I’ve come to a conclusion

I’m just not going to post much this summer.  Please know the intent and the desire are there. 

Time is what I’m lacking.

I cleared out my DSLR camera yesterday.  I had 125 pictures.   Some are pictures like this:

which are taken by landscaping obsessed Dave in our backyard.

Some are from the absolutely DELICIOUS five star dinner my good friend Kelly hosted for us.

 

Butternut squash soup Lobster salad with avocado. Filet, mashed potatoes and asparagus. Chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert.  Incredible.

Some are of Father’s Day weekend.  When Ellie and Matt came out for a barbecue.

 

Dave found a frog in the backyard and showed it off to Miss Ellie.   She wasn’t quite sure about it – but she and Maddie are sure about Dave.  He has them both eating out of the palm of his hand. Not frogs of course - but you know...  The next morning my mom made breakfast before we headed back to New Jersey.   Egg, bacon and cheese biscuits anyone?    That night for dinner I made shish kebobs.   Dave got a few gifts.

I also found some pictures of this girl on my camera.

This is Dave’s dog Genevieve, who came out to Shelter Island last weekend but never came home. :(  He wrote a post about it here.  (Which is Dave’s blog btw).   It was a no good very bad day full of vet visits and she is sorely missed.  She helped me keep the floor clean and from eating all the leftover bacon.  She was my only source of company when I worked from home alone.  She filled I void I’ve felt ever since this lady of all ladies said goodbye.

I also found a picture of this girl.   I’m not sure what she’s even doing.

What I’ve been up to

I’ve mentioned it before – but I’ve got a lot going on. 

My wedding is officially 51 days away.

I’m moving from an itty bitty apartment to a big house in the suburbs.   I’m going from living alone to living (most of the time) with four other people.   All of whom I adore so that’s not the issue.

The issue is that – contrary to the state of my apartment – I really like things clean.  I like my living space to look…lived in…but I don’t like things like plates and cups in the dining room, using a new plate or cup for every morsel you eat or drop you drink, wrappers from food tossed on counters and floors, things from the fridge (esp milk) left out to get warm,  things cooked in the microwave without plates and or a cover, kitchen cabinets left open….

Let’s talk about that last one.  Is it just me or does a kitchen IMMEDIATELY look untidy if the kitchen cabinets are left wide open????   I’m thinking of asking Dave to take the doors off because it is a rare occurrence that I walk through that room without having to close…SOMETHING.

Come to think of it, my major complaints all really center around the kitchen.  Don’t get me started on the NEW family of birds in the stove vent or the beige countertops that mock me with every crumb or spill.

Everyone is really trying which I absolutely appreciate and I am completely aware I might have a touch of OCD.

Last weekend Maddy invited me, Cortney and Carrie to her dad’s house in East Hampton.   The house is awesome and our hosts were even better.  It was such a lovely relaxing weekend.

We went to the beach in Montauk.

  And had dinner at Gosman’s Dock.     

Last night I met Maddy and Kristen for a Bastille Day celebration.  I had a burger.  And French Fries.   I don’t think that qualifies as French food but oh well.

Sidenote:  There is an episode of The Office where Pam goes out on a date and the guy makes a joke about Freedom Fries.   I went on a (emphasis on the singular)  date with a guy who told me he called them Freedom Fries.

I don’t think Dave has anything against the French thank goodness.  He specifically LIKES frogs as a matter of fact.   :)

That reminds me I have a picture I need to post here that includes frogs.

Tomorrow at the crack of dawn Dave and I are heading out to Shelter Island.   We are staying at my cousin Nancy’s house at her gracious invitation.   It’ll be bittersweet.  Last year my dad was with us and he was truly in the best spirits of the whole time he was sick.  He was driving, cooking and he felt good.

I miss him lots.  Especially now as my wedding is 51 days away.

Still I am very much looking forward to relaxing this weekend by the beach and for some fantastic people watching.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer!   Be back with more pics and tales from this weekend.

Maddie and Ellie are going to be there.  Last year they spent the whole time singing Lady Gaga.  Who knows what they have in store for us this time.

Greetings from (fake) Italy!

 

Hi there everyone!   I know I am super lame with the updates.   Jen has threatened to guest post soon so hopefully you’ll actually see something here more days than you don’t.

I have been in Orlando for work since Monday.   I started my stay at the Grand Floridian.  Yesterday afternoon I moved to the Portofino over by Universal.   I can’t get away from the Casey Anthony trial.  

Disney is great.  I love a lot about it but the culture is sort of…cultish for lack of a better term.   And as hard as I try not to look for hidden Mickey’s I find I cannot help myself.

I’m here with my mom and Jen.  Mom has a business presentation with her trusty sidekick Lauren and my cousin Erin drove up from Boca.   We’re basically loving it by the pool every day.   It’s like 100 degrees in the shade.  We plan to go to Harry Potter World tomorrow (very early – like at 7 am) and then the spa in the afternoon.

Not bad.  Not bad at all.

I went to the gym 2x since I’ve been here.  That’s a pretty big deal. 

We had a terrific dinner at Mama Della’s last night.  The service was great, the food delicious.  The downside was the portions were gigantic and we had no place to take the leftovers.

Erin also thought she saw Kimora Lee Simmons – but that’s another story.

I’ve been lax on the pictures, sadly.   Just wanted to check in and say overall things are good.  This trip came at a perfect time.  I needed a little break from reality and it’s always good to be with my mom and Jen. 

Poor Dave is home alone.  He’s not even with the kids this week.  Just a man and his dog and a backyard full of wildlife.

Hope all is well with all of you.  Next week I’m going to try and get my act together and use this space more frequently.

Thanks for hanging in!

Guess where I am?

  

More fun to come.

Lost & Found

Just a quick update.  I don’t have much to report these days – but I have a bunch of events this weekend so hopefully they’ll be more to do/see.

My current schedule:

Fri – NY -  Haircut -  Jen’s birthday celebration begins at Otto. 

Sat – LI.  BBQ in the afternoon in honor of Jen’s birthday.  Dinner and Kelly & Chris’

Sun – Hang out on LI – go back home to NJ

Mon – go into NYC in the AM – head to Orlando for work/play for the week.

Wow I’m tired looking at it!

Sweet Mora found my nook this morning.  I’m going to load it up with some juicy summer reading for my trip.

And that, my friends is that.

Except for my catching up with 30 words:

Wednesday

First a drive to Long Island then a drive to the Bronx

A winning game with twelve runs scored

I’m annoyed.  Nathan’s fries shouldn’t taste that good.

But they do.

Thursday

I totally forgot to start watching So You Think You Can Dance until all the auditions were over.

I’m really mad.  Now I have no idea who to root for.

Ellicott City, Maryland

Dave and I went to visit friends in Ellicott City over the weekend.  They used to live right in the center of town but now live in a lovely woodsy retreat miles away.  It was a nice, restful, fun weekend.

I ate (mostly) vegetarian this weekend and walked 4 miles 2 days in a row. 

Still the scale is not my friend and did not budge when I went to M’s today.

BIG HUGE SIGH.

Anyway – the weather was lovely and I love the shops there.

   This is where I heard Dave enter the store saying “I think she’s in here – it’s very girly” or something to that effect. I may have done some damage – wallet-wise. To be fair – I bought more presents for other people than presents for myself.     I did not buy any Barbies but I’m thinking I should have. This goose is not blue.  Just saying. I love the name of this store.

Tonight it’s trivia night.  Dave and I are hosting all the ‘gamers’ (for lack of a better word) for a BBQ on Monday.  It’s our real event together and I’m betting he will be happy I made him go to Costco last night instead of this weekend.

I am also admitting to the internet that I had the membership card in my wallet and forgot that fact at check-out.

Anyway – I’m sure that there will be something off in the universe on Monday with so many geeks (I say this without malice – I am geeky myself) in one location but it should be a good time.

Stay tuned for a recap of that. :)

Fun, Food, Flowers, Philadelphia

I haven’t gotten to the gym as much as I wanted to last week – but I’ve done a ton of walking and I’ve been eating better.  There have been some slip ups – but I’m eating half more than whole these days.  I’ve skipped fries in favor of vegetable soup.   These things are steps in the right direction.

Also – it’s been fun.  I mean – look how cute these sandwich thins are!!!

  This is roasted chicken breast, spinach, red bell pepper, onions and fresh mozzarella.  Tomato soup with spinach and goat cheese.  This is what you can do with a can of Campbell’s!Roasted chicken, brown rice, tomato paste, yellow bell peppers, peas, spinach, fresh mozzarella.

Dave and I went to Philadelphia for the weekend.   We spent some time with his parents and some time just running around the city.

I had a lovely time.

On Saturday I had the best pretzel ever at Miller’s Twist at the…. Dave wants to come back for Scrapplefest.  I, unfortunately, have plans that weekend.  Drats!We bought some yummy treats at Di Bruno Bros. Market.  3 types of cheese, homemade pepperoni and soppressata. After a looooooong walk we ended up at Bridget Foy’s. Dave liked these chairs. We started with hummus. Dave and I split this delicious burger – we even left some of the fries.

And also this Mac & Cheese.  We still have some left over.   And it was just as good as it looks.  More even.  It had a potato chip crust!

We walked some more.

 

Then we headed over to the Flower Show.  We were met with a free wine tasting as we walked in but sadly there was nothing special about any of the wines we tasted.  :(   Disappointing.  At one point I told Dave I’d rather stop tasting and wait and get a good glass of wine later.  That’s how mediocre it was. 

The flowers however were pretty amazing.  It had a French theme.  This just doubly confirms how much I need to go to France.  I’ll let most of the pics speak for themselves.         These purses (and pictures) are made with pressed flowers.  So cool. A Bonsai Tree – which was not made by a 180 year old man trained for 5 years – but is a 180 year old tree trained for 5 years. :)     There was also Antique shopping, drinks at the Ritz, a delicious Italian dinner, and a Penn State basketball victory.   And about 6 ish miles of walking throughout the day.

Pretty much perfect.

Stay tuned for some blog housekeeping, such as me flipping a coin to award Cheerios, and the great possibility of a video post starring me and Mora.

Hope you all had a good weekend.  Be back shortly.

I promise. :)