Good News!

I'm happy to tell you that yesterday at 4:30 B got a call and was offered the job!! The one last hurdle is that they have to get budget approval for the job next Thursday - apparently that's a normal step these days in corporate America.

If it passes they want him there ASAP, so that will be interesting!

We're currently in the car headed to Albany for labor day weekend. I'll mobile post some pictures if I think of it. Have a great holiday weekend!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Don't Bother Calling

We don't know yet! The company never called B today about the job, so we're still living in Limbo Land. It's awesome. Why do companies do this ALL the time? I know SO many people this has happened to, so I really shouldn't be surprised. We're hoping by some miracle he'll find out tomorrow so we can relax over the long weekend, but the guy said he was going out of town Thursday, so it doesn't look likely.

On a happier and distracting note, look what we had for dinner last night. mussels, toasted salt bread, edemame, and wine. Mmmmmm..... (Anyone know why clams are $20 a pound and mussels are about $4 a pound? Are they more common? Easier to harvest? Either way, they're good!)

Itty Bitty Green Steps

As far as greening goes, I’m a little late to the game when it comes to my friends, but admittedly, I have some pretty green friends. But since I must be ahead of some people, I thought I’d share with you our very small and manageable changes made so far.

My approach to greening up our house is the same as my approach to our diet. Years ago when the mid-twenties metabolism slow-down hit, I realized that I couldn’t continue to eat anything and everything I wanted if I wanted to look good and live past 40. So I started extremely slowly and just changed one thing at a time and picked a new thing every few months. Five years later, I’m still making extremely slow changes to slowly become more aware of what I eat and make changes that I can handle and even enjoy.

You can’t force life changes. If something is going to stick, you not only have to want to do it but it has to be slow enough to become a part of your thinking and your routine. So I haven’t read any books on greening yet because I know I would be overwhelmed with information and possibilities. I’m starting with the basic steps to give us a foundation before we move forward into more complicated matters.

I do feel lucky though because both B & I grew up with parents who loved nature and taught us to preserve the Earth far before it became vogue to do so. That was a wonderful gift that they gave us and it makes the whole process much more intuitive.

Baby Steps:

Reusable Grocery Bags – As I’ve mentioned before we got our bags from 1 Bag at a Time. I think my brother said it best when he said that he loved the bags so much, he would use them even if it weren’t green. The bags are huge, extremely sturdy, so much easier to carry (and therefore don’t hurt my back), and eliminate that horrible part of your closet with the hundreds of plastic bags. I really can’t say enough wonderful things about this switch. The key is to keep them in your car, otherwise the whole system fails. We bought 10 of them and even with the fullest cart we’ve ever had (top and bottom), I think we’ve used 8 at the most because of how much they hold. I’ve bought them for people for presents and will continue to do so because they’re just so great. If you’re going to do one thing, do this.

No Paper Towels – I told you before what happened when we went to Nasvhville and saw that neither Feather Nester nor Ouiser used paper towels. At the time it was so revolutionary, and when we finally did it (accidentally), we didn’t even notice!! It was perfect timing because we simultaneously ran out and then B’s mom gave me an amazing gift basket for my bridal shower filled with tons of hand towels. The key is the hand towels!

Since we had run out and suddenly had all of these wonderful kitchen towels, I figured we could just give it a go and see what it was like without them. This is my system – I use one hand towel a day for all things paper towel related and after dinner I use the towel to clean the counters and the stove, then I toss it in the laundry. Believe it or not, I’ve actually had a much cleaner kitchen since implementing this system because I know that that’s the final towel step.

The only flaw we found with no paper towels was when we were washing chicken or fish and needed to pat it dry (if you did that with the towel you couldn’t keep using it since it had touched raw meat), and when we cooked bacon and wanted to drain some of the grease off. To solve this I just took a t-shirt and cut it into four squares that I keep in a drawer – these are for the raw meat or grease.

At first B didn’t want to go without paper towels, but then he was the one who pointed out to me (with his engineering mind) that the waste involved was far greater that just the paper towels once you thought about the entire lengthy and wasteful manufacturing process, the gas, the packaging, the pollution, etc, etc.

Stop Washing Off the Dishes! – It occurred to me one day as I was loading the dishwasher that I was rinsing off every single dish before I put it in there. How dumb! While I realize that some dish washers require this step, ours doesn’t and it was a huge waste of water. It’s like that old joke about how you clean up your house before the maid comes over.

This step was one of those that came out of trying to be more aware. I think before you have any desire to settle in to a greener lifestyle to have to really pay attention to your current lifestyle and realize where the places are that you can cut back. I first realized this when I backpacked around Europe in the spring of 2002. Never before did I have ANY idea how wasteful we were until I saw country after country of people who were living in a more thoughtful and conservative manner without even talking about it or thinking about it. It was such an eye opener.

Sweet Nothings had a similar moment recently. She was telling me that it occurred to her one day how much water is wasted in the morning when you let the water run to warm up the shower. So the small change that she and her husband made was to capture some of the water in a bucket and use it to water the garden. I couldn’t do that because of my back, but I thought it was a good example of something that came out of looking around and seeing what you could do.

Less Zip Loc Bags – This one is still a work in progress since I haven’t purchased Pyrex containers, but I try to limit our usage and wash them whenever possible

Avoid Plastic When Possible – This is another example of a small change that doesn’t have to alter your life at all. For instance, I was recently in Bed, Bath, and Beyond looking for things to organize our closets with and I chose to buy items made from cloth or wood instead of plastic. In addition to reducing our plastic consumption, the other products look a lot nicer.

Composting – I read last week in Time Magazine that food compost makes up a full 30% of our waste. As a result of this, some cities have implemented composting pick up the same way that they pick up your recycling. It’s a great idea because it saves the land fills, the citizens are paying less for garbage pick-up since there are less bags, and the city is able to make money off of the final product. Win – Win!

This one we haven’t actually implemented yet because we’re in the process of moving, but it just kills me to throw away so much food waste into a plastic bag where it can’t break down for years, when I could just put it into a composter in our back yard! Working at the museum allowed me to get into a long conversation with a Master Composter (yes, there really is such a thing) and learn how simple and easy it is. Also, there are so many other things that can be composted and actually increase the quality, such as tissues and newspapers. And unlike the common misconception, if done properly (no meat, no oil, etc.) it does not smell and does not attract animals.

Tire Pressure – This one is a new one that we were talking about and haven’t implemented yet, but since we frequently take weekend road trips, we are going to start checking the tire pressure (something we’ve never done once!) to make sure we’re getting the most out of our golden gas.

Front Loaders – Again, this is something we haven’t done yet, but we’ll need a washer and dryer once we move, so we’re saving up for them.

More Diligent Recycling – This was another small step. I realized that I was great at recycling if I was standing in the kitchen, but not so good if I was standing elsewhere. But most bathroom products (shampoos, medicine bottles, etc.) are recyclable, so I’ve started paying attention and walking them into the kitchen.

I think that’s about all for now. Nothing too revolutionary, but nothing that has felt annoying or uncomfortable either. And like I mentioned, I think the biggest change for me has been the internal awareness of how much we’re consuming and/or how much we’re throwing away. Overall it has lead to an intense desire to have less “stuff.” Luckily it’s the perfect time to be getting rid of stuff since the big garage sale is in two weeks!

If you’ve made very small and simple steps that I haven’t mentioned, please let me know – we’ll turn this into a Monday Poll. But like I said, it’s a long, slow process, so don’t give me anything too advanced yet J Looking forward to your ideas!!

Colour My World

I found a website this morning that I'm completely crushing on. I have a love of all things design-related lately, as is obvious if you keep track of the links on the side, and this site is awesome!!

COLOURlovers: Color + Design Community for Creative Inspiration


I've been looking for some design ideas for the blog so that I can rework it one final time and this site was a gold mine. Not to mention that it gave me all kinds of ideas for cake decorations, house decorations, etc. I've been on the Pattern Search part of the website for hours tagging my favorites. But if you're looking for some house inspiration, try looking through the palette search to find colors that will go together. You can select by hue (yellow, orange, etc.), by keyword (retro, nature, etc.), by favorites, or a whole other host of options. Check out the blog and trends section as well.

If you make a profile to save colors and patterns, let me know so we can look at each other's favorites!

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In other news, B's interview was very very difficult but it went well. He said there is nothing he would have done differently, so that's good. It's down to him and one other candidate and we're supposed to know by next weekend. So remember those fingers your crossed a few days ago? Keep it up!!

Don't be jealous

For all of the culinary prowess that B and I possess, everything falls apart when he goes out of town. Everything. This is what I had for dinner last night:

• Frozen dinner from Moosewood Restaurant (read: 8 bites of pasta primavera)
• Bowl of Corn Flakes
• 1 piece of string cheese
• 2 handfuls of chocolate chips
• 1 teacup of rainbow sherbet
• 6 pieces of pepperoni

How gross is that? And I wasn’t even full. This is how I ate the entire 4 years post-college and pre-B. Only usually I would throw in a frozen Lean Cuisine or the old standby - a bag of popcorn.

I feel like I’ve talked about this before on here, but it’s just so pathetic that it warranted another mention.

Anyway, while I’m grossing you out, B is enduring 9 hours of meetings and interviews down in Nashville today, followed up by a dinner. I’m sure he’s doing great though, people always love him in interviews. Send him some mental good luck!!

What year is it??

In the long process of moving across the country, my mom did that thing that you hope your mom will never do... she made me move all of my childhood crap out of her house. So the last time she was down she brought in box after box after box. I had no idea how much stuff I was storing up there. Nor did I ever have any sense of keeping a few mementos and ditching the rest, apparently. It's like all of 1986 - 1992 is in our back room right now. The best, of course, was the 1986 box that I opened today. Feast your eyes on these little babies....

Yes, that's right, you're looking at the My Little Pony stable and a crap ton of My Little Pony's. Unpacking it went like this "My Little Pony stable, huh? Well there's no reason to keep this, really. I mean, I don't know if our kids would ever want to play.... MOONBEAM!!! COTTON CANDY!! SATURN!!! What the Crap!! How do I know their names??! What is happening to me right now?! There is no WAY we can sell this!"

This little gem is - I guess - a pony that I made in some art class years ago. It's so perfectly sad that I can't throw this away. Plus, what if ceramic pony wants to play with the other ponies?

Trapper Keeper!! That's vintage, baby! I could get money for that on Ebay!

One of four Cabbage Patch dolls sitting in her highchair. Seriously, could you die? That's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen.

And saving the best for last... the dance costumes! Now don't think I didn't strip down and try to squeeze my 30 year old ass into that little gem just for the pleasure of making you laugh to the point of tears, but it turns out I'm too tall. Huge bummer. And those sassy little glitter tubes on the left? Yea, those would be the matching wrist bands. If you ever find yourself at our house and we're bored and drunk I'll whip out the tap dance video that belongs to this.

I also ran across some pictures of Feather Nester and I in 7th grade and if the term "ugly ducklings" never meant anything to you before, it would once you saw the photo. Also, not to leave anyone out, I found some sweet pictures of Marissa in senior year. Let's just say that she wasn't always quite as glamorous as she is now :) But not to be outdone by the picture of me in freshman year of college where I was determined to look as manly as possible with the baggy jeans, sneakers, and huge plaid shirt. I blame it on the Adirondacks - it breeds mountain girls, not fashion girls. Thankfully, we've all managed to catch up a little.

Olympic Joy

The other night B and I were staying up far past our bedtime (AGAIN!) to watch the Olympics when they announced that next up would be the individual trampoline competition. As both a former gymnast and someone who broke her nose and got sent to the plastic surgeon in 7th grade as a result of a trampoline game called "crack the egg" I started snarking about how could the trampoline be an Olympic sport, and isn't that quite a stretch, and it was never in any of our competitions, and blah blah blah. B, having equally fun but more drunken memories of trampolines, agreed that he couldn't think of how it could really qualify, blah blah blah....

Insert four feet into two mouths. Did you SEE those girls!!!!??? DID. YOU. SEE. THEM?! We sat there all scrunched up on the couch with our mouths open going "OH!" "Oh God!" "AH!" "Holy crap that was stressful to watch!"

It's a little like reverse diving in my mind. Instead of being freakishly high in the air and diving into water, the jump freakishly high into the air and perform inhuman feats of strength and precision. They start by taking a full minute to jump as high as they can. After this, they have to perform ten routines in rapid succession without taking additional bounces between, all while staying on the trampoline. I don't' know if you've ever tried to jump really high on a trampoline, but it's virtually impossible to keep your body in check and not go sailing off or land on a spring. These girls looked like they were several stories in the air. Not to mention that I have no idea how you can make sure you land on the trampoline when you never stop flipping and turning.

Bravo, girls! Seriously... I take it all back. I promise never to talk smack about the trampoline ever again.

As a side note, I have to say what a great pleasure it has been to have the Olympics on. It's such a pure and uncommercialized event to watch, and that is so void nowadays. These men and women have put in a degree of drive and effort that most people would never be capable of, all in the pursuit of a dream. 95% of them will never be recognized on the street and will not walk away with endorsement deals. It's so pure and authentic.

My own cousin spent eight years training for the Olympics in speed skating and the schedule he kept for EIGHT YEARS would blow your mind. Like most of the athletes, he wasn't sponsored and had to work full time while pursuing this goal. So he skated every day from 5am - 8am, worked for 8 hours, and then went back to the track and skated again from 6pm - 9pm. Everyday. For eight years. He also skated all weekend long. Unfortunately he missed making the team by hundredths of a second, as is so frequently the case, but from what I can tell, he doesn't seem to regret those eight years.

So, like many people across the world, the Olympics are making us permanently tired lately, but it's been worth every second.

Starting the Week off Right

Have you heard about Matt yet? Matt traveled all around the globe doing his one and only dance move with thousands of people in 42 countries. This video is unabashedly uplifting and so beautiful and fun. I've watched it countless times already. It makes the world feel so much smaller and unified, which is something that we rarely get to experience.

The music is also stunning and sets the tone perfectly. Be sure to watch for all of the dangerous places he goes, the fun places, the kids, the bad dancers, the good dancers, dancing while weightless, dancing while under water, etc. It's low key for the first minute, but after that it kicks into high gear. To learn more about Matt, including how this trip was funded, click here.

Happy Monday!!!





*If you'd prefer to watch the video with higher quality, you can watch it on You Tube and click "watch in high quality" under the video.

*Video found via Oh Happy Day

Ramblings on Food

We had two more yummy and unexpected food successes this week. On Thursday I made a shrimp curry, without even really intending to, and last night we had turkey burgers for the first time. Both dishes were paired with different wines from our wedding wine.

The shrimp curry was extremely easy and was just curry powder, coconut milk, onions, garlic and spices. SOOO good and very fast. We both love curry, but it always struck me as a dish that was difficult to make until I Googled "coconut curry shrimp" and realized that we already had all of the ingredients anyway. Instead of pairing it with rice (which I would do next time), we put it with a salad that had a made-up Asian dressing which was awesome. It was also the first time either one of us had had Gewurztraminer, which is a crisp white wine. It was so different from anything we ever drink - very floral. I swear, you could actually taste the rose flavors in there. I don't think it's something we would buy again, but it was good to finally try it after hearing about it for years.

Then last night was Turkey Burger night. B's sister made us some great turkey burgers a few weeks ago when we were home, so she was my inspiration (she used Oprah's recipe, but I used a different one I found online). I'm trying to slowly veer away from red meat. Now, before you go throwing your steaks at me, calm down! No one is turning into a vegetarian - just exhale. But the studies are pretty overwhelming and pretty clear that eating a lot of red meat is directly linked to negative health effects and shorter lives. And it's not that we even eat that much red meat anyway, but if there are other options that we're both perfectly happy with, I'd prefer to go in that direction. Plus, we both agreed that we'd much rather save our Red Meat Points for amazing dishes like this one rather than waste them on burgers.

Not to MENTION - did you know that pork is red meat?? There was a whole series of emails a few months ago between me, Feather Nester, Toddler Tamer, Ouiser, and I don't even remember who else because I had heard on NPR that pork was actually red meat, despite their extremely effective marketing campaign of being "the other white meat." Total lie, apparently. And again, it wasn't meant to freak anyone out, they were just saying that you need to be aware that pork is red meat.

And now that I'm on the red meat tangent, let me just say that I'm completely and intentionally ignoring bacon in all of this. Bacon comes straight from heaven and it's made by angels and is the yummiest thing I've ever had the pleasure to eat. So bacon doesn't count. We buy the uncured bacon so it doesn't have nitrates, so we'll just say that that makes up for everything. But here's the real point - I'm not about deprivation, just moderation, so we're becoming a touch more moderate.

Back to the turkey burgers.... Again, super easy (onions, garlic, Worcester sauce, parsley, and s&p) and very moist and delicious. We paired them with an Unoaked Chardonnay (again from the wedding wine) which was yet another new wine and very different for us. It didn't have that typical buttery chardonnay taste, it was closer to a Pinot Grigio and tasted a lot like a tart green apple. It was a great pairing with the burgers.

B used the occasion to break in both the mandolin and the oil thermometer to make us some homemade french fries. His exact quote was "I'm having a kitchen gadget orgasm!" The fries were amazing. He used to make fries all the time, but after watching a Food Network program we learned that he was making a few big mistakes: vegetable oil and no oil thermometer.

The vegetable oil thing used to cause WARS in this household. When you fry with vegetable oil it creates a stink that I can't even describe and permeates EVERYTHING. EV-ER-Y-THING. All of the clothes that happen to not be in drawers (like all the clean laundry on the couch I'm about to fold), curtains, skin, your nose, everything. One night of frying causes your house to smell like a diner for an entire week. But B has a huge love affair with all things fried so I was unsuccessful at my attempts to get him to stop. Thankfully our relationship was saved by Alton Brown. And you know what the answer is? Peanut oil. According to Alton "peanut oil is perfect for frying because it has a neutral flavor, no stink, and a high smoke point." Genius.

Turns out that homemade fries done the right way are pretty time consuming. Cut the fries on the mandolin, heat the oil to 320, fry in batches for 3 minutes, bring fries up to room temperature while the oil heats back up to 375, fry again for another 3 minutes, salt, and keep warm in the oven until dinner is ready. It was totally worth it though - they were heavenly. A little crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Just like McDonald's fries, but without all the shit that turns your intestines inside out.

I really enjoy making as much of our food from scratch as we have the time for. Of course it's easier to buy it and that's very often necessary, but it's nice to know that when you make something yourself, there are none of the preservatives and other horrible ingredients that are in so many foods these days. Have you ever really looked at the ingredients in a seemingly simple food such as frozen french fries? It's scary. At least this way you can be sure that the only ingredients are potatoes, oil, and salt.

B and I frequently talk about how nice it was to grow up with mothers who were such great cooks. So much so that neither of us even realized that certain foods could be bought. I never had any idea that applesauce came in jars or that chicken nuggets were in the frozen section because the only thing I knew were the home made versions. It was great and I hope we can give the same thing to our own family one day.

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We're headed to Philly tomorrow as part of our Goodbye New England series of road trips, so I won't see you 'til Monday.

Tag, You're It!

So yesterday Feather Nester "tagged" me. I haven't got any clue as to what that means in Blog World, but she seemed really excited about it when she was tagged, so now I feel kind of obligated to do something about it. Plus, I really have nothing to talk about today, so it seems like a pretty good filler. Apparently when you're tagged you have to write 7 interesting facts about yourself and then tag 7 other people. Before we begin, I have two thoughts on this: I make no claims that any of these facts are Interesting. "Interesting" is a high bar to set, so I'm going for random and mildly amusing at best. Second, I don't even think I know 7 other bloggers, and if I do, they are all the exact same people that Feather Nester knows, so I'm ignoring that part of the game.


1) I have an absolute LOVE AFFAIR with paper. All paper of all kinds - note cards, stationary, invitations, wrapping paper, labels, accessories, etc. I seriously can't get enough of it. On those rare occasions when I walk into a boutique paper store, I just wander around wide eyed and aimless, I have no idea what to do with myself. The textures, and the colors, and the beauty - they're just mini pieces of art as far as I'm concerned. My one regret in life is that I didn't realize my love of art sooner so that I could have been an art history major, but even without official training, my love of art is deep and endless. Thankfully I am one of the two remaining people in the world (Ouiser is the other one) who still uses paper and sends notes to people, so it's not a wasted love. I recently used a bunch of ribbon and stamps to make lots of very pretty homemade note cards with matching envelope seals, but I haven't done anything with them yet. No one else actually sends notes, so they would make for useless presents. Maybe I'll try to sell them on Etsy.

2) I'm not one for secrets. It's not that I can't keep secrets, and it's not that I gossip about other people, it just rarely occurs to me that things ARE secrets. Like, if you tell me something without hesitation and we're just chatting away, it often doesn't occur to me that you haven't told other people as well. This has driven my INSANELY PRIVATE husband to drink and prompts him to give me explicit instructions on every little thing - it's highly amusing. When it comes to me, I'll tell you just about anything - the way I see it, we're all doing our best and we're all going through hardships, so what the hell is the point of going through everything in private? Who cares!

I just think that outside of the more intense things you would want to keep private (pregnancy, extreme marital difficulty, etc.) it just doesn't make sense to hide with all of these crazy secrets we're all walking around with. In my experience it does nothing but make people feel more alone. Maya Angelou once said that more than food or water, humans desire validation. And the only way you can know that you're not alone is to share your experiences. Additionally, there's an inherent shame that accompanies secrets. Everyone has problems, nobody is perfect, almost no one is making as much money as they'd like, etc., and yet it seems as though so many of us are feeling ashamed for experiencing things that everyone else is out there experiencing. There's no point to feel ashamed.

3) I have an annoyingly sensitive and delicate body. My back injury is well documented, I'm severely hypoglycemic, I fall asleep at 9pm, NyQuil keeps me up all night due to the small amts. of Sudafed, I get car sick, I often get tired for no reason, etc. And nothing is wrong, I've been like this my whole life. Feather Nester frequently used to tell me in high school that if there were some kind of disaster, I would be the first to die. Clearly, she had watched the movie Alive too many times. My only - seriously sad and half assed - rebuttal was "Not Uh! I'm strong of mind!! Besides... I'm only like 120 pounds. Other than my ass, it doesn't even benefit anyone if I die first, I have no meat."

4) I have always wanted - and continue to want - dark hair and dark eyes. I want to look bold and dramatic! To wear black eyeliner and bold colors! Instead I have clear body hair, have to spend a fair amount of time coloring in my eyebrows and eyelashes if I want to wear makeup, have all kinds of charming freckles, and look nothing even close to bold. Even when I wear makeup, I don't look dramatic, only slightly more visible. Did you notice that every single bridesmaid at the wedding had this look?! Apparently I've unconsciously selected not to be friends with fair-haired people.

5) I have known from the time I was very little, and continue to feel this way, that I was destined for something great, something large. Specifically, I feel destined to be a great healer. I don't know how this will be accomplished, but I know I took a baby step with the writing therapy business, and I know that I'm currently off track. I'll get back on track once life is settled and we're in Tennessee, but regardless of any attempts to ever ignore this voice, it remains persistent and loud. I can't explain it any better than that - it is what it is and one day we'll see how it all plays out. I feel called to help people in a way that only I can create.

6) I'm not good with vulnerability. Much like the secret thing, it's not that I'm consciously ignoring it or ashamed of it, it just doesn't occur to me. We all have our knee jerk ways of reacting to things, and when something is upsetting to me, it doesn't occur to me to talk to other people about it or reach out for help. I just deal with it myself and move on. It usually works better for me because I often find other people's advice to be unhelpful (sorry!). However, of course there are times when it's important to reach out, and being in a relationship with B for five years has taught me when it's good to reach out, so that's been nice. Feather Nester and I were chatting briefly about this when we went to Nashville for a visit - we were saying that some people feel like they can best deal with things and get answers from themselves (me) and some people feel like they can best deal with things by going to other people (her).

7) This one, only B, Feather Nester, and Marissa would know - I'm a huge nut job in the privacy of my own house :) Sometimes - often - I have boundless and manic amounts of silly energy that absolutely must be released or I will die. This results in huge cuddle matches, making up funny songs at any given moment, performing impromptu dance routines, etc. (My brother is similar, but his comes out in different ways) I know for a fact that when B and I got serious, both those girls said to themselves "Bless his heart for dealing with the crazy." They love me, but I think they would prefer if I unleashed my songs and cuddles on someone else for a few years.


Whew! That was exhausting and quite personal. How nice it must be to be you and quietly read this from the privacy of your home. How about some reciprocity? Any chance you want to send me an email with 7 random and personal things about you?? No??

Livin' the domesticated dream

B and I had a little day of domestic bliss on Saturday. Seriously, it was adorable. Enough to make you choke a little. We started off at Lowes to look at grills and front-loaders. The grill is a wedding present and the front-loaders will be a necessity once we move, so we wanted to check them out now.

Since there are a whole multitude of both grills and laundry options, we figured that we should start the research now so that we can be ready to go once we get to Tennessee. The grills were actually pretty easy because there were only about three that were in our price range, but the front loaders were another story. SO many options and each had more buttons and functions than my Blackberry. I just stood there going "Really? Is this honestly necessary? Do I need to set the LEVEL of stain, as well as the level of spin, and the temperature of the water, and the color of the clothes, and how I'm feeling that day, and whether it's raining or not, and what I'm having for dinner before I can push start? Really??" I frequently think technology advances just for the sake of advancing and not because it is in any way genuinely helpful and this really felt like one of those times. It was a start anyway...

After that, as you saw, we went to the driving range. It was actually awesome, the range is up high and the views and the weather were amazing. I pulled up my little camping chair and my book and was good to go. I can't ride in the cart while B golfs (not allowed), so this was a nice compromise.

Then we hit up Wegmans for some yummy treats for our outdoor movie - the art museum in town shows movies on the side of the museum a few times every summer. "Yummy treats" for us always means the exact same thing for occasions like this: fresh olives from the olive bar, a baguette, white wine, and smoked Gouda.

We went to the outdoor movie last year to see Flash Gordon, but this time they were showing a movie we actually wanted to see (A Night at the Museum), so that was nice. We pretty much just moved in. We had blankets for sitting and blankets to cover up with, chairs for sitting and pillows for laying on, two different games to play while we waited, books to read, food to eat, two types of alcohol, and the aforementioned food. Of course, there was also the obligatory Red Bull that I drank on the drive to the movie so that I could stay awake. We all know about my inability to stay up past 9pm without Red Bull.

So, the movie was awesome and the day was wonderful. But more importantly, it made me remember that one day it will be a rare treat to have an entire day alone without anyone to answer to or take care of, it's just not possible to do when your kids are little. And while we both want kids, I know that there will be many things that I will miss and days like this are one of them. Because of that I deeply cherish these moments when they happen.

Did it Work?!

This is the first attempt at blogging from my phone... We'll see how it goes.

It's a perfect day here - B is at the driving range and I'm sitting behind him reading a book and enjoying the views.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Bringing Order to Chaos

Oops - last post was Monday - sorry about that! I've been in the zone this week - weeding out, cleaning, and organizing. I realized this week that I had no idea the chaos we had been living in this past year and a half until I started to untangle it. It's unbelievable. I can't believe I planned a wedding, worked full time, kept a relationship together, and still felt genuinely happy, all while living in a whirlwind.

I think that when people normally move in together, they do it under more relaxed circumstances and they go through a nesting period. That time when you weed out your stuff from high school and college, set up a system for things (storage, bill paying, appointments, etc), and just generally tend to the house.

When we moved in together, we had been homeless for three weeks (living in a friend's spare room, 45 min away, with both cats), had both ended our businesses in the last year, had started new jobs, were finally together for the first time in three years, and on, and on, and on... We spent the first nine months getting used to the transition, and then then next year planning the wedding.

It's no wonder why we were never able to keep things organized and clean around here - there was never a place for anything. Like everything else in life, a house needs tending and it needs attention, and it's something we never had the time for. It's why I'm so incredibly grateful and happy to have this time off. I feel like we're better able to move forward. I feel such a huge sense of relief that we're not just "messy people," but rather, had never really set ourselves up properly. As I'm sure you've figured out in your own house, a chaotic house makes for a chaotic mind. Also, I'm a super huge freak when it comes to organizing - if I have the time, I love to do it, so I'm the right gal for the job.

I think we're up to 25 garage sale boxes and 10 items to take to the tailors. Also, my mom just brought down any childhood stuff of mine that had been stored at her house, so last night I was reintroduced to my cabbage patch dolls, my My Little Pony stable, the bunk bed, and most of all... Kasha Learning.

The story of Kasha Learning is legendary in my family and highlights just how early my super nerd genes were in place. (Feather Nester and Marissa will remember this story) Here's how it goes...

When we lived in Florida, the nice old woman who used to babysit me gave me a doll. The doll didn't come with a name, so it was up to me to choose one.


Mom: What's your doll's name?

Me (THREE years old): Kasha Learning

Mom: Oh... uh... ok. Why did you pick that name?

Me (apparently looking at my mom like she's the dumbest woman on the planet): Because her name is KASHA and she's LEARNING.


Who knew you could be so preoccupied with education at three?

Yet another great wedding!

We had a great time this weekend at my cousin's wedding. It'll be the last Bucci wedding for quite a while, so it was great to get together and see everyone. I'm extremely close to that entire side of the family and they're all big crazy nut-jobs, so they're a good bunch to hang out and get drunk with!

Nothing brought this out more than the photo booth at the wedding where you can go in a have six pictures taken, fair-style, and then cut them out and make scrapbook pages out of. Huge hit! We took two sets so we could keep one for ourselves.

Here we are outside the church...



Aaaaaannnndddd here we are at the reception.


It's ridiculous how much fun we have together.

It's also worth noting that I had my shoe miracle shoes on and they still rocked! Super high heels, got tons and tons of compliments, and I danced pretty much like that photo all night long with no back pain. I love you BCBG!!!!!

Dear Wilford Brimley,

1. It's pronounced DiabeTEES, not DiabeTISS

2. You've been doing these commercials for the better part of a decade now and you're still quite overweight. Maybe if you worked on that, your "diabtiss" wouldn't be so bad.

I'm sorry, you seem like a nice man, but it's been bugging me for years and something needed to be said.