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7.31.2007

i'm back!

Busy at work right now... so much to catch up on between work email, home email, random chores (balancing checkbooks for example), and other errands... my first two days back have been flying by. I'm not complaining about that though!!

A few pictures from the Cape:




We did so much while there, but it was still so relaxing. A trip to the ocean beach, two days at the lake beach, swam off the dock a few other times. Visited two wineries and bought way too much wine (12 bottles?)... and a visit to Provincetown (where I took that last picture). Walked around main street Hyannis, visited Baxter's for the best clam chowder (twice), went out to dinner with Trav's parents & grandfather (twice), and hit up a flea market and the penny candy store. I also finished rereading Harry Potter books 4-6, and read the last book (7... which we ended up getting on Saturday, but not for lack of trying on Friday)... then reread book 6 again, and am now working through book 7 again (I love it). Plus we slept in and relaxed and ate a great lobster dinner. It was a wonderful trip.

We have lots more fun things coming up... dinners with friends, BBQs, housewarmings, etc. Plus my birthday in two weeks and a day. Yippee! :-) Today I went out and tried on good running shoes and picked out a pair that Trav is going to get me as my birthday present. Once I have those I can start actually "training" for the 3-day next year. I have plenty of time so it won't be hard to work my way up.

I had planned to write more about the last Harry Potter book... but I just don't have the time at the moment. But I loved the book... I felt it not only wrapped up all the old questions nicely, but raised enough new ones to keep you guessing, and was fast paced and exciting. It had a different feel then all the other books, not being set in Hogworts, but it still fit in with the other books, and J.K.R. managed to tie it all together with little items that made you "flash back". It was a great read and I'm satisfied with how she ended the story. I wasn't completely right about Harry Potter (although for a few minutes there! lol), but I was happy to hear that I was right about Snape being Friend, not Foe. The memory sequence in the Pensieve was so well done, and made me ache for Snape and they things he was forced to carry on his shoulders the last years of his life. Overall, I couldn't have asked for better. Anyone else care to share their thoughts?

Well, it's back to work time for me. Ciao, and it's good to be home!!

7.20.2007

august... ish

This morning I tore the July page off of my large desk calendar that I have hanging on my wall at work. I did this because 1. when I next return to work it will be the week that it becomes August (holy crap!)... and 2. because I've been here since 8, listening to videos on youtube (yippee for old school david bowie), and I needed to do something else.

Now it's 9 though, so I'm actually going to do some work. Then I'm going to go to Cape Cod. Hell yes.

Oh, and did I mention... when we arrive in the Cape, sometime between midnight and next friday, we'll be stopping at a bookstore to get the new Harry Potter? Oh yes we are.

7.19.2007

opps, again

It's been a week again, and I'm sorry. Why am I so bad at this lately? The summers maybe... or the fact that we've been pretty damn busy. I don't know. In any case, here I am! Work has been keeping me busy, especially this week since we are leaving for vacation on Friday and I need to have my stuff taken care of. Friday night we are meeting at Willy's and heading up to the Cape. It should be a great time, we have so much fun every year. Not to mention the fact that we'll be picking up Book Seven while we are up there! Yay for Harry Potter!

Also, before I forget... some (slightly) belated Happy Birthdays from the 11th, 15th, 16th, and 17th respectively.

Happy Birthday Megan, Andy, John, and Mom!!

We're looking forward to celebrating with the first three at the Cape... and my mom and I will celebrate hers when we head to Cali in September (for my uncle's wedding, my treat, our gift to her).

This past weekend was great as well... our friends Kerry & Jeremy got married in the Delaware Water Gap area (Poconos). It was a beautiful day and a great time.

Phil and Slink, pre-ceremony.

The happy couple walking back up the aisle (sorry so dark, we were facing into the sun).

Barb and I goofing off post-ceremony on the hole that the ceremony site overlooked.

Apoc and I at the reception.

The happy couple's first dance.

Ollie and his steak.

My boy and I... one of us is mucho drunk!!
(Can you guess who?!)

We had a great time at the ceremony and reception... and had a bit of an after-party at the hotel in Phil's room. It was so great to see everyone. The boys (we drove Slink and Apoc up) were nice and roudy on the way back home, but once there we pretty much collapsed on the couches and didn't move for the rest of the day!

Besides that, life is marching on like normal. We work a lot, and relax at home together. We count down until the autumn and our trip to Ireland. We see friends and try to stay caught up with everyone. Blogs/facebook/myspace help... as much as I hate to admit that.

I read blogs everyday (if you didn't notice, you soon will, that was a segway). It's how I start my day, my version of the morning coffee break. I enjoy them all, although there are some I don't actually like. Greek Tragedy is on of those... sometimes she is so right on and her blog just hits that special little area *right here* and makes you happy to have read it. Other times I can't even get through the entry, its just so off. Today's entry just made me want to cry for her... made me sorry that I had ever thought that her blog was anything but real. What do you say... "I'm sorry" doesn't seem to cut it really. Anything with babies just gets to me. Something about the innocence. In any case, I'm sending good thoughts out to her, and I hope you all do too.

Well, I'm not betting on me being back tomorrow... and considering we leave tomorrow night, this is probably the last you will hear from me until most likely August!! Can you believe it?! We'll be back late the 29th, and I'll be back at work on the 30th... but I imagine the first few days back will be quite hectic. So hope you all have a fabulous end of July, and try not to forget me!!


1 day until the Cape
9 days until back home
26 days until my birthday
63 days (2 months and a day) until mom and I leave for Cali
70 days until Trav and I leave for Ireland!

7.11.2007

hair

Better pictures of my new hair (taken at work because... I don't know.):



And how I'm wearing it today... partly up, with my funky (awesome) new earrings from Etsy.com, you should really click on the picture to see them closer:
Also a good shot of the color. Yum.

Going to see Harry Potter tonight with Trav and Pat... I'm soooo excited!

7.10.2007

i love my husband

Last night I had the weirdest dream... involving a big group of us at a fancy restaurant that suddenly half filled with ocean water, and I was swimming while everyone else was eating. And Henry (the hermit crab) was there crawling around when this creature from the water grabbed him to eat him. I had to save Henry so I swam over and right as I was about to poke the creature and grab Henry...


I punched Travis in the face.


No, like in real life... Travis had come into the bedroom to kiss me goodbye and surprise the crap out of me so that I simultaneously lashed out and threw myself to the otherside of the bed. I didn't really know what had happened until I half woke to Travis saying "What the hell, that really hurt?!" and me on his side of the bed.


Good morning to you too.

7.09.2007

happy girl

So much to discuss! I'm such a happy girl right now, just feeling very satisfied with life in general. The weekend was very full and very fun, a great start to July. Where to begin.

Well, let me actually start with some older pictures... from our trip to New Hampshire.

From the wedding, my brother and I... with Ethan taking a glorious picture as always (on purpose, little butthead):
The newlyweds (Josh, my cous, and Natasha):
From my aunt and uncle's AMAZING house... the sunroom:
The loft (and bedrooms):

The rest of the New Hampshire trip pictures can be found by following that link (I'm not sure that I'm loving shutterfly yet... I've very sad that yahoo isn't going to be doing the picture hosting anymore.)

Speaking of shutterfly: does anyone know if there is a way to allow viewing of my pictures without bookmarking each individual album?

Moving on, last week was great... how can you not love a week that is broken up by a random day off. We celebrated the 4th with Ro & Pat, Titus, and some BBQin. It was a great night.

This past weekend was very full. I finished my work project (yippee! and in time for the bonus, double yippee!!). Saturday started off with a hair appointment... where I cut off about 6 inches. I love the new short hair, it looks and feels great.

Here's a picture I took with Stella this weekend... which isn't the best shot, but you get the idea:

After my hair appointment, I headed to see the Quads and fam for Sam's birthday party. It was a lot of fun, and I was so happy to see everyone... though it was very bittersweet. It was the last time that I'll be going to see Laura and the kids at that house, and most likely the last time that I see the kids before they head to Boston. I'm hoping that I'll be seeing Laura one more time before the move, but even that is up in the air. I got a little teary driving away that evening, but I know it will be okay.

Here's a picture I took of the birthday boy with mom:

That evening Travis and I ran out to Bed, Bath, and Beyond... where they had some nice outdoor furniture on sale. We picked up a bench and two chairs to go with the firepit that we got as a wedding gift. We'll be picking up another bench this week because after we arranged the stuff on Sunday, we figured out that we have plenty of room. We'll also be grabbing three small outdoor tables and some citronella candles.

Here's what the back looks like right now (and there is my husband wearing the firepit cover as a showercap):
And a closeup of the firepit and bench:
Yippee! We gave it all (except the firepit) a good tryout on Sunday evening by BBQin some dinner and eating outside. Good times! We are planning to use the firepit next Friday when Apoc comes over to roast some marshmellows.

Also on Sunday I got to see Stella for the first time in ages. She's been roadtripping in the NY, PA, NJ area for the past week or so (up from North Carolina), and came by our place to visit. She and I headed out to lunch at the Pearl (love that place) and had a great visit. It was nice to catch up with her.

All in all a great weekend. We also made plans to go out for dinner and Harry Potter with Pat on Wednesday... he already had tickets for that day, so we decided to wait the extra 21 hours. :-)

Today the boss is still away, but I'm trying to be very producting. I did take a short break this morning to head to the Gap and buy a new dress and two new shirts that are comfy enough to wear anytime, but nice enough to wear at work. I should appreciate them a lot in the next few super sweltering days here (96* and counting, with heat indexes of over a 100*).

Well, on that note I should get back to work. Hopefully ya'll are feeling as happy as I am right now. Ciao!

7.02.2007

half way there

Can you believe that it is July already!! Which means that the year is half over. Six months have come and gone in 2007, and we have six months to go before we move on, yet again. I went back and looked up my new years resolution, because I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.
This year I'm really hoping to declutter. I want to "streamline my life" so to speak... get rid of all the extra junk laying around, get rid of some of this extra baggage (lol), and just really enjoy the things in life that make me and DH happy, and not the stuff we have just because we've always had it.

Hopefully the working on the house will help with that.

I'm not sure how I've done with that so far... I did do some decluttering, but for the most part have been pretty lazy with it. I did get a major urge this past weekend though, so maybe once this extra work project is done, I'll take some time to sort some junk. Guest bedroom first... it's overwhelmed. Although we have been doing pretty well in the enjoying life department!

I'm in a really good mood today. I'm sure the weather has a big part to play in that... it is beautiful out! Sunny, in the 60s with a slight breeze. Gorgeous, and more like spring/fall then summer. Plus a nice relaxing weekend with my boy which was very productive for us both (I knocked off half of the remainder of my project, he got my car inspected and my oil changed!). And I came up with a new idea for what to spend my project money on... patio furniture! We've been looking to get some (to go with our awesome firepit which was a wedding present), and this would be a great chance to. Any suggestions for nice, but not too expensive patio chairs?

Yesterday we watched the third Harry Potter movie... we've been going in order. It made me even more excited that the next movie (#5) is due in only a week and two days! Travis and I have decided that we're heading out at midnight on the 10th to see it. So excited here. Not to mention that it's just over two weeks until the last Harry Potter book is released.. I've started rereading the first six, just to refresh my memory. Oh, I cannot wait!!

July stands to be a pretty fun/exciting month for us. I'm hoping that I'll be done with my project by this weekend, making it just under a week early. Thanks to having Wednesday off for Independance Day, I should. This weekend I have a hair appointment on Saturday, followed by a trip to the Quad's place for little brother Sam's birthday party. I can't believe it, but he's two years old already. Time does fly. Sunday Stella will be coming by and we'll do lunch together, which should be a good time. Next Tuesday at midnight is HP movie, followed by Trav's Sister-in-law's birthday. The following weekend (14th) we have a friend's wedding in the Poconos, then three birthdays to celebrate (his dad and brother, and my mom). That Friday (20th) we leave for the Cape until the 29th. And then July is over already!!
I'm looking forward to it all.

In the meantime, I'm going to get to work because I have a ton to do before my boss returns next week! Ciao!!