibly sweet! It was a nice surprise. Why is it that no one tells you how hard marriage is BEFORE you get married? Everyone tells you how great it is, and how nice it is to spend your life with someone. But they leave out that you lose a little part of yourself, life is a constant compromise, you can't just do whatever you want -your actions involve someone else too now, you disagree often, you have to share your toothpaste, you have to re-learn how to make sandwiches, (in some cases) you have to cope with not being able to see your family on a regular basis, and you are tired ALL the 
time. Yes, there are many positives, and Hubby's incredible sense of humor has helped a lot, but really people.... do your friends a favor and tell them marriage is HARD WORK and to be taken seriously. It's not just something you do just because you like someone and you think that it's the obvious 'next step' in your life. I love being married to this wonderful man, but marriage takes daily maintenance.
I am so proud of my sister! She graduated from UCR this weekend with a Bachelors in Comparative Literature. The amazing news (well, not really amazing if you know my sister) is that she graduated Summa Cum Laude, which means she is in the top 2% of her class. She deserves it! She has been slaving away at her laptop for the past 4 years and has held a 3.98 GPA. Wow. Like I said, I am so proud of her. The graduation ceremony went off without a hitch, thankfully, since there was a bomb threat the day before and that ceremony was canceled. So, we cheered her on as she marched up in her dignified black robe and was handed a scroll that said "you will receive your diploma in the mail". Woohoo! I love you Dobug!
