Some Dreams Come True

Texas!

2012-02-02T19:49:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, Mark and I flew down to Austin, TX to visit our friends Laura and Edgar (and their new baby, Lucas). Our friend Nicole flew in from Oregon, too, and we got to meet up with Becky, Alex and baby Andy who live not-too-far away. Such a fun weekend!

The flights there were pretty uneventful and when we got there Saturday afternoon we kicked things off the way we always do – by eating. Laura and Edgar took us to a little place in there town and we all got tacos. They were so good! It makes me sad that there’s a lack of good taco places around here.

Saturday night we went to Z Tejas in downtown Austin for dinner.

Laura and Nicole

Becky and Me

Mark, Me, Nicole, Edgar, Laura and Becky

Sunday morning we drove down to San Antonio to meet up at the Riverwalk. It’s this cute area of restaurants along the river. It was a nice stroll and so pretty.

Alex, Andy, Becky, Lucas, Laura, Nicole (and Edgar hiding behind the tree)

Me and Mark

We had lunch at one of the Italian restaurants along the river. And Edgar showed off his awesome multi-tasking skills!

Edgar and Lucas

Becky and Andy

After lunch, we went over and checked out the Alamo. Very cool.

Me, Nicole, Laura, Lucas, Becky and Andy

Our sightseeing trips were punctuated by baby time. We got in lots of snuggling while we were there!

Nicole and Lucas

Monday we went and hung out in Austin. The costume shop was one of the highlights. They had so much fun stuff in there. I’m determined to find a place as cool around here now.

Laura and Edgar

They also had food trucks parked in the area we walking around. I picked up a cookbook of food truck recipes from a local bookstore and we got cupcakes at Hey Cupcake!

Nicole, Edgar and Laura

Laura and Nicole

There were a lot of murals in the area too – this one seemed most appropriate for pictures!

Me, Laura and Nicole

After walking around the city, we drove through some of the outskirts. We got to see Lance Armstrong’s house (which is more like a compound than a “house” it’s so big) and we “hiked” up to the highest point in Austin. I use hiked liberally – it was one set of stairs – but the view was great.

Mark

Laura and Nicole

Our big eating out for Monday was Golden Corral. We don’t have the around here so we always try to go when we’re on vacation. This was, by far, the most awesome Golden Corral we’ve seen. It was huge. They even had a cotton candy machine!

Laura

Monday night was sort of the oh-no-we-have-to-go-home-tomorrow night. We hung out playing games and playing with Lucas. He and Mark both enjoyed hiding from the camera.

Lucas and Mark

Tuesday we went out to lunch at an outdoor mall and then killed time in the stores until we had to go to the airport. I picked up some new cookie cutters that I’m really excited about, Laura introduced us to Charming Charlie and Edgar tried to hide from the world.

Edgar and Laura

We had such a fantastic time. On one hand, it went too fast. I wish we could still be there hanging out with everyone! On the other hand, it was just the break we needed.

How I Came to be a History Major

2012-01-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

By the time I hit college, I’d taken a bunch of journalism classes, worked on the school paper and covered sports for the local newspaper for the last year. I was going to be a journalism major and I was thrilled.

The same time I was getting to college, TCNJ was revamping their program planners – aka, the sheets that tell you what classes you need to graduate. Most majors had them pretty much sorted out by the time we got there or shortly after. Journalism was the exception – halfway through sophomore year they' still hadn’t nailed down what we should be taking.

I had been concentrating on general education courses and classes I knew couldn’t get pulled from the curriculum (Journalism 101!) but I was starting to panic. The root of it was simple: I needed to graduate in four years. Paying for another year of school just wasn’t an option.

So, I sat down with a list of all the classes I’d already taken and history was the only subject that I’d already done multiple classes for and, thus, would be easiest to pick up as a second major.

So, why don’t I usually tell people this? Because it’s usually followed up with, “What was your concentration in?”. Because most historians have some time period or country or something they dedicate themselves too. I didn’t.

Journalism was such a small group (14 for my graduating class) that once they nailed down what classes we needed to take, most were only offered once a year. Which meant, of course, that those took priority.

My history classes were picked solely around what was most convenient relative to my journalism classes. Which meant that my choices were all over the board: Tourism and the Construction of American Identity, The History of Modern Witchcraft, Late Imperial China, Economies in Latin America, Women in Pre-Modern India.

None of which are topics that people generally bring up at parties or come up much in trivia games. If you ever want to know about the early days of the National Parks, though, I’m your girl.

Conversations

2012-01-26T22:11:00.001-05:00

Topic #1: Exercise

Two weeks ago, I had my yearly physical. And the doctor runs through the usual questions:

Doctor: Do you smoke?
Me: No.
Doctor: Drink alcohol?
Me: Maybe one drink a week.
Doctor: Caffeine?
Me: Nope.
Doctor: Exercise?
Me: … sporadically?

She wasn’t thrilled with that answer and I was given orders to start doing something. Something has turned into Zumba for Wii. I’m actually doing fairly well at keeping up with it so far.

I went into it fully expecting to be a bit sore the next day. The rest of me is decently okay, and then there’s my butt. It is so sore. Like, I know I’m out of shape but come on now.

Topic #2: John Green

I feel like I’ll I’ve been hearing about for weeks is how awesome John Green is and how great The Fault In Our Stars is. I finally finished it last night. It was amazing. (Side note to both of my Moms, if you’re reading this: As much as I loved this book, I wouldn’t recommend it to you.)

I ugly cried through the last hundred pages, which meant I (repeatedly) had this conversation with Mark:

Mark: Why do you do this to yourself?
Me: It’s so good! *sobs*
Mark: But, you’re crying.
Me: Because it’s good! *sobs*
Mark: I don’t think you should read that anymore.
Me: I want to! *sobs* It’s SO good!

Afterwards, I finally went to check out his youtube videos and whatnot. I’d been holding out because I figured if I didn’t like the book, who would really want to watch videos?

The videos are just awesome. He launched a new channel today, giving crash-course style history lessons. The history major in my adored it. I’m so looking forward to more.

(Side note: It’s come up three times this week with different people that didn’t know I majored in history in college. I feel like I’ll have to tell that story soon.)

Topic #3: Travelling

We’re going to Texas soon to visit friends. Said friends live in a small town and we’ll be staying at the only hotel in town. (I grew up with a hotel-less town. I can live with that.)

Today, I realized that the hotel has changed names (and dropped their franchise affiliation) since we booked back in October. I thought it best to call and make sure we were still good to go.

Nice Lady: Hello?
Me: I’d like to confirm a reservation I made.
Nice Lady: Sure! I’m just putting a fresh pot of coffee on, let me get back to the desk.
Me: Sure thing.
Nice Lady: Okay, when are you checking in?
I gave her the date.
Nice Lady: Okay, let me just grab that folder. We don’t have a computer here.
Me: *saying nothing but thinking, no computer?! really?*
Nice Lady: Ah, here were are. Reservation is for Mark?

So, we are apparently the only people checking into this computer-less hotel on that day. Should be an adventure?

All Hail!

2012-01-23T07:16:00.001-05:00

It’s always something.

2012-01-17T16:25:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning, I was doing some cooking. I take my rings off to cook – I always have – so they’re not getting junked up. I always put them on top of vitamin bottle.

As I was moving stuff around the counter, I heard the distinctive plink of the rings falling. My wedding rind was on the counter, but my engagement ring? Gone. After a little poking around I realized it slipped between the side of the cabinet and the wall.

The space is – literally – just big enough for my ring to slip down. After some panicking and no idea how to get it out, I called my Dad.

Two hours later, this is what my kitchen looked like.

Yes, we had to take out the oven and the cabinets to get my ring back. (For the record, there was a lot of stuff in the gap, most of which wasn’t ours, including pay stubs from several owners ago.)

He then plugged up the gap with a paint stirrers and a whole lot of caulk. There’s no prayer of anything ever falling down there again. And it only took him about an hour to un-do and re-do everything.

Thank goodness he’s handy.

Book Necklaces @ Make It Pinteresting

2012-01-13T07:26:00.001-05:00

A few awesome girls started a new blog, Make it Pinteresting, dedicated to showing off projects inspired by Pinterest pins.

I’m blogging over there today, showing off a mini book necklace I made:

Go check it out!

First DIY Gift – Baby Scrapbook

2012-01-10T17:27:00.001-05:00

I’m not entirely sure this even counts since I started most of it last year, but I’m giving it in 2012 and I wanted to show it off.

I put together this scrapbook for Laura, who we’re visiting in a few weeks.

The beginning pages are all the basics – ultrasound scans, birth stats, coming home from the hospital.

Then I made a page for each month of the first year.

And some for “firsts” – this one is “First Friends”. I love the elephants!

I really had fun with this. I’m hoping it jump-starts my motivation to scrapbook more. I have a lot of un-scrapbooked stuff from the last few years.

A Homemade Year

2012-01-09T12:53:00.000-05:00

One of my goals for the last few years has been to work on cutting out processed foods. This, in a nutshell, boils down to making more things from scratch.

When I started working on this, frozen dinners were staples. I’d never baked a cake from scratch. I bought pre-cooked, breaded chicken strips and used them for nearly everything.

Today, our dinners are nearly always from scratch. I haven’t bought a cake mix in months. I’ve even started making our condiments, like mayonnaise and salad dressing. I love being able to see how far we’ve come.

It’s a great feeling putting something on the table and knowing you made it yourself, so I’ve decided to spread that outside of the kitchen and tackle more projects this year.

There are a few things around the house I’ve been wanting to do but putting off for one reason or another – I’m going to do them this year.

I’m also going to up the ante by making this year the year of homemade gifts. I’m going to make something for each gift-giving holiday. I’ve already been collecting ideas and I’m pretty excited. It’ll be a challenge, but it should be fun!

Goals & Resolutions

2012-01-02T09:33:00.001-05:00

I think 2011 was the first year I serious worked on my resolutions. I do now take a vitamin daily, I read at least 50 books, I grew a garden and we continued to eat fewer processed foods.

My other two resolutions were to find an exercise I like doing and stick with it and cook one recipe from each cookbook I own. I didn’t get through all the cookbooks, but I’ve taken inventory and weeded out the ones I’ll realistically never use. They’re currently in a pile in the the office, waiting to be donated. On the exercise front, I did take a yoga class that I loved – I’m hoping to sign up for more soon.

I also declared 2011 the year of nothing, which obviously didn’t happen. My nice, quiet year was anything but.

This year, I’m keeping my goals similar:

- Read at least 50 books.

- Keep working on the garden.

- Keep working on cutting out processed foods.

- Relax and enjoy.

I know I put too much pressure on myself, so the big goal for the year is just to get myself to go with the flow and enjoy the life I have.

So far, we’ve got some fantastic plans for 2012. We’ll be visiting our friends Laura and Edgar (and their new baby, Lucas!) in Texas in a few weeks. This summer we’ll be partying it up with family and friends at four different weddings. In the fall, we’ve booked a trip to Italy and France (with a stop off at Disneyland Paris!).

It should be a really great year.

10 of ‘11

2011-12-31T09:19:00.000-05:00

My annual top ten list – not necessarily the most important or biggest events of the year, but the ones I’ll remember most when I look back at 2011.

1. Losing Mark’s Dad – Obviously, the biggest thing that’s happened to our family this year and something that will forever change us.

2. My lumpectomy – In February, I found a lump in my breast. In March, I had it removed. A week later, I found out it wasn’t anything bad – just a lump. Despite ending up as nothing, it was quite a nerve-wracking time.

3. Hurricane Irene – Irene hit us pretty hard and it was our first big storm in the house. We ended up with no power for five days and several inches of water in the basement. It was more than a week before flooding subsided enough for me to be able to get to work! I’m really hoping that it was a once-in-a-lifetime storm and we don’t have to deal with that again.

4. Officially joining the church – Back in January, I signed Mark and I up as parishioners for our new church. Before buying the house we never registered because we were always all over the place. It’s awesome to officially be a part of things (and having collection envelopes with my name on it makes me feel so adult!). We’re really enjoying the parish – it’s so us.

5. New roof / plumbing the bathtub – This really was the year of water problems. When we went to paint the upstairs bedroom, we found water damage. And then, we found out the overflow drain wasn’t plumped properly. Not what we really wanted to deal with in our first year in the house – but it’s all fixed now!

6. My garden – I planned early, but slacked on documenting the progress. Some of the things did really well (I still have parsley going strong out there!) while others tanked but I loved every minute of it. I can’t wait to start working on the 2012 garden!

7. Myrtle Beach – In May, we went on vacation with my parents and siblings. It was our first family vacation in years, and it was fantastic. My Mom still talks constantly about how much she loved it. We’re hoping to do it again in not too long!

8. We started a wine kick – We took a trip down to the Cream Ridge Winery for pineapple wine, and ended up leaving with a case. Then, we made several winery stops in Niagara Falls and Seneca Lake. Wine’s new for us, but it’s fast becoming the beverage of choice around here!

9. Niagara Falls – Which I apparently never blogged! In September, Mark and I went up to Niagara Falls for a few days, and then stopped at Seneca Lake for a few more. It was beautiful. We did a lot of walking, a bunch of wine tasting and quite a bit of just bumming. (The hotel room in Canada had a whirlpool tub in front of the TV. Love!)

10. Work things – I don’t blog about work much, but this was definitely the most intense year I’ve had yet. Our team shrunk and my responsibilities grew. I also got to go to the SLA Conference with work, which gave me a different perspective on my job and my company.

What will you remember about 2011?

My Favorite Books of 2011

2011-12-30T12:30:00.000-05:00

My final book tally for 2012 is 80, including the books I’ve read for In2Books. My “real” tally is somewhere around 73. Either way, it easily shatters my goal of 50 for the year.

In that pile, there were lots of good books, lots of okay books and some that I really didn’t love. Normally, I have trouble picking favorite books, but these five were so fantastic that the easily deserve the title of this year’s favorites. All of them are from YA authors. I did read a fair amount of YA this year – there’s so many fantastic books in the genre right now.

The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan – This was a love story, written dictionary style. The story unfolds in paragraphs illustrating different words, all alphabetized. It was beautiful.

Divergent by Veronica Roth – An incredible dystopian adventure. Roth creates a world around factions – and the heroine, Tris, is at the age where she gets to select hers. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King – A darker book about a teenager dealing with the death of her best friend. All of the characters were very human and relatable.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – This one made me positively giddy. It’s the story of a girl who gets sent to boarding school in Paris. It completely puts you in the high school mindset in a fantastically insecure way.

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak – The story of a young girl in Germany during WWII, narrated by Death. It’s powerful, moving and beautifully written.

If you’re looking for some new reads for the new year, I’d highly recommend any of these.

November and December Reads

2011-12-29T12:40:00.000-05:00

I didn’t read much in November. Between NaNoWriMo (which I did finish, for the record) and Dad getting sick, I just didn’t have the time.

This Lullaby by Sarah Dressen was one of my November reads. My coworker, Sarah, recommended it as she’s also a fan of YA. I’ve been meaning to read something by Sarah Dressen for a while and I think this was a great introduction – Remy and Dexter were so perfectly imperfect. I loved them. It was a really cute love story.

Crossed by Allie Condie was the second in the Matched trilogy. I didn’t love it as much as the first, but it was still really good.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks was the other book I read in November. It was another YA love story, but this one I couldn’t stand. For me, the whole thing was embarrassingly cheesy and predictable.

December was a better month for reading.

I started out with Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan. It was a memoir of her life growing up in Iran and becoming a chef. It was written beautifully and each chapter ended with a few recipes. I can’t wait to try them out.

Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Nation’s Most Bizarre Mass Murder by Robert Graysmith was the basis of the 2007 movie Zodiac. Serial killers fascinate me so I ate this one up.

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe edited by Charlaine Harris is a collection of short, holiday-themed werewolf stories. I’ve really enjoyed the collections I’ve read that Harris has put together before but this one was rough. I’m not sure if that was because of when I read it or the stories themselves.

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris is the third in the Aurora Teagarden series. While I’ve plowed through the rest of Harris’s series, I’m trying to spread this one out so I don’t run out of new things to read by her. I felt like there were some unrealistic relationship jumps in this one, but aside from that it was enjoyable.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan was also a recommendation from Sarah. I loved this one too. It tells the story, through varies narrators, of mothers growing up in China and then their daughters growing up in America. Very well written and one that I would highly recommend adding to your to-read list.

Night by Elie Wiesel is one that I’d read in middle school but I’m so glad I re-read it. It was beautifully written – an elegant portrayal of an amazingly awful ordeal.

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut was another re-read for me. My friend, Maya, and I devoured all of Vonnegut’s books somewhere around 8th or 9th grade, but I don’t remember them well. I loved it this time through, too.

Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing was recommended to me by one of my reading buddies. It chronicles a (fake) couple’s honeymoon to Iran. The writing was almost poetic and I really enjoyed reading this one so soon after Maman’s Homesick Pie.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse was high school required reading for me. I appreciate the book for what it is, but I didn’t really enjoy the re-read very much.

What have you read recently?

Christmas, Recapped

2011-12-27T20:44:00.001-05:00

We had a merry little Christmas here. And by “merry” and “little”, I mean crazy and filled with family.

We kicked things off the weekend before Christmas with the annual family party for my Mom’s side of the family.

It was an afternoon filled with cousins, presents and lots of food.

Our annual Christmas card wreath got all nice and filled up. I love getting these and love seeing them all spread out like this.

My parents adopted two new kitties the day before Christmas Eve and stopped by on their way home to show them off.

They’re teeny tiny! Adorable.

Christmas Eve we went to Mark’s Uncle’s house. It was another day of eating way too much. And lots of good company.

Mom and Andy stayed over our house on Christmas Eve. We did “midnight'” mass (which was really at 10 pm!) and then slept in a bit Christmas morning. Santa came!

Rocky donned his bowtie for the day.

And Kali happily tried out her new harness.

It was a lot of playing, and by the time my family showed up she was completely pooped.

There was more food, and more gifts (and the TV Yule log!). PJ wrapped his own. It was impressively bad.

Grandma brought Christmas crackers. She got a bottle opener in hers – hilariously appropriate!

The matched hat club!

I got a lot of great gifts. These are one of my favorites:

Laura knit them for us! I can’t wait to put them up next year!

And, that was Christmas in a nutshell for us. I can’t believe it’s already over!

Memories

2011-12-22T12:38:00.001-05:00

“And I found myself thinking: If this continues, if this goes on, then when I die, your memories of me will be my greatest accomplishment. Your memories will be my most lasting impression.”

- From The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan

Christmas Prep

2011-12-15T21:32:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of amazing people in my life. For the last month and a half, they’ve proved it over and over. I’m not sure how I would have gotten though without some of them.

And, this is the season where I usually do something to show them they’re loved. I keep hearing that I’m doing too much, or that if I skipped things this year no one would care.

I would care, though.

I mailed Christmas cards today and a few gifts. My homemade hot chocolate mix and marshmallows are packaged up and ready to go for Saturday’s Christmas party. I’m only a few batches of cookies away from having the baking done. My Christmas shopping is almost done.

It seems like a lot, but when I think what everyone else has done for me it doesn’t seem like anything at all.

Obituaries

2011-12-08T15:33:00.001-05:00

In my Intro to Journalism class in college, one of our assignments was to write our own obituaries. The teacher was a bit old school and told us that most young reporters get their start writing obituaries. He said it was important to be able to do people justice. I remember chatting with my classmates afterwards, lamenting the morbid task.

We did it, though, and the next class the teacher put them on the overhead projector and ripped them apart, one by one. It was the way he did all of our papers. It was a bit humiliating, but I don’t think I’ve ever learned more.

For the record I, nor any of my journalism buddies, ended up writing obituaries after graduation.

My father-in-law, also a writer, liked to joke that I’d write his obituary someday. I liked to joke back that I’d be happy to, that I’d learned that in college.

His obituary will be in tomorrow’s paper. I wrote it.

I wrote it a lot sooner than I would have liked to – a lot sooner than any of us would have liked me to.

I hope it’s something he would have liked. I hope it does him justice.

So Thankful

2011-11-24T09:24:00.001-05:00

This has been an incredibly difficult week, but it’s also shown me how blessed we really are.

I’m thankful for smart friends with connections. Without the guidance of Fei Fei, I’m not sure where we’d be. I’m thankful for top-notch doctors and game plans with hope.

I’m thankful for friends who don’t mind doing airport runs for us. Trevor picked up Mark at midnight last night so I could sleep a bit and Drew dropped off Andy at an ungodly hour Monday morning.

I’m thankful for job flexibility to work from home. It helped to hide out on the most stressful days. I’m thankful for amazing coworkers who took work off my plate this week, offered to give up their scheduled time off if I needed to be out and let me vent my frustrations without complaint.

I’m thankful for video-chatting, because it made Mark’s time away that much easier for me. And I’m thankful for the kitties, because they were often fun topics on said video chats.

I’m thankful that I can tell my Mom with less than a week notice that she’s on Thanksgiving-hosting duty and she doesn’t bat an eye. I’m thankful that, in lieu of getting to make the desserts I had planned, there’s a fantastic Italian pastry shop around the corner that’s just as good as homemade.

I’m thankful that while Mark was out in Colorado, things went smoothly at home. I’ve always ended up with some drama when he goes away on business – it was a relief for everything to go fine.

I’m thankful that even though Mark’s family can’t be with us for Thanksgiving, they’re going to be with people that love them.

I’m thankful for all the friends and family members who have offered their support over the last week and a half. You’re all incredible people.

I hope you’re all spending the day surrounded by loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Apart, Together

2011-11-21T20:05:00.002-05:00

Early Sunday morning, I dropped Mark off at the airport. He doesn’t fly home until Wednesday. I realize that four days is nothing to a lot of people, but it’s the longest we’ve been apart in years. And the stress of everything really isn’t helping.

So, we’ve been chatting via Google Plus when we can.

It’s quite entertaining. We discovered the mustache feature tonight. I’m pretty sure this is the only picture I will ever have of my husband with a mustache. It’s sort of hilarious.

And it makes me feel like I’m sort of there. Even though I’m all the way over here.

It’s been a rough week.

2011-11-19T20:50:00.001-05:00

I haven’t been doing much writing the past week – here, for NaNo or anything else. I’ve been too distracted. It’s been a bad week.

Monday evening, my mother-in-law called from Colorado, where she and my father-in-law were visiting friends. She said there were some things that seems off about my father-in-law – like not being able to add up the lunch bill.

Things got worse, and they took him to the local ER that night. Tuesday, we found out he has a brain tumor. Wednesday, the doctors there did a biopsy and determined the tumor was inoperable. Thursday, he was transferred to University of Colorado Hospital which is more equipped to handle the situation.

The prognosis really isn’t looking good.

It’s heartbreaking. It’s stressful. It’s hard to deal with.

My husband and his brother are both flying out there to be with him Mom this weekend.

Please keep them all in your prayers.

A NaNoWriMo Update

2011-11-12T13:17:00.001-05:00

This morning, I wrote my 25,00th word. I’m officially at the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo.

I’m thrilled.

And see that cool widget thing to the left? It’s officially showing my word count so you can come back here anytime and see how I’m doing.

I think I’m loving my story more than when I started, too. It’s morphed, slightly, into more of a love story. I think it was supposed to be a love story all along but I was fighting it. Now that I’m rolling with it, things are fabulous.

I’m on a 2,000-words-a-day pace that’s been working well. I’m roughly 5,000 words ahead of minimum pace right now. At this rate, I’ll finish about a week early – which is perfect because I should be writing my 50,000th word the day before Thanksgiving.

In other news, Mark and I went bowling last night – our first time in probably two years. I bowled a 138 and totally kicked his butt.

It must be the weekend of accomplishments!

Writing Buddies

2011-11-06T18:40:00.001-05:00

NaNoWriMo is going pretty well so far. I’ve got about 12,000 words down now and I’m hoping to bang out a few thousand more tonight, making me solidly ahead of minimum pace to hit 50,000 by the end of the month.

I’ve been meaning to make it to more in-person write ins, but my schedule hasn’t worked out. Instead, Kali’s been my writing buddy.

It’s good motivation to keep writing when you have a kitty sitting on your arm. Who would want to make that cuteness move?

Tomie dePaola

2011-11-03T21:38:00.001-04:00

Usually when I look through the lists of book signings in the area, I skip right over the children’s events. I couldn’t possible skip this one, though.

Tomie dePaola, author of Strega Nona, was doing a signing in Princeton tonight. I love Strega Nona. My friend Kristen came too, which was awesome. It was nice not to be the only one without kids in tow!

Tomie was great with the kids. He taught them how Italians blow kisses and talked about how he came up with Strega Nona.

And then he signed copies of Strega Nona’s gift, his new Christmas book. My inner 5-year-old was cheering when it was my turn.

So, this is now living on my bookshelf:

Love, love, love!

October Reads

2011-11-02T06:41:00.000-04:00

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. This is the companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, which I loved. I didn’t identify with Lola as much as I did with Anna, but I still devoured this book. It’s an adorable, innocent love story.

Bloody Valentine by Melissa de la Cruz. I read a lot of the Blue Bloods series very quickly and sort of burned myself out on the story so I wasn’t sure home much I’d like diving back in. This was three short stories instead of a full length novel and I thought it worked really well. It was just enough time with each character to “catch up” and get you ready for the next book.

The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce. This was the sequel to 666 Park Avenue, and a little on the disappointing side. I don’t feel like much happened in it at all – and found the main characters to be quite annoying.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Even though this was a children’s book, I thought it was brilliant. It’s a little dark for younger children – the family is all murdered in the first few pages – but the main character’s antics of being raised in the graveyard are adorable.

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen. I love a good government conspiracy so I absolutely adored this book. The history of this place is fascinating – evoking both awe and unease.

Messenger by Lois Lowry. This is the third book in The Giver trilogy. I didn’t like the story of this one as much, but loved that you got to see what happened to the characters in the first two.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The librarian described this as a mix of Twilight and The DaVinci Code, which I think it a really good way to put it. There’s a lot of history and mystery mixed in to the vampire/witch love story. It had a lot going on – more than I felt was necessary in one book.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. Andi, the main character, is depressed and suicidal which made the book darker than I was expecting. It was a fun adventure, though.

My Standard Nov. 1 Apology

2011-11-01T06:26:00.000-04:00

It’s November 1st. NaNoWriMo kicked off at midnight.

I’ll be writing 50,000 words this month.

Blogging during NaNo is always a bit hit-or-miss. If I seem to drop off the face of the Earth, it’s simply because I’m wrapped up in the novel. I promise, I’ll be back in December!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:59:00.000-04:00

Halloween is pretty quite around here this year. The snow kept us from going to the Halloween party over the weekend so we didn’t get to show off our costumes. (They were good too!)

Tonight, I have yoga and then will come home and throw on a witch hat for any remaining trick-or-treaters. We didn’t seem to get many last year and I imagine the snow will only dampen things more this year. We’ll do pizza and cupcakes and just hang out.

I feel like it kind of snuck up on us – I didn’t get most of our decorations up. The ones I did put up are more fall and can get left up through Thanksgiving.

I did have some time to be a little crafty, though:

I made those up for Mom and Grandma. They’re paving stones, turned on their side and painted. I added some raffia and floral picks to dress them up a little more.

I think they came out pretty cute. I have a couple more stones I’m working on for myself. If the trick-or-treaters don’t show up, I’ll probably work on more painting.

Hope you all have a fantastic Halloween!

It’s still October, right?

2011-10-29T22:55:00.001-04:00

When the weathermen started screaming snow storm this week, I really didn’t listen. It’s October. I didn’t think we’d really get anything.

This morning we headed up to my parents’ house to drop some stuff off and grab some other stuff. It was just starting to snow when we were getting there.

A few hours later, it looked like this:

Pretty crazy.

The roads were quite bad. Even the major highways only had one or two lanes passable in spots because of covered lanes and trees down. It took us twice as long to get home as usual but we made it safely.

It looks like we’ll be snowed in tomorrow and it’s making me regret not taking the weathermen seriously. I guess I’ll be spending the day curled up with a book!

5 Question Friday

2011-10-28T16:57:00.001-04:00

T-G-I-F. For real.

While this is probably “just another week” for most people, finishing out this week seemed monumental to me. This was officially my last full week of work for the year.

I had so much unscheduled vacation time that I decided to make every Friday in November and December either a day off or a half day. I can’t wait!

1. Do you prefer cotton, silk, or flannel sheets?

Cotton. I really like jersey knit. But anything soft makes me happy.

2. What time zone are you in?

Eastern. I quite prefer it because I never have to worry about primetime shows being spoiled by another time zone. The only downside is when sports are on the other coast.

3. What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

Everything. Really. I love the decorating. I love the shopping. I love the music. I love how church fills up. I love how everyone is in a great mood. I love the cooking and baking. I love sending all the cards. I can’t think of anything I don’t like about the next two months.

4. What is your favorite "wintry" drink? (It doesn't have to be an "alcoholic" drink!)

Hot chocolate, hands down.

5. In your opinion, what is the worst job in the world?

Plumbing. Because, I bet, they’re called nine times out of ten to fix some sort of leak or backup. Who really wants to deal with other people’s dirty water? It’s not even like you get the satisfaction of creating things or working outdoors like some other similar jobs.

Check out other 5 Question Friday posts here!

Cone of Shame

2011-10-25T20:26:00.001-04:00

Because it’s always something, right?

Last week we noticed Rocky had a bald spot on his belly that was all irritated so we whisked him off to the vet to get it checked out. The verdict was he’d just gotten it caught on something and because he was licking it so much it wasn’t getting a chance to heal.

They gave him a cone.

Can you tell how thrilled he was?

His spot was looking better enough last night to earn him release from the cone.

Kali’s decided, though, that once we put the cone on she was no longer his friend. There’s been a lot of hissing and swatting going on. Rocky did the same thing to her after she had surgery and was coned.

I’m hoping we’re all friends again soon. I’m quite over the kitty drama!

NaNoWriMo Prep

2011-10-24T12:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the NaNoWriMo kick-off event for the region. About a dozen of us met up at Panera to talk story ideas and how we plan to get through November.

It was fabulous.

We spent a lot of time talking story ideas. I’ve been scribbling down a rough outline and plot points on sticky notes for a few weeks, but it was nice to actually vocalize my ideas to other people and get a reaction.

I’ve been doing some other prep work for NaNo too. I’ve got all of our dinners planned for November – lots of easy meals and crockpot dishes. I’ve been working on getting things cleaned and decluttered around the house. I’ve even got most of Thanksgiving planned

Part of it is me being neurotic – the more things I address before November 1st, the fewer distractions I’ll have when it gets here. Part of it is that I just can’t wait for November to get here. Doing all this prep makes it feel like it’s getting closer.

I can’t wait until November. I’m itching to get writing.

Five Question Friday

2011-10-21T22:52:00.001-04:00

1. Where do you escape to when you've had enough? Bed, usually.

2. What shows are you watching this fall? I haven’t really got into any of the new shows. I’m really glad some old favorites are back, though: Castle, Glee, Vampire Diaries, Fringe and The Good Wife.

3. What was the longest roadtrip you've ever taken and where did you go? My family used to drive when we went to Disney. My parents had it down to a science – we could make it down there in 17 hours.

4. Do you plan on taking your kids to Disney World? Absolutely. I love Disney and can’t imagine not having experienced that magic as a kid. It’s a memory I definitely want my someday kids to have.

5. What is something people would surprised to know about you? I was stuck with this one so I asked my husband and he said, “that you’re so messy”. He’s always nagging me to clean things up. I’m really organized at work and I’m a planner so I think I come across as more organized than I really am in the rest of my life – but things are always scattered and messy around me!

You can check out the other people linking up to 5 Question Friday here.

Giants Game

2011-10-16T20:31:00.001-04:00

Today was a beautiful day for a football game. Mark had gotten tickets for today’s Giants game a few months ago – we picked it because we figured it wouldn’t be too cold yet. Not only was it perfect weather, it also ended up being a much better game than we thought it would be.

Our friends Ted and Daniella also had tickets to today’s game. We met up with them beforehand for a little tailgating.

It was our first time at the new stadium – it’s really nice. Our seats were great, mostly because the people around us were good. There was cheering – and some heckling of the Bills fans – but no one was out of line. It really does make all the difference.

We had a fantastic time. And it doesn’t hurt that the Giants won either!

Light the Night 2011

2011-10-15T21:54:00.001-04:00

Tonight was the Light the Night walk. It was fabulous.

After we got all checked in we grabbed dinner. Olive Garden donated food this year so we had spaghetti, salad, breadsticks and soup. That bowl of soup Laura’s holding? Her second. She dumped the first on me!

Our whole team, ready to go.

They had a cotton candy stand. Laura was beyond excited… and ate her bag in record time.

The walk took us through downtown Morristown this year.

As a team, we raised more than $1300 this year. Our best year yet! I’m already looking forward to next year.

5 Question Friday

2011-10-14T16:03:00.001-04:00

I haven’t been writing here much lately. Part of that is because things have been quite busy. Part of it is because I’ve been using my free time to do some NaNoWriMo prep.

5 Question Friday seemed like a great opportunity to get writing again. I’m going to try to make this more of a habit in the lead up to November.

So, the questions:

1. Do you prefer your ice cream in a bowl or in a cone? A bowl, hands down. Mostly because that means you can put more toppings on. The one exception would be a chocolate soft serve in a cone with cherry dip. It’s what I always get at our local ice cream parlor.

2. What three things do you love the smell of? Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, Yankee Candle’s Sun & Sand scent and my husband’s cologne. (For our first dating anniversary, we set a $5 gift limit. My husband got fake flowers from Michael’s and sprayed his cologne on them. How awesome is that? They’re still on my desk and they get a refresh every once and a while.)

3. Giftcards or no? (In regards to gift giving...) I’m really not opposed to them, but if I’m giving them I like them to have cute packaging. I think it makes it look like you put some thought into it if the packaging is something the receiver would like.

4. What sports did you play in high school if any and do you still play them? Although I don’t consider it a sport, I got a varsity letter (and three service bars!) for my time in color guard. I like to tease my husband about it; he’s clearly the more athletic half of the couple and played soccer and ran track in high school… but I technically have more varsity letters. I still have a few flags, a rifle and a saber from guard – I bust them out once in a while but it’s hardly a regular thing.

5. Were you in band in high school? What instrument did you play? I was part of the color guard for marching band, so no official instrument. I did take lab band as an elective, though, and learned to play a bit of saxophone.

5 Question Friday is hosted by My Little Life. You can pop over and see who else is linking up here.

September Reads

2011-10-13T21:55:00.001-04:00

Let’s just pretend it’s not halfway through October already, okay?

The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan. This book is set up like a dictionary, with each word illustrating a different aspect of the love story. It was brilliant. I read the whole thing in one sitting – and then re-read it again then next day. Saying “I loved it” doesn’t quite cover it for me.

Return to Exile by E.J. Patten. I got an advanced reader copy of this book through Goodreads’ first reads. It’s a young reader book about a town plagued by monsters and the boy who is seemingly destined to fix his world. It felt like Harry Potter with monsters and questionable execution.

Home Improvement: Undead Edition edited by Charlaine Harris. It’s not a secret that I’m a huge fan of Harris’s novels – but her short stories don’t thrill me as much. This was a collection of stories revolving around supernatural home improvement projects and each was written by a different author. I enjoyed some more than others but on a whole it was a fun read.

Boyfriends, Burritos and an Ocean of Trouble by Nancy Rue. This is another ARC from Goodreads’ first reads. I didn’t realize until I was holding the book that it was Christian fiction so I was a little skeptical on how much I’d like it. The story deals with a teen girl in an abusive relationship and the bullying that follows. While religious themes did play a crucial role in the story, it never seemed preachy. It was a good read.

A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris. This was the second in Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series and dealt with Aurora inheriting the house of a friend – and it’s contents. I really, really liked this one. For me, the set-up was more believable than Aurora slinking through allies looking for murder weapons like she did in the first book of the series.

Arthur’s Pen Pal by Lillian Hoban. This was my first In2Books assignment for the year. It’s got a cute twist that really drives home the lesson of looking beneath the surface of things.

What did you read in September?

Apple Picking

2011-10-05T22:18:00.001-04:00

My favorite fall activity, hands down, is visiting the farm for apple and pumpkin picking. We’ve had a lot of questionable weekend weather so far this fall so when we had a few non-rainy hours Saturday morning we headed up to the farm.

It was muddy, but there were plenty of apples for picking!

After we had all the apples we wanted, we headed over to the pumpkins (we couldn’t find the perfect ones) and the gourds (to supplement what we grew in the yard).

After we finished up and were on our way out, we ran into Mark’s cousin, Janel, and her husband, Craig. Small world! After chatting for a bit we grabbed some hot apple cider doughnuts – my favorite.

We may have gone a little overboard with the apples – we brought home 21 pounds. There’s been a lot of apples this week… apple cinnamon oatmeal, apple walnut chicken salad, caramel apple salad.

If “you are what you eat” is true, I’m going to be an apple… very soon.

This is what trouble looks like.

2011-09-28T21:27:00.001-04:00

Before the hurricane, I moved everything from the cedar closet in the basement upstairs. A majority of it is piled on the dining room table (still!), waiting for us to replace the soaked fiber board.

Guess who now thinks it’s his personal bed?

We’ve caught Kali up there too… but Rocky seems to be particularly fold of that spot. He’s not going to be a happy kitty when we get things back to normal!

More Potter

2011-09-26T20:52:00.001-04:00

I loved the Harry Potter books, so when J.K. Rowling announced Pottermore a few months ago, I was pretty excited. It was being billed as an interactive online experience with the books, your friends and new Potter content.

Shortly after Pottermore was announced, they did a treasure hunt-type thing to fill beta tester spots – a million of them. I was lucky enough to get one of them and have been ~~patiently~~ impatiently waiting to check out the site.

My owl finally came today!

I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wants to experience it themselves, but so far it’s brilliant – a real chance to “live” the story so many of us have grown up loving.

The highlights so far, of course, were getting my wand:

And being sorted into a house:

The only downside I’ve seen is that everyone else in the world wants to be on the site too, so it’s not the easiest to get onto but they’re still in beta testing so I suppose that’s to be expected.

If anyone else is on, or will be joining when it opens to everyone in October, feel free to add me as a friend!

New York Renaissance Faire

2011-09-25T22:00:00.001-04:00

The Renaissance Faire was on my to-do list for the year. We bought tickets over the winter and, of course, waited until the last weekend to go.

If you’ve never been to a Renaissance faire before it’s part carnival, part historical re-enactment. My sister, Laura, and our friends Kristen, Cliff, Doug and Tara came with us.

Laura was the only one of us to dress up. She still has her costume from her marching band days and it worked perfectly – she fit right in. I have a costume, too, but didn’t wear it for fear I’d be dragging the long, heavy skirt through the mud all day. I promised her I’d wear it next time we go. (You see that, Boo? It’s in writing. You can hold me to it.)

I tried my hand at archery. I’ve only done it once, a long time ago. I was pretty awful.

Cliff got called up on stage as part of the Ded Bob Show.

It was pretty funny, but I must say my favorite of the shows we saw was Hey Nunnie Nunnie. They were hilarious!

It was a fun way to start fall/say goodbye to summer. As it was the last summer-related thing I wanted to do, I’m finally ready to move onto fall stuff, like apple picking and Halloween. Now, if we could get rid of this crazy humidity, maybe it would start feeling like fall too.

End of our Hunger Challenge

2011-09-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

We officially said “uncle” to the challenge yesterday.

Breakfast and lunch went fine – and the we went out for dinner. It was glorious. And officially put us 50% over budget.

Realistically, we could have finished the challenge. We could do pasta with sauce one night and calzone with chicken and mozzarella another night. It would have been fine.

I don’t think not finishing detracts from the lessons learned, though.

The ultimate question was, can you eat on a food stamp budget?

The answer is yes. You can absolutely fill your belly on that budget. Variety is not much of an option, though, and it’s hard to make a lot of healthy choices without much wiggle room.

We lacked in the fruit and veggie department by quite a bit. I was also low on protein most days. There was no room to change my mind or make something fun – and since cooking is one of my biggest hobbies this was the most difficult thing for me.

Since we blew it last night, we’re not going to try and continue today. Instead, we’ll be grocery shopping to really restock the place and I’ll be making the recipes I was dying to try all week. We’ll also be counting our blessing that we’re food secure – and making donations to help those who aren’t.

Hunger Challenge–Day 5

2011-09-22T21:41:00.001-04:00

Eating the same thing every day is really getting old. I swiped some of Mark’s Frosted Flakes for breakfast this morning. Lunch was more onion soup.

This afternoon I did a second shopping trip to pick up pizza dough and more milk – we’re officially at budget for the week now. I still can’t get over how fast we went through the last gallon of milk. Growing up the family used to drink a gallon a day… but it’s been a long time since I was used to that.

Dinner tonight was grilled pizza. Simple, and SO GOOD.

It was also the last dinner that I had planned, so to speak. I thought we’d do leftovers tomorrow night, but we both dipped into them for lunches so it’s not much of an option. I still have the pasta, sauce and some chicken and mozzarella. Maybe a version of chicken parmesan tomorrow night? Baked potatoes are also an option, though there’s nothing much to top them with.

I guess we’ll see…

Hunger Challenge–Day 4

2011-09-21T22:05:00.001-04:00

Breakfast was the same as usual. Lunch was bubble & squeak leftovers – which was a nice change from the onion soup.

For dinner, I made kung pao chicken. I’d picked up the seasoning packet free with a coupon and stir-fried it with chicken, cabbage and baby carrots. Rice was free with a coupon, too.

Cookies and milk finished off the night.

I really wanted to bake this afternoon so I ended up making up some cranberry orange scones. They’re clearly not in the budget so I won’t be eating them – they’ll be in the freezer until the week is over. Quite sad.

Hunger Challenge–Day 3

2011-09-20T22:09:00.001-04:00

Breakfast, lunch and our evening cookies and milk were all standard today.

Dinner tonight was pierogies, kielbasa and onions on the grill. It’s a meal we’ve done before and liked so we were fine repeating it.

So far, we’re still not hungry. I’m dying to bake, though. I was feeling restless without my kitchen last week and this week I’d love to just be futzing around trying recipes but they’re just not in the budget.

Instead, I’ve been occupying my time reading. I finished one book Sunday night and another tonight. I guess I’ll be getting a lot of reading done this week.

Hunger Challenge–Day 2

2011-09-19T21:25:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday, breakfast and lunch aren’t going to have any variety this week. So far, so good but I suspect by the end of the week I’ll be a bit bored with it.

Tonight’s dinner was bubble & squeak and cornbread. I made half the recipe I usually do and used coleslaw mix instead of chopping a head of cabbage myself (it was cheaper).

Cookies and milk are the evening snack, again.

One thing that’s surprising so far is how fast we’re whipping through milk. We’ve got through nearly a half gallon in two days. I imagine it’s mostly because the other choices are limited – we usually have juice or lemonade (or wine) to choose from too.

If this keeps up, I’ll be buying another gallon before the week is out.

Our Hunger Challenge–Day 1

2011-09-18T22:01:00.001-04:00

We’re a week behind the rest of the world and started our Hunger Challenge today. (You can see what everyone else did last week here.) We were travelling so we postponed to this week.

I actually think doing it this week was a good idea – we came back to an empty fridge and pantry so we’re really starting from scratch. We went to the grocery store today with our $66.08 budget ($4.72 per person, per day) and stocked up for the week.

In the past, I’ve calculated meals down to the penny. I decided not to do that this time. It’s partially out of laziness – all that math is a lot of work – and also an effort to try to make the challenge a little more realistic. Other years I’d “buy” a teaspoon of cinnamon out of the pantry for a few cents without counting in the whole cost of the bottle. While my meals were all technically in budget, it’s unlikely someone struggling with food insecurity has the pantry available.

So, we walked into the grocery store, spent less than $66 and everything’s fair game for the week. We got:

-Cantaloupe
-Apples (1.5 lbs.)
-Potatoes (5 lbs.)
-Yellow onions (5 lbs.)
-Cole Slaw Mix
-Baby Carrots (2.5 lbs.)
-Boneless, skinless chicken breast (3 lbs.)
-Smoked Sausage (1.5 lbs.)
-Italian bread
-Rolls
-Ham
-Salami
-Provolone
-Mozzarella
-Frosted Flakes
-Planters Nut Bars
-Instant Oatmeal
-Raisins
-Pretzel sticks
-Keebler Chips Deluxe
-Brownie Mix
-Cornbread Mix
-Black Beans
-Apple Cider Vinegar
-Pasta
-Pasta Sauce
-Rice
-Stir fry sauce mix
-Rosemary spice mix
-Frozen pierogies
-Orange Juice (x2)
-Gallon of Milk

It all came in at $60.16. I know of at least one thing I forgot to pick up so I’ll be doing it during the week, but I imagine we’ll be safely under budget for the week.

Breakfasts and lunches are going to be the same all week. For me, oatmeal with raisins for breakfast and onion soup for lunch. For Mark, cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I’m sure we’ll supplement with the pretzels, cookies and fruit too.

Dinners for each night will be different, hopefully. Tonight I did a chicken and veggie bake – chicken, potatoes, baby carrots and onions tossed the the rosemary spice mix and roasted. It was fantastic.

We’re off to a good start.

Family Time

2011-09-17T22:39:00.001-04:00

Mark and I spent the last week on vacation – relaxing and having some time to ourselves. It felt appropriate since he’s planning to start studying for CFA round two soon and our fun time will be more limited. On our way home yesterday, we scooped up the kitties from their sitter – Mark’s brother – and had a quiet night at home.

Today, we had family time of a different sort – a party at my Grandma’s house. My cousin, Cord, took a five-month job in Antarctica and he ships out in a few weeks so it was a get-together so everyone could say some sort of proper goodbyes. It was fun to see Cord – he lives in VA and doesn’t make it up all too often – and it was interesting to hear about what he’ll be doing and what life is like down there. I can’t wait to hear his reports from the field. Going to Antarctica is something I don’t think I would ever do, but I’m completely fascinated by the idea.

The other star of the party was Arlo. At 3 months, he’s the newest cousin and completely adorable. We always missed his previous visits so it was great to finally get to snuggle with him. He was happily passed between family members all afternoon.

It’s been a lot of family time and I’ve loved all of it. I’m not really looking forward to going back to reality.

Snuggly Kitty

2011-09-16T15:51:00.000-04:00

It’s been a while since I devoted a post to kitty pictures. I’m overdue.

For you viewing pleasure – our cuddly Kali.

Don’t you just want to snuggle her?

Disasters & Hunger

2011-09-14T14:26:00.000-04:00

As we prepped for Irene, I made a trip through the grocery store to pick up canned fruit, bottled water, protein bars and a few other snacks. As I was standing in line to pay, I started wondering about what those who rely on food stamps would be doing. Would they have the means to get supplies? Would it mean wracking up credit card debt?

And in the days following the storm, it was evident that people who never had to worry about food security before were struggling. No power, flooded homes – they needed to be fed too.

For a lot of people, disaster-relief organizations like the Red Cross became hunger-relief organizations too.

I know the point of the Hunger Challenge this week is to show the difficulties people who deal with hunger insecurity have to tackle everyday – but I think it’s worth remembering the challenge of temporary hunger insecurity too, and the organizations that step in in big ways to help out.

It’s Hunger Challenge Week

2011-09-12T14:05:00.000-04:00

Every year, the San Francisco Food Bank hosts a Hunger Challenge. The jist of it is that you try to live on a food stamp budget for the week – currently $4.72 per person per day.

It’s an enormous challenge.

We’ll be officially doing the challenge next week but lots of bloggers will be tackling it this week. A list of bloggers and twitter users participating can be found on the Hunger Challenge blog. It’s really interesting to see what everyone cooks up for the week.

It’s also Hunger Action Month. Lots of events will be going on all over the country to raise money and awareness for hunger issues. You can use that link to find your local food bank and find out what they have going on to mark this month.

Remembering

2011-09-11T15:24:00.000-04:00

I’ve heard a lot of people say the media is spending too much time dwelling on the 9/11 attacks. I respectfully disagree.

I’ve been devouring the media coverage – so much of it is so well done. My particular favorites are the stories that catch up with people that were caught in the media spotlight of the days that followed. I think it’s healing for everyone to see them healing and going on with their lives.

Probably my favorite bit of coverage is from Story Corp. They’ve made it a project to record a story honoring each person who died on 9/11. The stories come from friends, loved ones and colleagues – in their own voices.

They’re beautiful.

You can find them here.

A final Borders trip

2011-09-08T23:07:00.001-04:00

The whole Borders closing thing makes me sad. I wasn’t really an avid customer – most of my books come from the library – but I loved it as part of the community. I loved going to book signings there. I loved being able to stop in and browse and chat with the staff about new books. I loved picking out books as gifts.

For me, B&N just isn’t the same.

I’ve been frequenting the closing sale since they announced in – stopping in about once a week. At first, it was just to keep an eye on inventory. Once the sales got really good, I picked up some things I’d been meaning to get. Last week, I used the sales to start my Christmas shopping. Now, they’re down to their final days.

This evening, post-haircut, the traffic heading home was awful so I decided to delay the inevitable and poke around Borders for a bit. Everything is picked over and condensed down into one small section of the store – and I still found plenty I want to read.

It is, most likely, the last time I’ll shop there. I’m fully expecting the store to close while we’re away. It will be really weird to come home and just have it not be there.

But tonight, I came home with five more books. Five more souvenirs of a store I’ll miss. Five more stories to get lost in. And that makes me happy.

Drafted.

2011-09-07T18:59:00.001-04:00

I’ve spent the better part of the last two days working on fantasy football drafts. It’s been amazing.

Monday night was the draft for the league Mark’s high school friends do. They let me play back when we were first dating and I won the league so they never kicked me out after. We had a few of the guys over, made junk food and did a live draft.

Tuesday after work I had a draft for my Nestie bestie league and Mark had one for a work league. As he was on his way home from the work draft, I logged in as him to another draft. I relayed picks to him until he got home to take over.

As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of football talk going on in this house. I freaking love it. And I’m pretty happy with my draft results too.

Team 1 is a 2 QB league:

Drew Brees – QB
Ben Roethlisberger – QB
Larry Fitzgerald – WR
Reggie Wayne – WR
Jeremy Maclin – WR
Shonn Greene – RB
Mark Ingram – RB
Vernon Davis – TE
Sebastian Janikowski – K
Philadelphia – DEF
On the bench – Matt Hasselbeck – QB, Santana Moss – WR, Marshawn Lynch – RB, Braylon Edwards – WR, Visanthe Shiancoe – TE, Dexter McCluster – WR/RB

Team 2 is a standard league:

Matt Schaub – QB
Hakeem Nicks – WR
Anquan Boldin – WR
Pierre Garcon – WR
Chris Johnson – RB
Mike Tolbert – RB
Dallas Clark – TE
Lawrence Tynes – K
Seattle – DEF
On the bench: Kevin Kolb – QB, Ryan Grant – RB, Pierre Thomas – RB, Robert Meachem – WR, Steve Breaston – WR, Chris Cooley – TE

Now, I feel like I need to explain Seattle as a defense. Several of the girls in that league felt the need to draft two defenses (and two kickers) starting in the third round. Not a strategy I wanted to employ so I was stuck with what’s left.

Both teams seem like they’ve got potential, though. (Mike Tolbert, you best live up to your potential!!) I’m excited for the season to officially kick off.

The countdown is on.

August Reads

2011-09-04T22:33:00.001-04:00

I’m having trouble accepting that it’s September already! Where did my summer go?!

Dry Ice – The premise of this book involves a rouge weather manipulation station based on the South Pole. The book was just okay – I felt it really droned in spots and got repetitive (another weather disaster! oh no!) but the story’s really stuck with me. An earthquake and a hurricane in one week? Are you sure this is fiction?

Bel Canto – I really liked the last book I read by Patchett but this one kind of bored me. I know it’s “inspired by real events” but most of the actions seemed ridiculous and overly convenient. I think I would have rather read a non-fiction account of the inspiring incident.

Delirium – This was very similar to Matched, which I read last month, in tons of ways. I did like the story and found it to be very well written, but I’ve got to start getting away from all of this YA dystopian. The stories are all starting to blend together.

Across the Universe – More YA dystopian. This one takes place on a giant spaceship, though, so the setting was different enough to make it stand out. Of all the dystopian I’ve read recently, this was one of my least favorites. I had a hard time accepting the choices that people made.

One Fine Potion: The Literary Magic of Harry Potter – Literary criticism of the Harry Potter series. It was an interesting perspective on the books. I read them so fast the first time through that I didn’t catch or consider a lot of what was brought up. I think I’ll be doing a re-read soon.

What did you read in August?

What the doctor ordered

2011-09-03T22:41:00.001-04:00

Since I saw the pictures of how flooded my route to work was, I’ve been hesitant to go down to the office. I knew by now that the water would have receded but I was nervous about detours from damaged bridges or trees down.

I asked Mark if we could do a test run this weekend, knowing how ridiculous it sounded. He was completely agreeable and suggested we include a stop at our favorite farm as part of the trip – perfect!

We first went to Terhune Orchards during college and we fairly regularly when we were living down in that area. We haven’t made it down there since we’ve moved so it was nice to go back. It’s really the best farm we’ve been to. Everyone is so nice and it really feels more like visiting friends than going to a business.

Mark’s a big raspberry fan and fall raspberries were picking, so that’s what we spent most of our time doing. He got a load for himself and I picked some up to put in a berry crumble.

Blackberries were also picking, although there weren’t as many to choose from. I got a handful for breakfast tomorrow!

After picking, we visited with all the animals (Mark’s especially fond of the farm cat that hangs around) and hit up the farm store. I could smell their cider doughnuts as soon as we got out of the car so I had to get some. We also picked up some farm-made cider and a beautiful loaf of bread.

Since the last time we were there, they’ve also expanded into the winery business. They were sampling their two new wines – peach and blueberry – this weekend and we both really liked the peach so we picked up a bottle of that. We also got a bottle of apple wine made with the farm’s apples. It sounded perfect for Thanksgiving so we’ll be saving it for that.

I think some time doing something quiet like that was just what I needed. After the craziness of the week it was so nice to just spend some time focusing on picking berries and munching on doughnuts.

And, for the record, my route to work is just fine. It looks like Tuesday I’ll be back in my routine whether I like it or not!

I hate alarms.

2011-08-31T20:59:00.001-04:00

Remember my carbon monoxide alarm debacle from last summer? After that, I went out and dropped some serious dollars on fancy alarms. A carbon monoxide one for the main level of the house and a combo carbon monoxide/ explosive gas one for the basement.

Here’s the thing: we don’t have gas in the house. Getting a line run is a down-the-line project, so I thought I’d be proactive and get the alarm now.

During the power outage, the battery backups in both died. We stole a battery out of one of the smoke detectors to keep the carbon monoxide one going – just in case the generator happened to be getting fumes in the house or something.

My project for the afternoon was to track down new 9-volts to replace the batteries in all of the alarms. (Which ended up costing nearly $30! I had no idea they were so expensive!)

I popped the battery into the carbon monoxide alarm – it beeped a few times and then was happy so I put it back in it’s home. For the combo alarm, I popped the battery in, it beeped a few times like the other one and then started flashing GAS and going off really loudly. I ripped the battery out and took it upstairs, tried it again and had the same result.

Total flashback to last year.

I called Mark and he was just about to leave work so I decided to just wait outside for him to get here. He suggested that I bring the alarm outside and try again, which I did with the same results.

At this point, I was pretty damn sure it was the alarm, not an actual gas leak because a) being out in the open shouldn’t give you a gas reading and b) WE DON’T HAVE GAS.

When Mark got home he tried it again and had the same reaction as me – ripped the battery right out when it started going crazy. We tried everything we could thing of – we vacuumed it, air blasted it. I even shook the hell out of the damn thing.

So, Mark did the smart thing and pulled out the instructions. And you know what? That’s the normal reset procedure. My mind is still kind of boggled that I’m supposed to let it scream for 30 seconds while telling me it’s detecting gas and carbon monoxide. Seriously, who comes up with these things?

I swear, these damn alarms cause me so much anxiety and it’s always for naught. Someone really needs to design an alarm that’s effective but much, much more user friendly.

We have power!

2011-08-31T07:26:00.001-04:00

I was pretty much at my breaking point yesterday. When Mark came home from work last night I was crying. I really hadn’t slept very much since the power went out and the stress was just getting to be too much.

Mark talked me down and we decided that if they still weren’t working on the downed line by tonight we’d pack it up and get out of the house for the night. A hot shower and some good sleep.

Yesterday evening, as we were chatting with the neighbors, the street behind us came back online. Do you know how disheartening it is to know the house behind you is nice and lit up while you’re still sitting in the dark?

A little after 4 am, our power came back on too. I couldn’t be happier. The storm finally feels “over” for us and I can’t wait to feel like I’m back in my routine.

One step forward, two steps back?

2011-08-30T17:34:00.001-04:00

I worked from home today. It was nice to feel like things were back to normal for a few hours (with the exception of no CSI marathon in the background, anyway).

I still felt a little guilty about not trying to go in. Until I saw this:

(from PrincetonPatch)

That’s the road I take to work. Or, it used to be a road. The last update I found online said the water still hasn’t fully receded off the roadway and it isn’t open to cars yet.

The police for the town I work in also announced that power may not be fully restored down there until Sunday.

I was ridiculously optimistic this morning. Our localized flooding has all but disappeared. They cut the big tree down on our power lines yesterday so I was sure that meant they’d start repairs today.

My lunchtime outing to get more gas for the generator was sort of a kick in the gut. Not only are they not working on the downed lines on the street over yet, there are more outages today. Several of the traffic lights along the main highway are out, making it difficult to cross back and forth between sides.

It’s disheartening to feel like things are getting worse, not better.

Progress

2011-08-29T20:34:00.001-04:00

We have internet! No power yet, but Mark got our Fios all hooked to the generator so we can get online.

Mark’s planning to go to work tomorrow and I was getting a little nervous about what I’d do with my time. I feel like I should be working but I don’t really want to be driving there with the state of the roads. I had it in my head that I could find a wifi hotspot and work from there but trying to find a wifi hotspot today was harder than we imagined – Panera was packed, Barnes and Noble had no available outlets and the library was closed. Now, with the generator hooked up I’ll be able to work from home tomorrow.

The big tree that we think took out our power is finally being worked on. They cut up and removed the tree today so all you can see in the road is the snapped telephone pole and lots of wires. Hopefully they’ll be able to get repairs going tomorrow.

We also discovered this afternoon that the water in the hot water heater was still quite warm. Who would have thought? We each got to shower tonight without freezing which was a nice surprise.

Really, we’ve got it good. There’s no lights or AC, but we’ve got internet, the fridge and a dry in-tact house. It’s more than a lot of people have tonight.

I’m still a little miserable though. I feel selfish saying that, but it’s true. I really wish this whole thing would just be over.

Irene Update

2011-08-29T16:02:00.001-04:00

I’m pre-writing this post a little after 11 am on Monday. Our intention is to find a wifi hotspot this afternoon… if this post seems way delayed, that’s why! I just wanted to start getting my thoughts down.

I guess I’ll start with Saturday. It was incredibly weird on Saturday. Everyone was mostly prepped and staying home. We were prepped and there really wasn’t must to do, so we decided to take a bike ride over to the park. We knew it would likely flood some, so I wanted to take reference picture.

Not the park, but here’s our backyard Saturday afternoon:

This is the park. It’s about three or four blocks from our house. Just to give you some perspective, this is from the road:

Beyond the line of trees you see in the first picture is this field:

And then on the other side of THOSE trees is the river. It’s a fairly good distance between the river and the road at this point – at least a quarter mile, I would guess more.

Our power went out around midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. I was already asleep – Mark was up. He said shortly after it went out there were flashing lights on the street over.

I woke up around 3 am, realized the power was out and woke up Mark to go check on the basement. We have a sump pump that works beautifully – but this is the first time we’ve lost power. When we went down, the water was starting to pool. We moved the last few things that we’d been too lazy (or optimistic) to move earlier – mostly empty cardboard boxes and went back to bed.

Getting a hurricane is scary enough. Getting it in the middle of the night while your power is out is completely terrifying. I didn’t really sleep much the rest of the night. It’s so nerve-wracking to know your house is flooding and you can’t do anything about it. It was also so dark and the rain was coming down so hard you couldn’t see anything when you looked outside.

Sunday morning we woke up to this:

The water was deep enough to flood out the shed (luckily, Mark had the foresight to move the things with engines, like the lawnmower, up onto pallets so everything was okay). Our neighbors had a canoe out in their backyard and were paddling around. It was sort of crazy.

The water extended up the side of the house and was pooling quite a bit at the end of the driveway too.

Mark went out and unclogged the drain by the road – it had picked up lots of debris – and that helped clear things out a bit.

The basement was nice and soggy. We had about a half inch when I woke up, but it kept seeping in. By Monday morning, we had about 2-3 inches. Again, luckily, everything was raised so I don’t think we lost anything.

When it stopped raining, we hopped on our bikes to see how the rest of the area was fairing. Remember the park from before? This is is Sunday afternoon, from the road:

The other field, the dam – everything else I took pictures of the day before was completely under water.

This is normally the entranceway.

The water was so high it came up over the road. You can’t tell from the picture, but the water had gotten so high it had floated cars onto the roadway. One was completely submerged – you could just see the roof.

So, we turned around and went the other way. This is another side street. You can’t normally see the river from this corner.

For the sake of perspective, that’s a woman standing in the water by the stairs there. This house is next to the road.

This is what we were met with a little further down.

We went around in an attempt to get down further, only to find the river was up over the road again.

We are able to get out of the neighborhood and explored a little more Sunday evening. The grocery store and Home Depot are open so we stopped and got ice to keep the fridge cooler since we were going on 24 hours with no power.

We stopped at CVS too and bought a little armband radio. Neither of us have smartphones so we’ve been feeling really cut off from the world.

The power outages seem to be localized in our subsection of town. The street over has a huge tree down that took out the power lines and telephone pole. As of this morning, they hadn’t even started working on cutting the tree away yet. (Although, I swear I heard a chainsaw a little while ago so I’m praying that’s where it was coming from.)

We spent most of last night on the couch playing board games and listening to a 90s dance party I found on the radio. For dinner, we braved the remaining wind and made a general tso’s chicken stir fry on the grill.

We’ve been keeping in touch with our parents – they all lost power too. My Mom called last night to say their power came back on so my Dad came down this morning and brought us their generator.

I swear, it’s like a little slice of heaven. We hooked up the sump pump and wet vac and we’ve got the basement decently cleaned up and the fridge is plugged in so we don’t have to worry about spoiled food.

We might play around with it a little more later and see if we can power up our cable box with it (I totally missed True Blood last night!) and if not, we should be able to do DVDs.

Clearly, working from home isn’t happening. I was hoping that I’d somehow be able to get into the office tomorrow but I’m not sure if that’s realistic. No matter how you slice it, I have to cross that swollen river and it’s flooded out too many of the roads around here. I’m hoping the library will be open and maybe have some wifi?

Is anyone else dealing with Irene’s aftermath? How are you fairing? As shitty as things seem to be around here, our neighbors have told us Floyd was worse, so we’re counting our blessings.

Moves Like Jagger

2011-08-27T10:03:00.001-04:00

For my birthday, Mark got me tickets to see Gavin DeGraw. He is, currently, the only musician I really keep up with – knowing tour dates, pre-ordering albums, etc. He’s fantastic live. This was the third time I’ve seen him and he never disappoints.

Really, he could come sing to me anytime he wants.

But, for this concert Gavin was only the opening act – Maroon 5 and Train played also. We had happened upon a Train concert during Fashion’s Night Out in the city last year, so I knew they’d be good too. I wasn’t super excited about Maroon 5 because I didn’t know what to expect.

Maroon 5 came on after Gavin and really, they were awesome. Super high energy and they did a great job of getting the whole crowd really pumped up.

I’m going to have Moves Like Jagger in my head for weeks, I think. I’d totally go see them again if we had the chance.

Train’s show was very different. Maroon 5 stuck mostly to their singles and went really high-energy. When Train was on stage, they sort of made you feel like you were just chilling with the band.

They did their most popular singles and also some other stuff – their cover of Rihanna’s Umbrella was a crowd favorite.

And, they did a ton of audience interaction. I knew from the Fashion week show that they tweet pictures of the crowd during If It’s Love, but they did something with the audience on nearly every song.

It was an amazingly fun night.

And, Irene actually helped make things easier. The concert venue is right off the Garden State Parkway – the main road to the Jersey shore. On a Friday night in the summer, we were really prepared to sit in a lot of traffic since it’s usually crazy. Last night there was next to no one on the road. It’s good to know people are heeding the warnings – she’s coming up fast.

Prepping

2011-08-26T11:33:00.000-04:00

When we were house hunting, I was super careful about checking if houses were in flood plains. I had the flood maps for the the area bookmarked. This house was high and dry.

When we did our home inspection, the inspector found a slight, old waterline in the base of the furnace. He said that it was most likely from Floyd. This area got hit hard – real hard – then. He told us that we’d be hard pressed to find a house in the area that didn’t get water during Floyd, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime storm and not something we should really take into consideration. Everyone else we talked to in the area seemed to echo the same advice. You can’t base decisions on crazy, freak storms.

Yesterday, the news started yelling red alert about Irene. This morning, one of the news articles I read quoted the local Red Cross urging people to “remember Floyd”. Floyd was only a tropical storm when it hit.

I’m sufficiently nervous.

We tried to get our hands on a generator or battery backup to keep our sump pump going in case the power goes out, but no such luck – it was a struggle event to find batteries in stock. It seems everyone else is doing these last-minute chores too.

At this point there’s not much else we can do. We’ll spend some time this afternoon moving stuff up out of the basement, just in case. Then, we’ll just be waiting and hoping things aren’t as bad as they’re anticipating.

Shakin’

2011-08-23T18:12:00.001-04:00

I grew up close to a fault line. Every once in a while we’d get a little quake. I also grew up down the street from one of the biggest arsenals on the East Coast – and they would routinely blow things up there. If the house shook, you could never really tell if it was an earthquake or an explosion.

Today was my first “real” earthquake I suppose – in that, I felt it and knew it was an earthquake.

I was in the office today, parked at my desk on the second floor and the building started to sway. It was a weird feeling, like being on a boat. My coworkers and I were all looking around at each other like, did you feel that too?

The perks of working with lots of ex-journalists – they get to the bottom of things quickly. We new there was at least a 5.0 earthquake in VA before it hit CNN and that it was felt all the way up to Boston. There was about ten minutes of excited chatter and then everyone got back to work.

A fifteen minute distraction total. That’s an East Coast style earthquake, I suppose.

I generally appreciate optimism

2011-08-15T17:17:00.001-04:00

I like when people can see the best in a situation – even if the best is unlikely. This does not apply to the forecast, though. When it comes to weather, I’d much rather hear it like it is.

In the last 48 hours or so, we’ve gotten about 6.25” of rain according to our rain gauge. That’s a lot of rain.

It made the ground so saturated that my tomato cages sunk into the ground more and then fell over. Mark and I were standing the rain last night trying to rescue the tomato plants. The yard squished when you walk through and any low areas puddled quite a bit.

This afternoon, the weather went from okay to scary in the span of a few minutes. The clouds were going in different directions than they usually do and thunder was rumbling continuously.

I checked the weather online to see if there was anything I should be concerned about and was more than a little surprised that it was telling me it was currently sunny in my city (not true!) and no precipitation was expected through the night (I beg to differ!)

Weathermen, if you put that up to give us false hope, I’m not amused.

I went to the movies yesterday.

2011-08-14T19:33:00.001-04:00

Probably sounds like no big deal, right? It was for me.

I’m not a movie person. Even at home, I’m not a huge fan of sitting for two hours watching any one thing. But at the movies it seems even worse – they charge an arm and a leg for overly fatty food and you have to deal with inconsiderate people who talk/text their way through things.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to the movies with Mark (and we’ve been together 7 years).

The last movie I saw in the theater was Sex and the City – the first one – so it’s been about 3 years.

We went to see The Help yesterday. I read the book about a year and a half ago and loved it. It’s easily one of my favorite books. So, I decided I just had to see the movie.

It was fantastic. A really great adaption of the book. We snuck in more reasonable snacks (shhh, don’t tell!) and went to an afternoon showing so things were emptier. It was great. So great, in fact, that it might have convinced me we should do it more often. I’m thinking the last Harry Potter movie will have to be our next one!

Staycationed

2011-08-08T17:26:00.001-04:00

Mark and I took a few days off last week for a bit of a summer break. It was plenty busy but a lot of fun.

We went outlet shopping one day and hung out at the pool the next. I spent a good chunk of one morning setting up Blood cancers Suck and another morning we attended our local Light the Night kickoff event.

On Friday, we went down the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. I’ve wanted to go there for years but we never got the chance so I was super excited to finally get to check it out.

Of course, I loved the penguins best.

The other exhibits were great too. There was an African exhibit with birds. This sign totally cracked us up.

The same exhibit had hippos! One of them came over to say hi.

The penguins got the most attention, though. They totally rushed the door because they knew it was dinner time. Adorable.

And those are their sleeping holes. They were all chilling in them our first time through.

Our weekend was pretty average – all of our usual chores and errands. The garden is getting to a point where we can’t eat everything (especially the tomatoes) before they go bad. And the big tomatoes are ripening. They’re really big.

I see a lot of tomato sauce in my future.

July Reads

2011-08-05T21:56:00.001-04:00

I can’t believe we’re almost a week into August already!

July was a good reading month. I read:

Revelations, The Van Alen Legacy and Misguided Angel – I spent a good part of the beginning of them month laying out back in the hammock devouring these. It’s such a fun series. (And, we’ve got signed copies of Revelations and The Van Alen Legacy up for auction as part of Blood Cancers Suck!)

A Visit from the Goon Squad – This is a collection of intertwined short stories. It was okay but I’m not such a fan of short stories because I never feel like I get to know the characters enough.

Hidden Wives – This was a fictional account of girls in an abusive polygamist sect. It was both enthralling and really disturbing.

Real Murders – I like everything by Charlaine Harris so this was no exception. I didn’t love it as much as other series though which is probably most evident because I didn’t immediately go to the next in the series.

Predictably Irrational – I often hear the author on NPR and he always fascinates me so I knew I would like this book. Even though it’s basically a rehash of his psychological experiments, it wasn’t dry at all. I loved it.

Matched – This was probably my favorite of the month. I listened to it as an audiobook and often found myself staring at my laptop “watching” everything play out. Everything was so vivid and the characters were so believable and lovable. I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

What did you read in July?

Vampire book auctions to raise money for Light the Night

2011-08-04T20:29:00.001-04:00

I’m so incredibly proud of this project.

For the past few months I’ve been contacting authors and getting things organized; today Blood Cancers Suck went live.

It’s a series of vampire-themed auctions and all of the proceeds will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via their Light the Night walk.

We’ve got a ton of great stuff up for grabs, including books signed by Christopher Moore, Charlaine Harris and Lara Adrian. There’s also a few Alexander Skarsgard autographs.

You can check out everything here: http://booksforbloodcancers.blogspot.com/

If you’d help spread the word, I’d be grateful!

This happens every weekend.

2011-08-03T22:44:00.001-04:00

Okay, not every weekend put at least one weekend a year. This past weekend was the Quick Check Balloon Festival at one of the close-by airfields.

Last year, we had only been in the house a few weeks when the festival happened and woke up to a woooooosh sound. When we opened our blinds we saw a hot air balloon about a block or two over, just above the houses.

This year, the balloons showed up again. Apparently our neighborhood is in their flight line.

It’s really neat to watch them float by – they’re faster than you think!

Part of the festival is a mass ascension each morning and evening. The hills and trees by our house hide these, so Sunday night we went up to a higher vantage point – Wegman’s parking lot – to see what we could see.

It started out pretty unexciting. Two. And that was it.

But pretty soon the skyline filled up with balloons.

And as the angle of the sun changed, you could see their colors better.

See that rectangle one in the mix? It’s totally a Pepsi can!

I think next year we’re going to have to actually go to the festival and see everything up close.

What have we been up to?

2011-07-30T14:09:00.001-04:00

A bunch, actually.

The biggest news of late is that Mark passed level one of the CFA exam. We went out Tuesday night to celebrate and then Wednesday he signed up for level two. It’s nice to officially have the score since a bunch of vacation plans for next year hinged on whether he’d be testing again in June or not. It also means that he’ll be starting up the study routine again soon so we’re relishing the free time now.

After last weekend’s heat broke, we did some work in the garden. I’m so impressed with how things are turning out.

Mark helped me hack down the remaining lettuce. The heat had made it just too bitter and the other plants were starting to creep so it needed to go. I’m planning to re-plant the spinach and lettuce towards the end of the season to get a late crop.

The standout right now is the gourds we planted. They’re completely taking over! I’ve been pulling the vines over daily to try to redirect them onto the fence.

So far we’ve got one baby gourd going. I’m hoping that a big plant like that means we’re going to get a whole bunch. They’ll be so fun to decorate with come fall!

The downside, though, is that the plant is sort of choking out the carrots. It’s still a little early for them to be truly “ready” but we’ve been starting to pick them anyway because they’re pretty much buried under the gourds at this point. Getting them out is quite a bit of work!

Nearly every night we go out and grab a few more things from the garden. A few carrots. Some beans. A white cucumber. We’ve gotten one jalapeno so far but I don’t think we’ll get that many more because of issues with deer eating the plant early in the season. The onions didn’t really work out. And though there’s only two plum tomatoes in this picture, don’t be fooled. They’re coming in fast and furious now! We’ve also picked a bunch of zucchini.

Mark’s brother, Andy’s, birthday was this week and we’re celebrating with a BBQ today. He’s a Scooby Doo fan so I took a stab at making a themed take. I’ve only worked with fondant once before and this was the first time I’d made it myself so I’m really thrilled with the way it came out.

I hope everyone else at the party later likes it too!

Reading, ARCs and a bunch of great giveaways

2011-07-20T07:28:00.000-04:00

When I started with Goodreads and participating in book talk online, one of the things I was most suprised about was that regular people could get their hands on advanced reader copies (ARCs). I had always assumed these previews were more for professional book reviewers or something.

I've since won several as Goodreads giveaways and it's so fun to be able to read a book before it comes out.

One of my favorite bloggers, The Nerd's Wife, came back from the American Library Association’s summer convention with a pile of ARCs - I'm officially jealous. I want to read them all. Luckily for her readers, she's been giving them away.

Her giveaway for Lola and the Boy Next Door ends tonight. You can enter here: http://thenerdswife.com/2011/07/stephanie-perkins-signing-and-giveaway.html

She's also giving away a signed copy of Anna and the French Kiss in that post. It's been one of the most fun books I've read this year, so I highly suggest entering if you haven't already!

Her other current ARC giveaways include Vanish and Shut Out and The Scorpio Races and Sweet Venom.

Happy reading!

Bon Appetit

2011-07-19T21:38:00.001-04:00

I have a subscription to bon appetit.

Does that sound ridiculous to you? Because it sounds ridiculous to me. I’m not a bon appetit type cook. I’m an Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie type cook.

But, I get it anyway, and each month I flip through, drooling. I pull out recipes that sound fabulous and they get filed away for some other time when I’m feeling like a more ambitious cook.

I got the newest issue today and there’s an article about Riesling wines. At the end of the article they have a list of bottles they recommend. I scanned the list to see if there was any winery remotely close that made it (because, you know, I’ll never actually make it to some winery in Australia) and the name of the US one caught my eye.

Some quick googling and yes, I did recognize that name – it’s right down the road from where we’re staying in the Finger Lakes in a couple months. As in, we could walk there.

I think I’m going to have to talk Mark into going while we’re there. I want to be able to get a bottle so I can tell people I get my wine tips from bon appetit.

Doesn’t that sound fancy? I love it.

30 Hour Vacation

2011-07-18T21:26:00.001-04:00

Mark and I are not doing a “real” summer vacation this year – we’re waiting until September – so we decided that a mini-getaway was in order to break things up a little bit.

We’ve also been saying we need to get back to Atlantic City. It’s been nearly two years since we were there last and it’s one of our favorite spots. We snagged a great room rate for Sunday night, took off work Monday and made it into a quickie vacation.

We set out Sunday morning and stopped about halfway down at the Cream Ridge Winery. Since we were there a few months ago, they released a mango wine that I really wanted to get my hands on. We grabbed a bottle and then picnic’d at the winery with sandwiches we had grabbed from the deli. They had some live music going on so it was a nice relaxing little stop.

We always stay at the Tropicana in AC – they always have the best hotel deals. Mark usually makes the reservations and has an amazing knack for being upgraded. We always book the most basic room and he almost always ends up with something better. As I was standing on line to check in, I realized that since I made the reservation there’d likely be no upgrade.

I was so wrong.

They put us in a nice suite. Like, really nice.

It had two TVs! Seriously, we felt like high rollers.

And check out this view. It was gorgeous being able to look out and see the ocean whenever.

We spent the rest of our day wandering around AC – which is sort of par for the course with us. Dinner was at Cube Libre, and very good. I think it’s the longest we’ve ever spent gambling, too. We were at the same machines for nearly two hours. I really love their video blackjack and Mark was doing quite well with the variation of 5-card stud he was playing.

Today started out with a long walk down the boardwalk and breakfast – and then we headed up to Point Pleasant for some beach time. It was kind of funny – as we were laying on the beach the wind shifted and you could tell immediately because the sea breeze was so much cooler. Everyone around us sat up and was like, “Did you feel that? Someone turned the air conditioning on!”

After beaching for a bit we grabbed lunch (boardwalk pizza!)and played some of the arcade games. I absolutely kicked Mark’s butt in the basketball shootout game. We tied in skeeball. And as much fun as I think the Deal or No Deal game is, I really stink at it.

We got home a little after five tonight – early enough so we could grocery shop and get everything ready to go for the rest of the week.

We’re back to reality tomorrow morning but I’m so glad we had this little break!

Summer Wreath

2011-07-15T21:50:00.001-04:00

I made this more than a month ago, while my computer was off for repairs that didn’t get done, but didn’t get around to blogging it.

I’d made it for our housewarming party and since that’s old news I thought about skipping this post, but it’s really just too cute and needs acknowledging.

Isn’t it adorable? Such fun summer colors. And if you can’t tell from the above picture, it’s all cocktail umbrellas stuck into a wreath form.

I’d seen one similar on Pinterest and since I already had umbrellas I picked up a wreath form and spent an evening sticking them all in.

It took quite a bit of time but I really love the way it came out!

Battle Wounds

2011-07-14T18:05:00.001-04:00

I had a dermatologist appointment today to check out a spot on the back of my leg. I had noticed it around the same time as my breast lump but I was so preoccupied with getting the latter addressed that I couldn’t bring myself to think about this little spot.

Still, it’s been nagging at me so I finally made an appointment last week.

The verdict was absolutely anticlimactic. It’s scar tissue. Probably from an old bug bite. I’m sure I visibly eye-rolled when she told me that. I can’t think of anyone that would happen to but me.

She did I full body check since I was there, though, and found two moles on the back of my leg that she wasn’t thrilled with the look of. She doesn’t think they’re anything but she wanted to get rid of them to ebb on the side of caution. Which was more than fine by me.

Fifteen minutes later they were all cut out and I was stitched up and ready to go on my merry way. The back of leg looks a little sad, though.

(On a side note, have you ever tried to take a picture of the back of your leg? It’s super awkward!)

I go back in ten days to get the stitches out. It’s always something, right?

Staycation-ing

2011-07-13T20:45:00.001-04:00

We have a staycation coming up. I’ve never taken a staycation before.

We only tend to take long stretches off work if we' have travel plans. Or if we’re moving. Or if there’s a holiday.

But we have five days straight coming up with no plans. It’s exciting. And a little intimidating. I feel like with five whole days I should do something good.

We’ve kicked around the idea of going to the Bronx Zoo or The Cloisters Museum because I adore both and we haven’t been in years. We talked about going to the beach for a day.

We’ve yet to explore the big park by us adequately. We’ve yet to paint the hammock posts or finish patching the hole in the bedroom wall.

There’s a million little craft projects I’ve been wanting to try. I need to finish designing our wedding albums. And I’m still itching to do some crazy reorganizing.

Oh, yeah, I want to sleep in and be lazy too.

It’s a lot for five days. Naturally I’m having a ton of trouble deciding.

If you had a five day staycation, what would you be doing with it?

Heather & Anthony’s Wedding

2011-07-09T12:46:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, our friend from college, Heather, married her Prince Charming. They’ve been dating since high school so we were so excited to see them tying the knot.

It was a beautiful day – brimming with love.

Heather’s Grandfather walked her down the aisle.

It was raining a little by the time the mass was over, but that didn’t stop the sparkler exit. Anthony and Heather were beaming when they came out. So cute!

There was a reception at a country club afterwards. They used a love letter theme throughout because love letters played a big role in their relationship while Anthony was deployed. It came out adorable and was a nice, personal touch.

Here’s be with the stunning bride. She looked like she could be straight out of an old Hollywood movie.

And with my handsome husband.

I can’t believe it’s been two years since our wedding already. Time flies!

Congrats, again, Heather and Anthony!

Garden Update

2011-07-05T06:36:00.000-04:00

I really had intended to post the garden progress more than once a month. I had taken some more pictures but never got them posted because of the computer freak out – and it seems like a moot point to show them now anyway.

The garden’s at a point where it’s changing daily. Here’s what it looked like Sunday night:

I spy… a baby zucchini!

I had planted all the climbers along the fence so they’d have something to give them height without me having to buy trellises. The cucumbers have grabbed on and are working their way up.

The beans are starting to make their way up too.

I was a little worried about the eggplants because flea beetles really did a number on them. They’re getting flowers, though!

Can you see the baby tomatillos here? I think I might be most excited for these – I can’t wait for fresh salsa!

We’ve got some almost-red tomatoes and a bunch of green ones. I’m fully expecting this plant to go crazy in the next two weeks. And for the record, the tomato plant next to it is now almost as tall as me. How crazy is that?

Another plant that’s doing really well is the ornamental gourds we planted. I used seeds from a mixed package so it’ll be interesting to see what they end up looking like!

It seems amazing how far it’s come since I first planted it all. I’m super proud of it!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T08:34:00.001-04:00

I can’t really remember celebrating the Fourth of July growing up. I think that mainly has to do with the fact that our big township festival was always the next week and that brought out almost everyone in town for the fireworks. It was always the social event of the summer – everything else paled in comparison.

We’re hosting a small BBQ this year, so I decided to make things a little festive. I’m totally getting obsessed with Pinterest and it gave me a ton of ideas. (More than one of which, may I add, it currently laying half-finished in my office.)

I whipped up this adorable banner yesterday afternoon during the Yankees game. It’s a free printable from Tip Junkie – and super cute.

I also made a new, more festive wreath for the front door. I started with this as a concept and went in a little different direction. I love the way it came out – especially the texture of it!

I also made these:

Pretty damn excited about them too. The recipe and rundown on them are over on my food blog today.

Today’s menu is pretty no-fuss – the highlight being grilled ham. And not like a ham steak, we’re throwing the whole ham on the grill. Here’s to hoping it turns out how we’re imagining!

Wishing you all a very happy, festive and relaxing 4th!

I’m pretty glad June’s over.

2011-07-02T08:06:00.002-04:00

I love June, really. I’m also happy to see it go.

June weekends included:

- Two graduation parties. One of my amazing friends from high school finished dental school (go Cassie!) and my cousin graduated high school (go Charlie!).

- Mark’s first CFA exam.

- Our (incredibly belated) housewarming party.

- Another housewarming party for some of our college friends. And, the house they’re renting has a legit movie theater in the basement. Can you say jealous?

- Both my birthday and Mark’s birthday.

And, of course, work was busy so it was hard to find any downtime to blog. The lack of blogging was also aggravated by the fact that my computer had some issues and when I sent it back to Lenovo (because it’s under warranty) they wanted more than I paid for the computer to fix it. I’m still scratching my head about that one.

But yes, after all that, this month is looking much calmer. I actually even have a few weekends with (gasp!) no plans. It sounds glorious.

May & June Reads

2011-07-01T16:22:00.003-04:00

Kate: The Making of a Princess - I started reading this at the end of April to coincide with the wedding. It was by no means the best book ever but it was interesting to learn about Kate's family history - and what William's family was doing at the same point in time.

Dead Reckoning - The latest installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series; I can't get enough of these books.

Gathering Blue - This is the second book in The Giver trilogy. I didn't realize that it was a series but I'm so glad I figured it out - I really enjoyed it.

Sweet and Deadly - Another from Charlaine Harris, this is a stand-alone book that was recently republished. Like all of Harris's other books, I enjoyed it.

Blue Bloods and Masquerade - These are the first two books in the Blue Bloods series about teenage vampires in NYC. I picked them up because the author donated signed books to our upcoming Light the Night fundraiser and they're a lot of fun.

Bumped - I really liked the Jessica Darling series so I was looking forward to Meghan McCafferty's latest. It was a weird, futuristic look at a society where teenage pregnancy is okay. It was both disturbing and entertaing.

101 Poems to Get You through the Day (and Night) - This was a collection from a variety of different poets. It was interesting reading very different styles on the same topic all together.

Divergent - This has recieved a lot of great reviews - and a lot of comparisons to The Hunger Games, which I loved. I was excellent and I can't wait for the follow up.

SLA Conference in Philly

2011-06-15T06:36:00.001-04:00

Monday was a very busy day in what's shaping up to be a very busy week (month?). We're having our belated housewarming party on Saturday and a lot of this week revolves around getting things cleaned up and ready for that.

Monday, though, I spent the day at the Special Libraries Association Conference in Philadelphia. Philly is close enough for a day trip and work generously offered to cover the cost of registering and get a van to take us there. (And, for the record, it wasn't a van - it was a party bus, complete with a hole in the floor for a stripper pole... but I digress.)

The day was filled with workshops and networking. I went to a few really interesting ones about visualizing science data, public opinion polls and using apps. The networking lunch was also interesting - I ended up sitting and chatting with a librarian from a law office in DC and a veteran journalist of CNN who is now working in a news library. There was also an expo in the conference hall where lots and lots of vendors had set up. I could have wandered around there for hours alone.

After the sessions for the day were done, I ran into some of my coworkers and we decided to grab some dinner. One of the people in the group was familiar with the area so he took us to Chinatown - only a few blocks over - to a restaurant he liked. The food was excellent and it was fun to see how fast the scenery of the city changes from block to block.

After dinner we split up - some to catch the train and the others to find our last event of the evening. Though I'm more used to New York, I really love Philly. It seems so small and walkable in comparison, and I love seeing the history at every turn. Right by the convention center we passed town hall. The cell phone picture doesn't do it justice. It's breath-taking.

Our last event of the day was a work-sponsored reception here:

A beautiful and historic art gallery. They had all sorts of great food and drinks for us - and these little chocolate things filled with chocolate mousse that were to die for. I spent the evening chatting with coworkers and taking in the art in the gallery before hopping the van/party bus back to the office.

It was a nearly 14 hour day and I was exhausted by the time I got home but it was also really interesting to see my job from a new perspective. Next year's conference is in Chicago - I wonder if they'll pay for me to go to that one too?

Garden Peak

2011-06-01T06:54:00.000-04:00

These pictures are actually from about two weeks ago. What a difference two weeks makes! When I look at these, and then look at the garden now, my mind's a little boggled.

Two (ish) weeks ago, the spinach and lettuces were coming up pretty strong.

My tomatoes and tomatillos had just gone in the ground.

Onions and potatoes were planted (along with most other things).

And Kali was enjoying sneaking through the garden. (She's given up the sneaking in favor of laying down on plants.)

And, this one I actually shot this weekend:

A few red strawberries! I picked those three for breakfast today. I can't wait for everything to be ready for picking!

Project for the day: take some updated pictures!

Weekend Project

2011-05-31T21:34:00.003-04:00

Pop quiz: What can you make with two 6" x 6" x 8' boards and 300 lbs of cement?

Give up?

A hammock stand, of course!

When we were in Outer Banks last year, we had a hammock custom made at Nags Head Hammocks. It was beautiful, but we never got around to putting it up. We'd only been in the house a few weeks when we went and in our heads the trees in the backyard were closer together. When we got home and measured, we realized we were foiled and needed a new plan.

We looked into buying a hammock stand but they were pretty expensive - or sort of rickety looking. The easiest thing to do, of course, was recruit my Dad to help us put up posts ourselves - which we finally got around to doing this weekend.

Mark and PJ started by digging holes - 2+ feet deep.

Each hole got a 6x6x8 post.

Then there was a bit of measuring and leveling to make sure the posts were sitting at the same angle.

Once everything was good and adjusted, the quick-set cement went into place.

And then came the hard part - waiting 24 hours for it to dry. This evening, we officially hung the hammock up and I got the privilege of stretching it out.

Kali helped. I thought when I put her up there she'd jump right off but she was perfectly content to curl up and swing. I'm picturing lots of summer afternoons curled up together in the hammock taking a nap.

I'm so excited it's finally up! It looks awesome and is ridiculously relaxing.

And, as you read through this post did you notice I let all the men do the work while I took pictures? My contribution to the project (aside from stretching it out - which was a legitimate part of the process outlined in the directions) will be to paint the posts white to match the deck and porch.

By the way - I wasn't taking pictures and watching the whole time - I did get some more gardening in. More on that tomorrow!

Myrtle Beach, SC

2011-05-27T23:59:00.003-04:00

Vacation did a few things for me:

- Gave me a chance to really relax.
- Completely messed with my normal sleep patterns. (Hence, I'm blogging so much later than usual.)
- Made me miss my kitchen terribly. (I'm actually in the middle of a midnight baking spree to make up for it, haha.)

It really was fantastic, though. So fantastic, in fact, that I couldn't narrow down the pictures and stories into just a few that were most interesting.

In a nutshell I: Stayed in a great condo, floated around in a lazy river, looked for shells on the beach, fed massive fish/turtles, shopped, ate a lot of great food, met the Ripley's Lizard man, got 3 hole-in-ones in a single gave of mini golf, went wine tasting, read on the beach, shopped some more, got a 270 playing ski bowl, got sunburnt, hung out with my high school buddy Deb, checked out the opening day of the Ski Wheel (which was a bust) and spent a great week with my family.

And here it all is, in photo form:

Hiatus

2011-05-25T19:23:00.004-04:00

Two weeks of no posts. That's got to be some sort of record around here. Where have I been?

I totally got freaked out at the end of the world predictions and decided to high-tail my ass out to California to hang out with Harold Camping for the final days.

Kidding!

I did get out of town, though. Mark and I, along with my parents and siblings, spent a glorious week at Myrtle Beach. If it was going to be the end of the world, I can't think of a better way to spend my last days than on the beach with a book.

Now that I'm back to the swing of things, expect some more posts coming soon! I have a lot to share - like fabulous vacation tales and pictures of the garden!

More for the collection!

2011-05-10T20:08:00.003-04:00

When I mentioned my newspaper collection a few posts ago, it was coming on the heels of a big news event. Of course, there was another big news event that weekend that I also wanted for my stash - the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

I loved following the royal wedding news. I love that it's a real-life fairy tale. I love that she could have been me - and in lieu of it being me, I love that there's now a Princess Kate.

My coworkers indulged me and sent me some British papers from the day after the wedding:

I love that you can see the so-called "angry bridesmaid" in that one!

And this one is probably my favorite:

So beautiful.

I'll admit that I got up early and watched the whole thing. I loved every minute of it. They both looked so happy and in love. It makes me happy to see other people so happy. The news reports right now say they're on their honeymoon. I hope they're having as fabulous a time as we did on ours!

Cream Ridge Winery

2011-05-07T22:04:00.003-04:00

On our honeymoon, I fell in love in love with pineapple wine. I went into a liquor store here in NJ and asked for it and they looked at me like I had two heads so I resigned myself to the fact that it must be a Hawaii-only treat.

But it isn't.

My friend, Deb, found out that one of the wineries in NJ makes a pineapple wine. She brought a bottle to our Valentine dinner and I was pretty much over the moon. I've been set on visiting the winery since and today we finally got the chance.

The winery is about an hour from where we are now, but it's less than a half hour from our old apartment. It makes me sad we didn't find it sooner!

It was a gorgeous day so we spent some time sampling and then hung out on the patio outside drinking Sangria slushies (which were fabulous!) and glasses of wine.

And then we sat and debated which we liked best and between the lot of us we bought a whole case. We're stocked up for some time now!

It was a really fun afternoon and everyone there was so friendly. It was a very relaxed and laid back vibe.

Mark and I aren't normally big wine drinkers but we found plenty here that we really liked. I'm sure it's a place we'll make repeat visits too!

April Reads

2011-05-03T07:01:00.001-04:00

True Blood, Vol. 1: All Together Now - I can't wait for the new season of True Blood so I thought this would be a good way to tide me over. It was okay, but a little weird for me and lacked the depth I love about the show.

All About Daisy - I recieved this book as a first read. It was a cute, fun coming-of-age story.

Pretty Little Liars - Another book I picked up because of the TV show. This one didn't disappoint! This series is going to be a guilty pleasure.

There's a Spouse in my House: A Humourous Journey Through the First Years of Marriage - I've had this on my bookshelf forever and wish I had gotten around to reading it sooner! Two years in, I'd already figured out most of the advice but it was still a fun and funny read.

The House with a Clock in its Walls -
A re-read, this was my favorite book growing up. I seriously must have read it at least a dozen times. It was just as good this time.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - This story takes place in Guernsey in the wake of WWII and it told mostly through letters exchanged by the characters. The interesting format and fun characters made this a great read.

Demonglass - This was the sequel to Hex Hall; they were both fantastic. This is such a fun story with a supernatural twist.

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II - Another first read. It's the first non-fiction history book I've read in a while and this one wasn't dry or tedious at all. It was a fantasticly written story about amazing people in amazing circumstances.

Lon Po Po - This is the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood and it was picked by my In2Books buddy. I always love what she picks to read!

Did you read anything good this month?

Newspapers

2011-05-02T20:20:00.003-04:00

I collect newspapers. Not like hoarder-style, but I keep ones from major events. It started sometime in high school. There's something about the medium that gets me.

A lot of the newspapers I have saved I picked up in the days following 9/11.

September 12, 2001:

September 13, 2001:

September 14, 2001:

I have so many more from the days, months, years following that day. Stories about troops deploying, about families looking for missing members, about local military personnel killed. Lots and lots of depressing, heart-wrenching coverage.

Today, I'm adding to my collection.

May 2, 2011:

After so many years, it almost doesn't seem real.

Easter Snapshots

2011-04-24T21:58:00.002-04:00

We spent today at my parents house (minus my Dad, who had to work) enjoyed an Easter feast - our second in two days!

My Uncle Peter, the token vegetarian of the group, somehow got tasked with carving up the ham.

After dinner (and dessert) we taught Grandma to play Apples to Apples.

The cousins - Mark, Me, Joe and Laura.

Grandma and Aunt Barbie (and Joe).

Me, my Mom and Laura.

It was a beautiful day and a great way to celebrate Easter. (And, with all the leftovers we brought home we'll be reliving the celebration all week!)

Happy Easter!

5 Question Friday

2011-04-22T15:45:00.002-04:00

I found this fun link-up during the UBP '11. This is my first week participating but I'm planning to keep this going in the future!

1. What is your favorite Easter tradition?

Ham dinner with the family. Reguardless of which family we're with it's always a great meal and great company.

2. Are you a "shower" or a "long, hot bath" kind of person?

Shower - especially after overflowing the bathtub last week. No baths for me for a while!

3. Can you parallel park and if so when is the last time you did it?

I don't think I've parallel parked since my driver's test but I totally nailed it that day! My Dad was so proud.

4. What is your favorite Easter candy?

Cadbury Cream Eggs! I'm making Cadbury Cream Egg cupcakes for tomorrow's Easter Eve party and I'm super excited about them.

5. Easter: do you go all out with the Easter Bunny or focus on the religious part of the holiday?

Our Easter is focused on church and family. Because there's no kids in our house right now, the Easter Bunny skips us.

Another Hole

2011-04-18T20:38:00.002-04:00

Last night, in an effort to de-stress I grabbed my book, a glass of wine and drew myself a bath. Twenty minutes later, Mark started hollering from downstairs that he thought the bathtub was leaking and I needed to drain it, now. After the roof issue, this was really unwelcome. My Dad came down after work to see if he could pinpoint the leak. He cut a hole in the downstairs bathroom ceiling, below the upstairs bathtub drain. So, now we have a hole in the bathroom and a hole in Mark's office. My Dad has all kinds of fun toys. Like a little camera on a wire thing that he can stick up in the hole and look around. We spent a while running water, filling the tub, etc. The verdict? He couldn't find any leak. He's thinking that the overflow drain isn't sealed properly and I must have massively overflowed the tub last night. How stupid do I feel? The good news is that as long as we don't overflow the tub, there's really no need to fix it immediately. The best way to access it would be to take out the vanity - so we'll address it when we replace the vanity in there. What a headache!

Early Garden Planting

2011-04-13T20:04:00.002-04:00

We got busy in the garden this weekend, as planned. This is what we're starting with: Lovely raised beds, thanks to my brother. I measured them out and added green paint dots (courtesy of a bingo marker!) to mark out one square foot sections. Carrots, lettuce, spinach, onions and potatoes went in the ground. I set up the composter too:

I'm so excited that everything's coming together!

2011 Garden Plan

2011-04-08T07:09:00.001-04:00

So, there it is. The tentative (and rough) plan for the garden. I'm sure it will change before everything is in the ground but that's what we're shooting for. There are a few other things we have (like melons and strawberries) that we're going to put in other areas, too, not in the garden beds.

On one hand, I feel like it might be a little ambitious for a first-ever garden. On the other hand, I'm really excited about it!

Wish us luck - stuff starts going in the ground this weekend!

Composting 101

2011-04-07T16:05:00.001-04:00

Last night, I took a composting class that was offered through the county. Part of the deal was that you got a composter with the class registration - for considerably cheaper than we could buy elsewhere - so I was pretty excited about it. An hour and a half class on composting, though? What could they possibly talk about for an hour and a half?

I really had no idea how much was actually involved in composting. In case you're interested, here's a quick primer:

- Your composter (or compost pile) needs to be a minimum of 3' diameter and 3' high to work properly. Larger than 10' diameter and 5' and you'll kill things, not compost them.

- It needs to be 1/2 to 3/4 full to start composting - otherwise your material will rot instead.

- They work best when placed in the sun.

- To work best, the internal temp of the composter needs to be between 70F degrees and 140F degrees. To cool it off, just turn the pile. You'll want to turn the pile at least once a month during the winter and twice a week during the summer.

- You have to have at least 50% moisture for things to compost. If you reach in a grab a handful of material, you should be able to squeeze a few drops of liquid out. If you can't, it's not wet enough.

- Your compost material should be 25% greens (grass clippings, vegetable peels, fruit) and 75% brown (dried out plants, leaves, coffee grounds). You can go up to 50% greens. This all must be mixed together to compost properly.

- Don't pack in the material!

- Things you can compost: Vegetable food scraps, grass clippings, leaves, flower, sawdust, straw, fruit (freeze before adding to the pile and it will compost faster), egg shells (smash them up first) and coffee grounds (and filters).

- Things you shouldn't compost: Meat scraps, peanut butter, mayonnaise, fish, grass clippings treated with herbicides, weeds with seeds, pet waste, food with grease or soap residue.

- After you have your compost, you'll want to keep it covered, dry and away from trees. Water will wash the nutrients out of the compost and tree roots can quickly take over a compost pile.

Composting has a lot of benefits for a garden, including that it has increased water holding capabilities, improves the soil workability, ties up iron and aluminum in soil and helps reduce soil splattering (which is important because some plant diseases start in the soil).

It's not likely that my compost will be ready for this growing season, but I'm excited to have it for next year's garden. Is anyone else composting?

Biopsy Results are Negative!

2011-04-04T19:36:00.004-04:00

I got a call from the surgeon's office this morning letting me know that my biopsy results were negative. As in, it was a fibroadenoma - just a lump.

They've been saying pretty much all along that's what they thought it was. It's one thing to be told a best guess, though, and quite another to hear the official lab results.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers - it was an incredibly nerve wracking experience and the support really did mean a lot.

So, now I'm lump-less and a bit bruised but otherwise just fine. It's nice to have it all behind me.

Baby Lunchdate

2011-04-03T09:32:00.003-04:00

I've mentioned it here before, but I met a great group of girls online when I was wedding planning. Almost two years later, we still talk daily and get together when we can. Yesterday, one of the girls, Maria, was passing through the area on her way to a family function so we set up an impromptu lunch date with another girl , Rachel, who lives close by but we've never had an opportunity to meet up. And, they brought their beautiful baby girls with them.

From left to right - Rachel with Julia, Maria with Ella and myself.

The girls were adorable and it was nice to sit and chat with the girls for a bit and catch up face to face.

It also thoroughly freaked out the cats. They both sat at the fringe of things, wide-eyed like, "what are these tiny things in my house and why are they screaming?!" It was pretty hilarious and in hindsight, I wish I had taken pictures of them, too.

Ultimate Blog Party 2011

2011-04-01T08:30:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited it's time for the Ultimate Blog Party, hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom, again! I've participated in the party the last two years and have found some great blogs and great blogging friends each time so I'm exited to see what this year's party has in store.

If you've found this post through the party, welcome! I'm Kate, a 20-something relative newlywed. I married my best friend in 2009 and we bought our first home last summer. Our two adopted kitties, Rocky and Kali, round out our little family for now.

So, what do I generally blog about? Anything that's going on in our lives at the time. Lately, it's been a lot of home improvement, spring cleaning and starting our garden for the year. Two of my other passions - community service and reading - also make frequent appearances. We love to travel when we can and I share those stories as well. (Our last trip took us to Grand Cayman, Isla Roatan, Costa Maya and Cozumel).

I also love to cook, so I thought I'd share some party snacks.

Spinach dip, Chocolate Jack Daniel's Cupcakes, Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies and Spicy Snack Pretzels... seriously yum. All of my cooking was starting to take over this blog a bit too much, so a few months ago I moved them over to Kate's Recipe Box. If cooking's your thing, you should definitely pop over and check it out!

Okay, enough about me - I can't wait to meet all of you! If you're stopping by, please say hi and link up your blog so I can visit you too. Happy blog party!

March Reads

2011-04-01T07:12:00.002-04:00

March's reading list included:

666 Park Avenue - This was a good, not great, little soap opera about socialite witches in Manhattan. Some of the relationships seemed forced but overall it was a fun read. I'll be looking for the next book in the series when it comes out. I got it as a first read.

Anna and the French Kiss - I loved this book in a sort of giddy schoolgirl way. In the book, Anna gets shipped off to spend her senior year of high school at a bording school in Paris. There is nothing remarkable about Anna - she's just your average, mildly-akward teenager - but that's what makes her so lovable and relatable.

Change of Heart - This book agrivated me to no end. I found all of the characters irritating and unlikable and the plot twist that was supposed to make you second guess your beliefs didn't phase me at all. The only redeeming quality was that the outcome I wanted from the beginning did indeed play out at the end.

The Walk - All of Richard Paul Evans's tug at your heart and I usually love getting lost in the emotional upheaval of it all, but this one fell short. It opened in the familar, heartbreaking frame I was expecting but once the character started "the walk" I quickly got bored. The ending seemed so abrupt I couldn't help but wonder if Evans had gotten tired of the story too.

Jane Eyre* - I didn't actually finish this, but I spent so much time on it that I felt compelled to add it to the list. With the movie out, I thought I'd finally get around to reading the book. I "read" it exclusively for 2 1/2 weeks and only made it about 100 pages in. It just didn't hold my interest at all. Someday, I'll give it another go.

Shakespeare's Counselor - This was the final installment in the Lily Bard series and while I'm sad that it's over I thought it was wrapped up nicely. This one focused equally on the mystery and how far Lily had come personally since the first book. It really showed Lily as someone with a future and no longer living day-to-day, which I appreciated.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz - This book is a 2011 Printz Honor Book and I think the recognition is completely deserved - the book is fantastic. It's the dark yet funny journey of how Vera deals after her best friend dies. It's touching, believable and very well written. I definately recommend it.

Who Was Marco Polo? - My In2Books penpal picked this book for our latest read. It was cute and informative. I was really surprised about how much I didn't know about Marco Polo as I read it.

This puts my finished book total for the year at 19, which is a good pace to make 50 for the year.

I've also decided to tackle the Nest Book Club's Spring Book Challenge. I'm still not sure if I'll be shooting to finish or not, but there are some really fun-looking tasks that I can't wait to work on. The full list is below.

Spring Book Challenge 2011 Tasks

5 pts
-Read a book with a one word title
-Read a book that you already own, but haven't read
-IHO Cherish an Antique Day (April 9), read a classic
-Read a book by an author that has an X, Z, or Q in their name
-Lewis and Clark set off on 5/14/1804: Read a book set somewhere you'd like to go
-Read a book with a person's entire head not visible (only shows other parts of the body)
-Flowers are (finally!) growing: Read a book with a green cover or with "flower" or a specific flower name in the title
-Read a book you loved as a child/teenager
-IHO Earth Day read an ebook, library book, or listen to an audiobook
-Read something outside

10 pts
-Read a book about/at a wedding
-School's out for summer: read a book set in or about high school
-Read a play by Shakespeare
-Read a book set in or about a country you haven't been to
-Read a good book: has an average of 4 stars or higher on Goodreads. The book must have at least 50 ratings (not reviews).
-Read a book with a weather word for the start of hurricane season. Ex: snow, rain, thunder, hurricane, wind, etc.
-Poll Nesties for your book (out of 5 you suggest)
-Read a book to continue a series you have already started
-IHO Pet Owner Day (April 25): book about a pet or animal
-Read a book about an author (biography, memoir, historical fiction)

15 pts
-IHO of royal wedding, book about royalty or royal character
-Holocaust Remembrance Day (May 2): book about/set in the Holocaust
-Read a book of poetry
-Read a book in a genre you don't normally read
-Read a book by an author with your name (first, middle, maiden, or last)
-Read the April, May, or June NBC pick and participate in the discussion
-IHO National Smile Month (June), read a humorous book
-Read a popular book: a book that has at least 15,000 ratings (not reviews) on goodreads
-IHO Mother's and Father's Days, get a suggestion from your mom, dad, or other family member from an older generation
-Read a non-fiction book that isn't a biography or memoir

25 pts
-Experience a story in 2 mediums (Book & TV show, movie, audiobook, play, etc.)
-Read a book about sustainable agriculture, urban farming, farmer's markets, community gardening, or American food policy. Post a 100+ word response to what you read AND a picture of at least 1 edible plant that you are growing in your home/garden.
-Pick a nestie and read one of her 5-star books and one of her 1-star books (or 2-star if she doesn’t have a 1-star). Report back on which nestie you picked, what you thought of the books and how your ratings compared to the nestie you picked.
-Before & After - Read two books- the last word(s) of one title will be the first word(s) of the second.
-Read a non-fiction book about Africa or the Middle East (history, politics, geography, etc). The book can be about a particular country or the region in general. Post your thoughts on the book and whether or not the book impacted your impressions/opinions regarding this part of the world.

The challenge starts today and goes until June 30 - looks like I'll have a lot of reading to do in the next three months!

Welcome to Kate's Indoor Garden!

2011-03-31T20:17:00.003-04:00

Soon after we got home from the surgery center today, flowers started showing up. These, from my husband: These, from my parents and siblings: And these, from my Nestie Besties (The picture doesn't do these justice at all but I was too lazy to take them down into the light of the kitchen. Take my work for it, they're beautiful too.): My house now looks like some kind of indoor garden with flowers all over. It's awesome. And it's awesome feeling so loved today. Surgery went very well this morning. We got there at 7:45am and were back home before 10:30am. Besides being a little tired, I'm feeling great. I'm only taking Motrin for pain (which, I could probably do without but I'm enjoying the cushion for now). The dressing is waterproof and I have no activity restriction after today. The whole thing was calm and anticlimactic - which I'm grateful for. I spent most of the day napping, reading, watching TV and playing online. By dinner time I was feeling a little stir crazy already so I went with Mark to Wegmans to get some dinner. I'm sure tomorrow will be more of the same. In all honesty, it feels pretty good to be expected to do nothing. Aside from being cut open this morning, it's been pretty relaxing and I'm enjoying the little break from life!

Major Decision

2011-03-30T21:32:00.004-04:00

The husband of one of the families I used to babysit for owns a roofing business so he was my first call after we discovered the roof was leaking. We got our official quote today so the only thing left to do, really, is picking a color for the new roof. This is what the house looks like now (or, what it looked like the day we moved in): And this is the color we're pretty sure we've settled on:

It looks a little darker and more red than what we have now, but I think it'll look good. It's a little scary to think that whatever we pick could be up there for 30 years - that's a lot of pressure!