Navigation Tips That Will Keep the Peace in Your Relationship

Last weekend, Fiance and I went to Rhode Island. Usually when we go he drives and I navigate. It is a beautiful system. This time he wanted to do work in the car and was just being moody so I drove. It didn't work out so well. We switched half way through. Was it because of my driving? No, I'm an excellent driver. It was his horrible attempt at navigating. We didn't get lost (a miracle as far as I can tell) but it was a stressful experience for both of us.

In an effort to give both of us peace of mind the next time I have to drive I've broken down the correct way to navigate. So, for my dear Fiance:

1. You are in total control of the GPS. That means you put the destination address in, you pay attention to it, you make sure the thing doesn't die (we use the GPS in our cellphones), etc.
2. Repeat the next step in the directions at multiple time intervals so nothing sneaks up on the driver. This is also important because it is easier for the driver to understand you than the GPS's robot voice. Especially over the music in the car. Which brings me to my next point.
3. Navigator = DJ. The driver is focused on more important things like keeping you all alive. It is your job to handle the tunes and make sure they are upbeat if it's night. You don't want the driver to fall asleep at the wheel.
4. Look out for road signs. Obviously the driver is doing this too but it is good to help. Especially if the driver continually misses an exit even though you have clearly stated where he should go.
5. Stay calm. When you are sitting next to a frustrated driver that keeps missing exits inexplicably, don't get upset. Calmly repeat the correct way to go. Remember, this person is holding your life in their hands. It is worth it to stroke their ego and say, "Oh honey, anyone would have missed that again and again. That sign is impossible to see...at every angle."
6. Be on cellphone/blackberry duty. Read the driver's emails and/or texts to them even if it makes you incredibly nauseous to do this in the car. Answer their phone. They can't do these things themselves, nor would you want them to.
7. Trust the driver. Thinking that the driver might crash at any moment is stressful for everyone. Plus it just isn't true! I have never gotten into a car accident thank you very much.

These are my lessons from driving with him. I hope he learns to do the same for me. My mother always did say men need to be trained.

What tips would you add? He really does need all the help he can get.

The Travel Itch

It has now been over a month since I've left NYC and a 3-day weekend is approaching.  I want to go somewhere! Anywhere!  Not really anywhere but I don't have a particular place in mind.

I feel like there must be a travel website where you can put in dates and it lists locations with awesome last minute deals.

If such a site exists, what is it?  If it doesn't exist, it was my idea first and if you steal it I'll expect a cut of the profits.

White Christmas

We spent Christmas in Providence, Rhode Island with Boyfriend's Fiance's family.  The blizzard came at the perfect time.  Everyone had arrived and no one was planning on leaving yet.  Our biggest concerns were getting more wine and more firewood.

I didn't really bring any snow gear but that just gave me a built in excuse for not helping the boys shovel.

It was a merry Christmas indeed.

Four States in 24 Hours

Two weeks ago, Boyfriend and I spent a Saturday driving all over creation.

Leg 1: New York to New Jersey. We drove to my uncle's house to pick up my TV from college. I've been storing it in his attic for the past 2.5 years. I promised the TV to my brother but have been too...I'm not sure if the right word is 'busy' or 'lazy'. Regardless, we decided to finally get it done and I got to see spend a little time with my cousins.

Leg 2: New Jersey to Delaware. Boyfriend's grandmother lives in Delaware. We have be meaning to visit her forever. Since we were already gonna be driving around this seemed like the perfect time to take her to lunch. It was actually a lovely visit and made us both wonder why we don't do it more often.

Leg 3: Delaware to Pennsylvania. We dropped the TV off with my brother in Philly. I got to see how truly disgusting the living quarters of college boys are. My mother would faint if not for the fear of what is festering in that carpet. Then we went to visit Boyfriend's friends that just had a baby. She was like a cute little ball.

Leg 4: Pennsylvania to New Jersey. We visited Boyfriend's sister this time. She and her husband made us a delicious dinner. We spent the night because we had enough driving for the day. Actually, Boyfriend had enough driving and I had enough sitting and playing DJ with my ipod.

We headed back to New York the next day. We were exhausted and Boyfriend was strung out on caffeine but this was probably our most productive weekend in months. I think it was definitely better to bang it all out in one day instead of dragging this out over multiple weekends.

Next drive on our list is Rhode Island for Christmas. While we are in that neck of the woods we'll visit my grandfather in Hartford and my friend in Boston. We're just checking things off the list all over the place.

My Ring

O, and the main reason we were destroyed after our tour of the least exciting states in the Northeast was because we got engaged the night before! We were up late celebrating. This is why even though we spent most of it running big errands we had been putting off, it was still an amazing weekend :)

Have you seen a ring nicer than mine? I haven't.

Lemme Smang It

This ridiculousness became the anthem of my Thanksgiving.  I love my crazy family.

How Murder and Nudity Ended My Thanksgiving

I'm on the flight back to New York from Atlanta (thanks for the free internet Airtran) and I am shocked and appalled!

A guy sitting across the aisle and one row in front of me is watching a movie on his laptop.  I don't know what movie it is but there has been a fully naked woman on the screen for the past 15 minutes.  First she was having sex, then she was chasing after her partner and trying to shoot him, then she was running from some masked man who actually killed her partner, and finally she got killed.  All naked.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it was the nakedness or all the killing that disturbed me more.  It's not like I'm against movies with nudity and murder.  That isn't the point.  The point is that we are on a plane.

What if a child were in my seat!?  The poor thing would be traumatized or worse yet not care at all.  Kids these days are growing up too fast.

Either way there should be a thing called plane etiquette.  Not watching inappropriate movies should be right after keeping your hands to yourself.  Did I mention the woman I sat next to on the plane to Atlanta grabbed my thigh when the plane landing startled her?

What is wrong with people?

London Calling!

I'm going to London in a month!  Boyfriend has to go for work and he is bringing me.  Yup, he's a keeper.  I haven't been back to London since I left after studying abroad there in 2007.

Because I can't contain my excitement, the other night while I was dreaming I made a list of everything I need to fit in the week that I'm there.

Here they are in no particular order:

1. Ben's Cookies
2. Trafalgar Square
3. National Gallery
4. National Portrait Gallery
5. Tate Modern
6. UCL
7. British Museum
8. Oxford Street
9. My British Friends
10. My British Family
11. Nando's
12. Boots (to buy tons of their perfectly sized vaseline tins)
13. Wagamama
14. Brick Lane
15. Ben and Jerry's/Belgian Waffle stand by Bond Street Station
16. Fruit corner yogurts

Trust me.  All these things, places, and people are awesome.  Some mainly hold sentimental value for me.  But the others have concrete reasons for being great.  The restaurants are delicious and affordable.  The desserts are the ONLY desserts in England worth contemplating.  The museums were the first I never got bored in.

I never made it to the British Museum - which I why it's on my list.  Fruit corners are soooo delicious.  The milk tasted better in England too.  I'm not sure what the good dairy is about but I sure did miss my favorite yogurt.  They were my breakfasts since I reject beans on toast and all other horrible brit excuses for my favorite meal.  I think the beauty of the perfect travel-size vaseline tins speak for themselves.

I'm sure the list will expand.  Any suggestions?

Update:  I forgot to put Strongbow on the list!!!  Pubs and Strongbow!

Update:  We didn't go to London.  Boyfriend didn't have to go for work anymore.  I'm kind of glad it worked out this way.  Now we can go next year when there isn't a blizzard going on over there.