This arrived in the mail today....
Which goes perfectly with this other thing we bought a few weeks ago....
But is not to be outdone by this (which I plan to buy soon)...
How fun is baby stuff !? I think I've found my new shopping addiction.
"A baby brings life new meaning..."
My amazing friends threw me a fantastic baby shower last weekend. There were a lot of helpers, people who brought food and spent time planning. Most of the amazing work came from Kate. She came up with the cutest bird theme and a 'drink bar', baked, organized others, shopped for the group gift, and even dreamed about how she was going to get enough pitchers. She even let me have it at my house so I could show everyone my nursery and also not have to transport presents home afterward. Let's just start with the food....
And then don't forget about the amazing drinks. Every drink had a label and directions on how to mix it. There was fun glasses and fresh cut fruit, custom made bird stirrer sticks and fun straws - all were so cute. All the little details were perfect.
Now we should talk about the amazing friends who came to support me. There were so many people hanging out and helping and bringing food and gifts. It was so nice to share the celebration with such amazing people. We opened up the furniture arrangement and crammed as many chairs as possible into the space and still couldn't fit everyone- sorry to those who didn't have a chair. And also apologies for not getting a group picture.
And then of course we have a massive pile of presents.
And in case you think I wasn't there...
Last, but not least were the adorable favors. Thanks to the gals who put these cute and original chocolate covered nuts into individually made paper cones!! Notice also the little birdhouses covered in coordinating paper? Seriously. Amazing.
And last, I didn't get any pictures of this but there was a little bird cage with cute (theme-coordinated) papers to write baby advice for me and Patrick and also name suggestions. My favorite advice: "only other parents will appreciate poop stories. Remember your audience." My favorite 'name baby donigan' suggestions? You'll just have to wait and see...
Thank you to everyone who organized, participated, helped, gifted and loved us. We feel so lucky to have you in our lives.
Thank you to everyone who organized, participated, helped, gifted and loved us. We feel so lucky to have you in our lives.
nursery
I spent a large amount of time stressing out about turning our back room into the baby's room. I like to call this period "Stressting" (instead of nesting). I scaled back some of my more grand plans -like adding a second paint color and installing chair railing - and ended up letting Patrick off the hook for all those things and left the room in it's original color. But I did accomplish a few of the things I really wanted in the room like this bird mobile (in my head this rhymes with Bat-Mobile).
The little birds were surprisingly easy to sew, and I finished them up while watching TV. Their bellies all have a different style fabric which you can maybe see if you look closely at the first picture. (Thanks to Nancy for the awesome fabric scraps the last time we visited Hawai'i). The hardest part, by far, was getting the twigs to balance mobile-style. You'd think this is a skill we all perfected in sixth grade, but I must have missed class that day. I saw a tutorial online months ago and knew I wanted to make one for our nursery. The piece of framed artwork over the crib is something I picked up at a museum in London. It's a really beautiful and whimsical map of London with pictures of children's story book characters around the borders.
A few other fun projects around the room include installing new wooden blinds and the chair (See this post for the reupholstery details). We did some very careful furniture arrangement to fit in both the baby stuff and my new craft cabinet (downsized from the previous 6' craft table, storage bins and full sized shelf). I decided we still needed the shelf in the baby's room, but couldn't bring myself to tackle a paint job. Instead I lined it with some coordinating paper I picked up on clearance for $3.
The little birds were surprisingly easy to sew, and I finished them up while watching TV. Their bellies all have a different style fabric which you can maybe see if you look closely at the first picture. (Thanks to Nancy for the awesome fabric scraps the last time we visited Hawai'i). The hardest part, by far, was getting the twigs to balance mobile-style. You'd think this is a skill we all perfected in sixth grade, but I must have missed class that day. I saw a tutorial online months ago and knew I wanted to make one for our nursery. The piece of framed artwork over the crib is something I picked up at a museum in London. It's a really beautiful and whimsical map of London with pictures of children's story book characters around the borders.
A few other fun projects around the room include installing new wooden blinds and the chair (See this post for the reupholstery details). We did some very careful furniture arrangement to fit in both the baby stuff and my new craft cabinet (downsized from the previous 6' craft table, storage bins and full sized shelf). I decided we still needed the shelf in the baby's room, but couldn't bring myself to tackle a paint job. Instead I lined it with some coordinating paper I picked up on clearance for $3.
What I love most about this room is the little meaningful things I was able to incorporate into the decor. I inherited several nick-nacks from my maternal grandfather when he passed away a few years ago and always knew they would be perfect for a son's room. The stage coach on the top shelf, the globe book ends and a couple of the smaller car coin banks all came from him. The quilt sampler on the wall was a wedding present from Patrick's aunt that I framed to match the London map and smaller prints of Van Gogh and Monet on the shelves. I even picked up a copy of Peter Rabbit fairy-tales which my grandma used to read to us as kids when we slept over at her house.
Best bands of the 90's
On Saturday a Sublime song was played on the radio, and I mentioned to Bonnie that I thought Sublime was one of the greatest bands of all time. She was suprised, since Sublime is definitely not even in the top 10 favorite bands of mine. However, they are still frequently listened to/played on the radio, their sound is unique and original, and they were grassroots (eg garage band type or not developed by a record label a la boy bands). So to test the varacity of that claim I asked my friends who they thought the greatest band of all time were and I decided to limit it to 90's bands, since that's when I was a teenager. My basic considerations are these:
Patrick
- Longevity - do people still listen to them
- Influence - did they start a new sound, did they take an underground sound and make it mainstream etc.
- Popularity - If the band never made it to the top ten then it would be pretty tough for them to make this list
- Complete package - this one gets a little fuzzy, but I immediately discount anyone who has their music and image dictated to them. Britney Spears was admittingly influential and has had suprising longevity, but she is a product of corporate america, not a musician.
- My personal tastes - I'm trying to mitigate the influence of this one, but it inevitably creeps in there. For example there are no pop or country artists in my list despite the popularity of both those genres. I would argue that's because they don't meet the fourth criterion, but it is also probably bias.
- Nirvana - only 25 m records sold in the US, but they brought grunge to the mainstream. They are still often played everywhere, to the extent that a whole new generation is getting sick of their music.
- Green Day- 65 m records and counting. I think they introduced pop-punk into the mainstream of the 90's, though I'm sure many would argue that point and even find it offensive.
- 2Pac - 70 m records in a 6 year career and the highest selling artist that fits into my 90's time frame.
- Eminem - 80m in worldwide sales and a white rapper. Need I say more? A lot of his success happened in the 2000's though so he went down a couple places
- Pearl Jam - Longest lived grunge band from the early 90's. Not as influential as Nirvana, but definitely second in that genre
- Dave Matthews Band - This pains me because I hate their music, but DMB is not only one of the best selling bands of the 90's they have really, really talented musicians. The only way I could make it through listening to them when my friends put them on was by listening to their drummer Carter Beauford who is amazing!
- Boyz II Men - A little difficult on the complete package criteria, but they are one of the best selling groups of all time, were by far the most popular R&B group of the 90's and squeaks by on the complete package because they were singing as a group before being discovered by a record label.
- Jay Z - 50 m records sold himself and a hip hop mogel.
- Red Hot Chili Peppers - 50 m records sold, unique, recognizable and influential. Generally a pretty good fit for this list.
- Sublime - This one is heavily influence by my personal feelings, but they were so unique in their style. Kind of half way between Nirvana in introducing an amazing style into the mainstream and Kid Rock for their fusion of multiple influences.
- Dr Dre/Snoop Dogg - Dr Dre is probably more significant in his ability to find talent then his own musical career, so I'm going to group him with Snoop Dogg, though he also found eminem and 50 cent. These two were, to me, the most accessible hip hop artists of the 90's. I couldn't find the stats after 30 seconds of looking, but I'm sure they sold tons of records.
- No Doubt - As the most popular Ska-ish band of the 90's they had to be mentioned. Also sold almost 30 m records and launched the career of Gwen Stefani, so I think they've earned it.
- Alanis Morissette - Singer/songwriter. Had many popular songs in the 90's that still make the radio. 30 m records sold world wide isn't too bad either. Her songs and sound are immediately recognizable and to me was the epitome of the indie women's music of the 90's that included other artists such as Fiona Apple, Joan Osborne, Merideth Brooks etc. Again probably one of those statements that would offend some, but I'm sticking to it.
Patrick
mission accomplished
I finally finished reupholstering the chair I got for $20 off Craigslist.
Before:
After:
A year in Review: 2009
It was a big year- so big infact we *almost* did a Christmas letter. This will have to suffice instead I guess. Some highlights from each month of 2009:
January
- Patrick spent most of this month in China. I spent most of it eating cereal for dinner. I did have a fun post-Christmas present swap with a bunch of girlfriends.
- Patrick's 29th birthday- we celebrate with a superbowl birthday party
- Our sixth anniversary! The time has flown by. I didn't do a big post on it at the time because we really celebrated with our March activities.
- Visiting Turkey! What an amazing, once in a lifetime trip. Sorry about all the posts on this one- it was just such a different experience, I couldn't leave anything out.
- My 28th birthday.
- In a stroke of brilliance, I host a clothes swap party with 10 girlfriends. We drank mocktails and swapped 'unwanted' clothes.
- Patrick finds out his return offer to Monitor is recended and goes on the hunt for another job- in the worst economy of our lifetimes - interviews in Seattle, Texas & Boston- where will we be living in just a few months?!
- Patrick lands a position at his new consulting firm in Boston! They ask him to start the week BEFORE his graduation.
- Patrick's graduation from MIT Sloan! 23 of his family members visited to celebrate- what an amazing show of support.
- We did our second IVF, the first with the genetic testing that's been recommended for the last year, and found out (two excruciating weeks later) that it was successful. Waiting ensues to make sure it's going to stick before we make any announcements.
- My sister's wedding in Alaska. What a great trip! I was early pregnant and not feeling super great, but we managed to keep this a secret through hosting the bridal shower, decorating for the reception and being the matron of honor at her wedding. I got to meet my twin nieces for the first time.
- Another family event - My brother, Ben's graduation from Chiropractic school. At 14 weeks pregnant, I finally share the news with my family! Since most of Patrick's family was here when we did the IVF, we've been getting some questions, but we give them the official good news as well as share it with our friends and co-workers. Wow a lot of people to tell!
- A side note- my 10 year high school reunion happens. I didn't get to attend, but it's a bit shocking to realize it's been 10 years since I was in highschool.
- It's a ... boy! We start thinking blue and I start channeling my 'nesting' into decorating ideas (rather than cleaning).
- This month brings an unexpected trip to London. Patrick and I meet up for a long weekend! Although I'm starting to show the prego-belly, I don't get offered a free upgrade to first class. Bummer.
- The second annual Donigard Halloween Party is even more awesome than last year's. PLUS we win Best Couples Costume for our Juno and Paulie Bleeker outfits (which by the way was MUCH less complicated than the Zelda and Link costumes I handmade the year before. Oh well).
- I continue what I have now dubbed 'stressting' and try to make the back room into a nursery. The first step- clearing out the old to make way for the new. Patrick graciously takes care of the biggest furniture while I'm at the weekend retreat for Women's Exponent II. He also takes advantage of the re-arranging to purchase a 42" flat screen TV. Surprise!
- Thanksgiving at Patrick's sister Meg's house is a yummy treat.
- Patrick's grandmother passes away at age 92.
- A fun and relaxing trip to Utah for Christmas. We spend time with most of my siblings and my mom and see all of Patrick's siblings over our trip.
- Again, no free bump to first class but I figure this is because I am certainly not the only pregnant woman heading to SLC over the holidays. The plane is full of kids and families.
It's Christmas time
We spent the first part of our Christmas vacation with my family. We had a great time staying with my brother, Matt and family and visiting with Lisa, Jake and my mom. Thanks for having us guys! Here's some pics from our visit to Temple Square to check out the Christmas lights. We did some fun things with my family including visiting the aquarium and touching the sting rays. Mostly we visited, played games and hung out. Perfect for my energy level :)
After spending a few days with my family, we headed up to Logan to spend time with all of Patrick's siblings and his mom. For my Christmas present this year, Patrick got us a night at the inn where we stayed on our wedding night. Our reception was in the attached hall of this inn (The Old Rock Church). We stayed in the same room we did almost seven years ago and had a great, relaxing time. And I'm totally still gunning for a double shower head in my dream home- there's just no other way to really do a shower right.
We hung out with all the kiddos and took them bowling, rollerskating, out to the movies and out to Aggie icecream -phew! The adults played more games of Dominion than I could count (I didn't win a single game), and ate lots of my mother-in-laws fabulous baking. What a fun and busy bunch. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here's a couple from our rollerskating/bowling adventure with a few of the kiddos. Unfortunately Patrick's 92 year old Grandmother passed away a few weeks before Christmas. We missed the funeral by one day, but did get to stop by her house to say good-bye and add some inheritance items to a wish list. Each of the grandchildren (like all 50 of them) were allowed to pick out one trinket to take home immediately. I encouraged Patrick to find something that reminded him of his grandma and he ended up with a candy dish that sat on her living room table.
We returned back to the SLC area and spent a night and day with Patrick's brother Rob's family, then back to my brother's house for New Year's Eve. This year along with our traditional sparking cider at midnight, we dipped things in melted chocolate (left over from Lisa's wedding this summer). I think I like this better than our usual midnight cheesecake and bubbly. It might just become a new tradition.We also got to make a visit to see my Grandma and managed to squeeze in skiing and a massage - one for me and one for Patrick. It was a great trip!
I'll be there for you... clap,clap,clap,clap, clap
We have a great group of friends that we get to hang out with here in Boston. First, the New Moon premiere! Aubrey , Marci, Jhordan, Amberli and I gathered on opening weekend to brave the screaming and shrieking teenage fans. We went out to dinner at a great Italian Restaurant and then on to the movie. It was a great girls night! We skillfully defended our place in line and even found five seats together in the theater. I have to say that as far as the movie goes- I am converted to Team Jacob. Too bad he's only 17. Amberli and I are due right around the same time- aren't we sporting fabulous little bumps?
We've also had several really fun weekends where our friends have hung out all day at our house. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we hosted a brunch at our place that turned into an all day hangout. It happened again, a little more spontaneously, one weekend when we enlisted some guy power for picking up our baby furniture. (It looked heavy! Thanks again guys!). We eat, we talk, we play rock band. The girls shop at the mall across the street, the boys and Eunice play videogames. We even made delicious gourmet pizzas. I'm glad we have such good friends to hang out with.
Great Grandma's Quilts
Ever since I was a little girl, I have cherished my grandma quilt. It's quite the honor to receive one, and on my eighth birthday I got a beautiful quilt in my favorite color - purple. I think all of us Grand-kids were gifted with other lovely grandma goodies like crocheted slippers, but the quilts were always the best.
Grandma has been busy! Imagine my delight when I came home to a package from Grandma with a baby quilt in it!
I should also put in a plug here for the many, many talented women in our lives who have given us beautiful quilts as gifts. We received several handmade quilts for our wedding and love them all! Patrick's mom is a particularly giving quilter and makes 'custom order' quilts for all her seven children and their children. We helped pick out the fabric for our own blue and yellow wedding quilt almost seven years ago. What a great way to wrap yourself up in love!
shorter hair, bigger belly
So, I figured at 26 weeks, it would be okay to again post a belly bump picture. Here it is...
People are now offering me seats on the T (not always, because 'the bump' can still hide behind my winter coat) and asking me when I'm due. It was actually a really big adjustment for me to get used to people knowing that I was pregnant. (I think this is fairly understandable since we spent three years keeping this idea to ourselves). The first time this happened, I was standing in a costume shop contemplating possible Halloween costumes that could accommodate my growing belly (Side note: so glad I didn't settle on the pregnant nun idea) and a woman asked me what me and the baby were going to be. It took me a full three seconds of staring at her blankly to realize she knew I was pregnant and was asking about my costume - the very thing I was thinking about. But I've gotten used to it now. There's no hiding it and to be honest, I love it. And I like not having to worry about sucking in my stomach for the first time since I can remember. So far no tummy patting by random strangers- fingers crossed that this continues to not happen.
A few fun things. Patrick is now able to feel the baby kick. Since I've been feeling him move since around week 18, I've been constantly repeating; "quick- he's moving. Did you feel that?" with the same negative results. Finally, with the kicking so strong it was startling me, Patrick was able to feel it too. So fun to see his reaction that first time he could finally feel it. I can see some movement on my stomach as well. It's a constant reminder that I'm not alone.
Also, this kid loves it when I eat. Every time I eat something, he starts kicking around like crazy. Since I do enjoy eating, and I seem to have to do a lot of it lately, I like to think he's getting as much pleasure from this activity as me.
2nd Annual Halloween Party
We hosted the second annual Donigan- Wangsgard Halloween Party. The decorations looked really awesome, especially when everything was lit just by candlelight. You'll have to use your imagination there since that makes for pretty bad pictures.
Kate did a ton of work preparing her house for the big night. We decided to change things up a bit from last year and added a few games including this creepy-touchy feely game. She did Goblin Ears (dried figs) Zombie eyeballs (balls of tofu) Blood sucking leaches (canned mushrooms) Witches liver (slab of jello), vampire tongues (canned apricots) and Monster brains (scrambled jello with gummy worms). That one seemed to be the most popular for people to eat! Gross.
We also created this awesome picture wall and had people write up their own tombstones if they wanted. There's no picture, but the atmostphere was completed with a spooky up-the-stairs entrance complete with a fog machine and cut out paper mice on the stairs. The fog got a little out of hand and actually set off the fire alarm. We were really concerned that the 80 year old woman on the third floor would hear it and freak out, but she seemed to sleep through it. A good thing for us tonight, maybe not so much in the case of a real fire.
Here's a look at some of the awesome decorations and the equally awesome costumes! EVeryone really stepped up the costumes this year and it was even harder to vote for the costumes.
Adam and Marci as Terrorists
Winners: Scariest Costume
Rich, Leslie and Jonas as "Live Poultry Fresh Killled" (a local store)
Courtney and Quinn as Marathon Runner and HardCore music fan
Eunice and Peter as the Royal Tenenbaums
Winners: Best Character Representation
Lisa and Dan as sister wives
Winners: Funniest Costume
Kate , Soren and Logan as Ghostbusters (Egon, Janine and Slimer) - our awesome co-hosts. (the proton pack was amazing! Lights, glowsticks, slinkies, fabulous!)
Winners: Best in Show
Laci as Octo-mom and Christian and Berkeley as Curious George and the Man in th yellow hat.
Laci won: Runner up for Best in Show
The Forrests as 'the forrests'
Winners: Most Fitting Costume
Stuart and Aubrey as Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible
Kristal and Richard as Madonna and Little Richie
Gwen and Andrew as Avenging Angel and Fallen Angel (she sewed the pants and skirt!)
Winners: Best Group Costume
Jhordan and Shawn as ET and Elliott (Look at the reeses pieces!)
WINNERS: Most Creative Costumes
Amelia and Barry as Dr.Temperance Brennan and Seely Booth (Bones)
and last but not least...
Juno and Paulie Bleeker (I'm sticking out the belly, I promise!)
Winners: Best Couple Costume
Sorry to those who I didn't have photos for!!
Patrick's London
Don't be confused, this is Patrick writing. I wanted to give a quick summary of what I did in London before Bonnie got there.
The first weekend, me and my work friends went on a bus tour where we saw...
Buckingham palace,
the tower of London,
the tower bridge,
and rode a lion in Trafalgar square.
The next day we went to an association football (AKA soccer or football) match between Arsenal and Blackburn. The game was pretty sweet. Why don't we have chants in american sports, it really adds a lot. There was tons of scoring too, which isn't normal in soccer, so that made it fun. The final score was 6-2 Arsenal.
Unfortunately the remainder of my two and a half weeks in London, all I did was... 
work. I spent Monday through Friday from 8 am to about 10 pm in a small room with 5 of my closest colleagues. Good times!
Patrick
London
Patrick was unexpectedly sent to London for a few weeks for work. We decided this would be a great opportunity for a mini-vacation with the hotel, his plane ticket and expenses already covered. So I hopped over the pond for a long weekend (five days). We had a great time visiting London again, this time during a warmer time of year. Over the weekend we were able to take in a lot of the area walking around, see Wicked the musical and spend some time in the British Museum which was across the street from our hotel.
The Princess Diana Memorial. I look really tired in this picture (I was! We did a lot of walking that day) but it's the only one we have together.
The British Museum
The Rosetta Stone. We had to do a lot of maneuvering to get this picture because of the huge crowd constantly surrounding it (I'm on one side of the display and Patrick is on the other)
Patrick is saying: "It's so dirty!" Besides actual dirt, all the phone booths are covered in porn and escort service ads. This one was mostly un-attacked so I sent him in for the photo op.
When Patrick had to work, I spent time wandering the streets and sightseeing. Here's some of the pictures I snapped on my iPhone and camera- sorry for the poor quality, but I still think they're fun London pictures.
The London Tube Stop I used the most. It's so lovely and picturesque. I enjoyed just walking down the street and seeing all the ornate (everyday) buildings.
Picadilly Circus. This isn't a great picture, but following on one of my favorite things I got from Paris, I picked up a print of this area to have framed for our house. It's nice to have a real picture of it too. It's like a mini Times Square.
One of the cool things I enjoyed about exploring on my own was that I could just round a corner like this one and tada! There's a royal something-or-other. This was the Royal Riding Grounds for those dudes on horses with the furry hats. There's a bigger picture of this area with the London Eye behind it (the giant Ferris Wheel)
Overall, a great and mostly relaxing trip. We had really nice weather and it was wonderful to see Patrick after two weeks apart.
New England Fall
Fall in New England is always a great time of year. This year, with snow coming in Mid-October, it seems too short. Here's a few fun things we did this fall.
We have a great group of friends that we can always rely on for company and great fun. A group of us met up at Spike's Junkyard Dogs in Davis square. We made an evening of it with (vegetarian) dogs, then candlepin bowling at Sacco's Bowl Haven and finally pumpkin carving. Patrick actually did all the work on the pumpkin. He volunteered to do the cutting and cleaning and I was going to carve the pattern, but he went ahead and showed his hidden artistic skills. (Don't be too impressed he did use a pattern).
We went out to an apple picking farm and picked our own Honey Crisp apples. That's us (and some of our friends) on a Hay Ride. On the upside it was real hay, on the down side, it was a tractor that pulled us in a loop and dropped us off where we started! The apples were delicious and we had a great time sampling all the different kinds.
Women's Exponent II retreat
I'll first apologize for the fuzzy pictures. I took them on my iPhone and to be honest my real camera isn't much better! I attended my first ever Women's Exponent Retreat on the cape in Brewester, MA this year. It was a Friday to Sunday retreat to discuss LDS feminist women's issues.
ignorance is not bliss
I have a friend who posted this really, really disturbing and offensive picture of a full-term abortion on his facebook profile with comments about how abortion was wrong. While checking my facebook this morning and catching up on friends' updates this picture was sitting there on my home page. No warning, just BAM; nasty, gory, politically charged crap for my viewing pleasure. I was immediately and deeply disturbed. Enough so, that I was the first to comment on his post and told him that it was inappropriate and he should take it down (the picture, not the commentary). This is pretty out of character for me, so you must know it was a pretty upsetting experience.
He responded on his wall:
You know, Bonnie, I almost didn't post this at all for that very reason. I know whoever originated this poll put it there to shock and disturb. But then I thought, this is a shocking and disturbing travesty happening all around us! I'm not going to sugar-coat it just to make it easier to digest; we SHOULD be disgusted and outraged. Anyway, sorry to offend; you can hide it by clicking to the right of the post if you like. It is the practice itself that is inappropriate, not showing the practice for what it is.
But this kind of stuff makes me so angry. Why is it people feel the need to "shock and disturb" to get people to act (or really: to get them to think the way they want them to). I am so sick of this in the media lately. Where you stand on this particular issue is irrelevant. Are we really so ignorant that we believe everything we see on TV? Don't even get me started on ridiculous internet forwards. Evidence points towards yes.
I wrote out this (not very rational or eloquent) response and was about to post it to his wall. Then I decided I would send it in a private message. Then I started putting in things that really gave away my political views/annoyances and decided this wasn't really about him, it was about me. So in the end, I decided maybe I was being too harsh and I'm not going to respond at all. Uggh. But I'm still angry about it. Am I going insane?
I wanted to respond:
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. You're absolutely entitled to have and share opinions publicly, however I don't think the right approach to promoting change is "shock and disturb". I feel like this tactic is used by media and others to influence and spread ignorance on issues rather than informed decision making (eg: WMDs, Death Panels with health care reform, Gay marriage causing the LDS church to lose it's tax deductible status).
Additionally, this particular picture doesn't even represent what is legal in this country right now. It is clearly intended to be shocking and repulsive. Appealing to prurient interests isn't the high ground. Likewise, I wouldn't show pictures of the gory aftermath of bombings/torture to discourage those practices nor graphic pictures of a rape victim to discourage violence against women (or even to promote the changing of laws to punish/protect).
Last, I promise this is all the rant I have, if you still feel this approach is the best way, there's a time and place for disturbing images/speech/what-have-you and I feel that place is not when it's afflicted on the casual observer. This was my real issue with the post- I was checking my facebook, catching up on my friends and I scroll down to see this awful picture. It's insensitive to those who have had abortions (by medical necessity or by choice) and to those who have lost babies in utero. I think mediums like newspapers and public forums for social networking should be kept to public viewing guidelines. A rally, protest or website devoted to the issue would be a more appropriate forum for "shock and disturb", not facebook. Okay that's all. Still wanna be friends :) I just strongly dis-agreed with what I saw today.
He responded on his wall:
You know, Bonnie, I almost didn't post this at all for that very reason. I know whoever originated this poll put it there to shock and disturb. But then I thought, this is a shocking and disturbing travesty happening all around us! I'm not going to sugar-coat it just to make it easier to digest; we SHOULD be disgusted and outraged. Anyway, sorry to offend; you can hide it by clicking to the right of the post if you like. It is the practice itself that is inappropriate, not showing the practice for what it is.
But this kind of stuff makes me so angry. Why is it people feel the need to "shock and disturb" to get people to act (or really: to get them to think the way they want them to). I am so sick of this in the media lately. Where you stand on this particular issue is irrelevant. Are we really so ignorant that we believe everything we see on TV? Don't even get me started on ridiculous internet forwards. Evidence points towards yes.
I wrote out this (not very rational or eloquent) response and was about to post it to his wall. Then I decided I would send it in a private message. Then I started putting in things that really gave away my political views/annoyances and decided this wasn't really about him, it was about me. So in the end, I decided maybe I was being too harsh and I'm not going to respond at all. Uggh. But I'm still angry about it. Am I going insane?
I wanted to respond:
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. You're absolutely entitled to have and share opinions publicly, however I don't think the right approach to promoting change is "shock and disturb". I feel like this tactic is used by media and others to influence and spread ignorance on issues rather than informed decision making (eg: WMDs, Death Panels with health care reform, Gay marriage causing the LDS church to lose it's tax deductible status).
Additionally, this particular picture doesn't even represent what is legal in this country right now. It is clearly intended to be shocking and repulsive. Appealing to prurient interests isn't the high ground. Likewise, I wouldn't show pictures of the gory aftermath of bombings/torture to discourage those practices nor graphic pictures of a rape victim to discourage violence against women (or even to promote the changing of laws to punish/protect).
Last, I promise this is all the rant I have, if you still feel this approach is the best way, there's a time and place for disturbing images/speech/what-have-you and I feel that place is not when it's afflicted on the casual observer. This was my real issue with the post- I was checking my facebook, catching up on my friends and I scroll down to see this awful picture. It's insensitive to those who have had abortions (by medical necessity or by choice) and to those who have lost babies in utero. I think mediums like newspapers and public forums for social networking should be kept to public viewing guidelines. A rally, protest or website devoted to the issue would be a more appropriate forum for "shock and disturb", not facebook. Okay that's all. Still wanna be friends :) I just strongly dis-agreed with what I saw today.
obsessed
it's a ...
Boy!!
We went in for our 18 week ultrasound and were able to find out that we're having a boy. Neither of us had a strong preference nor feeling about what it might be, we're just thrilled either way. For your viewing pleasure a sneak peak at Baby Boy Nubbins in 3D.
(His arm is bent and cupping his neck and his foot is up by his nose). He was curled up into a little ball (that's why they call it the fetal position!) sleeping, so the ultrasound tech had to nudge on my stomach a bunch to get him to move around to the right position. We still couldn't get the "It's A Boy" shot good enough to print out, but they are certain he is.
requisite belly shot
Don't read this if you have an awful time during pregnancy:
Since a lot of you asked- I feel great. I haven't had any morning sickness. I've mostly been tired and ravenously hungry all the way through. I have had more complicated side effects including one episode of cramping/heat induced fainting on the T (including an unwanted ambulance and later that night a 3am visit to hospital that we'll just call a practice run), but all is well. So all you nauseous people can still be my friends, it hasn't been perfectly easy.
OH one more thing, according to popular vote Nubbins will apparently be a boy. We'll see. I really have no clue one way or the other at this point, but Patrick did have a dream in which the baby was a boy. And yes, Nubbins is our nick-name because in one of the early ultrasounds I pointed out the arm and leg buds to Patrick which he translated to 'nubs' in his mind... and it goes from there.
Okay, that's all.
news...
We have news to share (drumroll.....)
We're pregnant!!
I'm due at the end of February, right around our 7th anniversary. We couldn't be more excited for our long awaited baby. We'll know pink or blue on September 21st, but if you have any premonitions, tingles or guesses let me know.
Saint Louis
I had a great long weekend trip to Saint Louis earlier this month to celebrate my brother graduating from Chiropractic School. The weather couldn't have been nicer!
I enjoyed spending time with my parents and all of the nieces and nephews on my side of the family. They're all extremely blonde (which they get from my sisters in law) and adorable (again probably from the SILs). The oldest boys were especially cute, walking around, exploring and holding hands together.
I don't have a lot of pics yet (hint, hint: Matt/Ben), but here's a few I had of the kiddies and from the St. Louis Arch. It was a great trip and we're super proud of Ben (and Rainee!!) for all the hard work. Plus now I get free adjustments when I go to Alaska - right?!
crafty
So I've done a few fun projects in the last while that I thought I would share. The first is this birthday calendar. I came up with this project for a small group activity after studying various types of perpetual birthday calendars and working with what was available.
Each month has a page with a place to write birthdays and a pocket on the left to put cards in if you want to be really organized. I think it turned out pretty cute.
My next little project idea came from a blog I was reading and the fact that I lose a ton of jewelry because I seem to leave it all over the house. I did ask for and receive a nice jewelry box one year for Christmas, but I just can't seem to be able to dig through it to find the right accessories so here's my little project to fix that...
I started off with some cheap "shadow box" frames that I decided I wanted white and spray painted. Looking back, I should have just made the trip to IKEA, but they turned out all right. I added some cute paper and ribbon for decoration, some eyelet hooks for earrings and some small hooks for necklaces, And here you have it... Jewelry display boxes that store and organize my accessories and decorate my bathroom.
Next up... reupholstering this chair I got on Craigslist for $20.
I started off with some cheap "shadow box" frames that I decided I wanted white and spray painted. Looking back, I should have just made the trip to IKEA, but they turned out all right. I added some cute paper and ribbon for decoration, some eyelet hooks for earrings and some small hooks for necklaces, And here you have it... Jewelry display boxes that store and organize my accessories and decorate my bathroom.Next up... reupholstering this chair I got on Craigslist for $20.
Recently...
Patrick and I attended a corn and tomato festival with a live blue grass band. It was super hot, but it was great to hang out with our friends and eat lots and lots of fresh tomatos and corn, fresh from the farm!
Patrick won a giveaway at his work for Patriot's tickets last week. Unfortunately, we got the worst tickets of the giveaways and were like 10 rows from the very, very top. But we had a fun time!
A little while ago, we went with our friends the Wangsgards to the Revere Beach Sand Sculpting contest. The entries were amazing! It was one of the few nice days that month and we spent it on the beach! We even got a banana split to share... What more can you ask for?
Kate and Soren having a good time!
Patrick won a giveaway at his work for Patriot's tickets last week. Unfortunately, we got the worst tickets of the giveaways and were like 10 rows from the very, very top. But we had a fun time!
A little while ago, we went with our friends the Wangsgards to the Revere Beach Sand Sculpting contest. The entries were amazing! It was one of the few nice days that month and we spent it on the beach! We even got a banana split to share... What more can you ask for?
Kate and Soren having a good time!
A wedding story
For my sister's bridal shower, I originally made some cute invites and mailed them up to her in Alaska to give out. The wonderful United States Post office lost those invites for us, so I turned these thank you cards I had made for her into the new invites. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the original cards, but most of them did show up a few days before the shower, and I left those to my sister to turn into thank you cards :) 
The other little craft I did was create her favors. These are symphony bars (yumm) with a new wrapper featuring her colors. Thanks to the wonderful Kate who 'helped' create the wrapper design. Really, I brought a picture and she designed the whole thing with her awesome computer skills.
For her shower, I had a fun menu of brie and green apple tea sandwiches, smoked salmon and cream cheese tea sandwiches, fresh fruit salad, chocolate sugar cookies and punch. It was delicious!!
I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were busy setting up and then hosting. But judging from the big smile on Lisa's face, it was a success.
Later that week, Lisa went to the temple for the first time. I helped escort her.
The day before the wedding, everyone pitched in to create a nice reception area in the church's cultural hall. It turned out really lovely! Enjoy the pictures...
My brother, Ben showing off his flower pounding skills.
The other little craft I did was create her favors. These are symphony bars (yumm) with a new wrapper featuring her colors. Thanks to the wonderful Kate who 'helped' create the wrapper design. Really, I brought a picture and she designed the whole thing with her awesome computer skills.
For her shower, I had a fun menu of brie and green apple tea sandwiches, smoked salmon and cream cheese tea sandwiches, fresh fruit salad, chocolate sugar cookies and punch. It was delicious!!
I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were busy setting up and then hosting. But judging from the big smile on Lisa's face, it was a success.
Later that week, Lisa went to the temple for the first time. I helped escort her. The day before the wedding, everyone pitched in to create a nice reception area in the church's cultural hall. It turned out really lovely! Enjoy the pictures...
My brother, Ben showing off his flower pounding skills.
Alaska - the calm before the storm
I've been a total slacker in getting this up. Earlier this month Patrick and I went back up to Alaska for my sister Lisa's wedding. 
It was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable week. I'll post first about the non-wedding stuff, and then when I get all my photos together tell you about the crazy wedding stuff. These are some pictures we took on our drive up to Hatcher's Pass. Above - my siblings and my mom in an improptu family photo shoot before our picnic lunch.
Patrick and I chilling on the Little Susitna River (aka Little Sue). Just a little FYI: The valley I grew up in is called the Matanuska-Susitna Valley or Mat-Su to the locals.
Our tailgating lunch with left overs from the bridal shower I threw. Unfortunately, there were a ton of wild fires so our photos don't show the beautiful landscape and mountains surrounding us.
This is shortly after Patrick scooped a handful of icy river water down my back.
Patrick and I got caught in synchronized picture taking at Summit Lake. It's all melted snow that makes a huge lake. It was such a warm, beautiful summery day!
I got to meet my nieces for the first time! They were so cute. And fortunately (for us, not for their mom) they were on different nap schedules so we always had one around to love on. This is just the relaxing, pre-wedding stuff. We had a great time at my dad's house preparing for the wedding, making smores, eating lots of great food and hanging out with family. I'll write more in my next blog about the shower I threw and the wedding.
It was a pretty relaxing and enjoyable week. I'll post first about the non-wedding stuff, and then when I get all my photos together tell you about the crazy wedding stuff. These are some pictures we took on our drive up to Hatcher's Pass. Above - my siblings and my mom in an improptu family photo shoot before our picnic lunch.
Patrick and I chilling on the Little Susitna River (aka Little Sue). Just a little FYI: The valley I grew up in is called the Matanuska-Susitna Valley or Mat-Su to the locals.
Our tailgating lunch with left overs from the bridal shower I threw. Unfortunately, there were a ton of wild fires so our photos don't show the beautiful landscape and mountains surrounding us.
This is shortly after Patrick scooped a handful of icy river water down my back.
Patrick and I got caught in synchronized picture taking at Summit Lake. It's all melted snow that makes a huge lake. It was such a warm, beautiful summery day!
I got to meet my nieces for the first time! They were so cute. And fortunately (for us, not for their mom) they were on different nap schedules so we always had one around to love on. This is just the relaxing, pre-wedding stuff. We had a great time at my dad's house preparing for the wedding, making smores, eating lots of great food and hanging out with family. I'll write more in my next blog about the shower I threw and the wedding.DIY
As first time homeowners, Patrick and I have undertaken a few scary DIY projects over the years. Neither of us is handy with a power tool and those seemingly simple projects seem to take up entire weekends and cost way more than they really should. Some of our greatest hits include hooking up our new fridge to the water line. (That may sound simple, but it involved drilling a hole through the wall and puncturing the water pipe which we were 96% sure wasn't the gas line. We also painted every single wall in our house and have landscaped and planted our little garden area. A few weekends ago we undertook two more projects. The first was putting a screen door up. (Look proof that men DO read directions!)
This was a surprisingly long and complicated process. Three trips to Home Depot, One new power drill, a toolbox and three attempts later, we got it lined up, level and swinging properly... cute right? Now I can let some fresh air and hopefully a few stray rays of sun into our house minus the bugs.
Our next big project was all my idea. We have a shared utility space with the other unit in the building that is a total mess. I forgot to take a picture until I had cleared most of it out, but this will give you a general idea of the chaos. Notice that the door can't open all the way in the picture below.
As one of two closets where we can store our junk, I thought it might benefit from a little organization. Two days and a couple hundred (unexpected) dollars later (we're enacting the don't ask-don't tell policy) we have this wonderful organizational genius-ness:
And see how the door opens ALL the way? Beautiful. Just another DIY adventure in homeownership.
As one of two closets where we can store our junk, I thought it might benefit from a little organization. Two days and a couple hundred (unexpected) dollars later (we're enacting the don't ask-don't tell policy) we have this wonderful organizational genius-ness:It was around this time, with the glowing satisfaction of organizing something that's been driving me nuts for FOUR years, that I decided I really should be a professional organizer. (Of course Patrick actually did most of the heavy lifting here, but I can gloss over that little detail in my memories). Don't you just love that feeling when everything is all organized and in bins and labeled and easily accessible? Ahh, yes.
And see how the door opens ALL the way? Beautiful. Just another DIY adventure in homeownership. Classic Alaska Car
So we took this picture last Christmas in Alaska. My family (and my dad who was driving) was a real good sport. We followed it off the road into the WalMart parking lot. We lost it and had to drive down 5 or 6 rows before we saw it parked. I jumped out and snapped pictures before peeling away in the minivan... so worth it!Some of these gems include: "Gun-Control Is Hitting Your Target", a half torn "Palin for Governor" and "McCain*Palin". I also love how he car is SO filthy. It's the middle of winter, so no one washes their cars. It's just classic. Love it.
Graduation
Last week we celebrated Patrick's graduation from MIT -Sloan. He's spent the last two years studying for his MBA. The time just flew by! 
Patrick in his regalia with a Maile lei his dad brought from Hawai'i
Patrick marching with the other graduates.
We celebrated with 23 of Patrick's family members who traveled out to visit for his graduation. I only snapped one photo (and not of the entire group). We did a lot of fun things including a Red Sox game, visiting around the historical sights of Boston and lots of family dinners and BBQs. It was great to have everyone visit and support Patrick.
After a scare with his return offer being rescinded (for which he turned down other offers last Fall), Patrick has been working for the two weeks previous to graduation (after classes ended) at a strategy consulting firm here in Boston. We feel very fortunate that he was able to find another full time job so quickly. Although he was planning to have the summer off and do some fun traveling and such, he's been enjoying the new job so far.
Patrick in his regalia with a Maile lei his dad brought from Hawai'i Patrick marching with the other graduates.
We celebrated with 23 of Patrick's family members who traveled out to visit for his graduation. I only snapped one photo (and not of the entire group). We did a lot of fun things including a Red Sox game, visiting around the historical sights of Boston and lots of family dinners and BBQs. It was great to have everyone visit and support Patrick.
After a scare with his return offer being rescinded (for which he turned down other offers last Fall), Patrick has been working for the two weeks previous to graduation (after classes ended) at a strategy consulting firm here in Boston. We feel very fortunate that he was able to find another full time job so quickly. Although he was planning to have the summer off and do some fun traveling and such, he's been enjoying the new job so far.
Lisa wi-wi pieces
My little sister is getting married in a few short weeks up in Alaska. I can't believe it. I'm going to have to officially stop thinking about her as a 12 year old. Well I guess she's graduated to like 17 in the last few years. (She's actually 25 this year- don't be alarmed) Aren't their engagement photos beautiful? 
There's something about this picture that made me think she looks like me in it... We hear it a lot but I can see it in this photo. Lucky her!! (hah)
There's something about this picture that made me think she looks like me in it... We hear it a lot but I can see it in this photo. Lucky her!! (hah)May Update
I've been a bit of a slacker with updating the old bliggity blog. So here comes a massive update from May. First, and saddest, the chapel in Harvard Square (Longfellow Park) burned down during our New England/Stake Conference last month. They think it was an electrical fire.
Everyone got out safely but less than an hour after the alarm went off the building was beyond hope. The fire fighters kept it contained so it wouldn't damage any neighboring buildings and members were able to go in later to retrieve some of the art work and some rare books that were housed there.
On a happier, but also church related, note Patrick and I were asked to teach Seminary this school year. We did a home study program once a week at our house. It was a three hour event- dinner, lesson and home work help (or wii Rock Band- guess which one usually happened?). We had a great time teaching the students around our Stake (and a few technically outside of it) who couldn't get to early morning seminary. This year we studied the New Testament. One of our later lessons was on putting on the Whole Armor of God. I made this little cut-out of a dude with armor. We read the passage and they got to pick out a piece to tape on and label it on the white board. It was a lot of work and in a lot of ways it's nice to have our evening(s) back, but it was a great experience and we'll miss them and the teenage craziness they brought each week.
Every year, Patrick and I spend a lot of time planting our little garden area. I have yet to take a picture of it, so I thought I would do that this year. Most of our plants grow back each year, but we do have to fill in the bald spots and add new cedar chips. I don't know if the picture accurately portrays how cute this little area is (to me at least!) but plants make me happy. Also, if you also deal with low sunlight I recommend Hostas and Impatiens- great, hardy plants!
They make Gatsby happy too. Where's Waldo?
What else?? Patrick has been on a soccer team this season. I finally made it to a game one weekend and snapped this photo. I'll have to ask Patrick their stats because I don't know, but it's fun for him and they take it pretty seriously.
We FINALLY made it out to Walden Pond at the end of the month when Patrick's mom came to visit. It was still a bit of a struggle to get in - they mysteriously closed the parking lot in the middle of the afternoon, but we made it and enjoyed the small beach and hiking into the woods to see the house sight of Thoreau. My nephew (Patrick's sister's son Matthew) looked really cute in his body glove wet suit. I especially like the extra long zipper pull so he can zip himself up - right after he learns to walk on his own...
We also found a really great park at Cochituate State Park out in Natick. It had a nice big beach area, a huge open grassy area for games, picnic benches and row boats, kayaks and canoes for rent. We enjoyed a really nice afternoon there with Meg and family and Patrick's mom Marie.
Speaking of Meg's family, I got a few snapshots of what happens when we visit her house. Notice the pretty hair do and the horsie ride below. What a good uncle!
Everyone got out safely but less than an hour after the alarm went off the building was beyond hope. The fire fighters kept it contained so it wouldn't damage any neighboring buildings and members were able to go in later to retrieve some of the art work and some rare books that were housed there.On a happier, but also church related, note Patrick and I were asked to teach Seminary this school year. We did a home study program once a week at our house. It was a three hour event- dinner, lesson and home work help (or wii Rock Band- guess which one usually happened?). We had a great time teaching the students around our Stake (and a few technically outside of it) who couldn't get to early morning seminary. This year we studied the New Testament. One of our later lessons was on putting on the Whole Armor of God. I made this little cut-out of a dude with armor. We read the passage and they got to pick out a piece to tape on and label it on the white board. It was a lot of work and in a lot of ways it's nice to have our evening(s) back, but it was a great experience and we'll miss them and the teenage craziness they brought each week. Every year, Patrick and I spend a lot of time planting our little garden area. I have yet to take a picture of it, so I thought I would do that this year. Most of our plants grow back each year, but we do have to fill in the bald spots and add new cedar chips. I don't know if the picture accurately portrays how cute this little area is (to me at least!) but plants make me happy. Also, if you also deal with low sunlight I recommend Hostas and Impatiens- great, hardy plants!They make Gatsby happy too. Where's Waldo?What else?? Patrick has been on a soccer team this season. I finally made it to a game one weekend and snapped this photo. I'll have to ask Patrick their stats because I don't know, but it's fun for him and they take it pretty seriously.
We FINALLY made it out to Walden Pond at the end of the month when Patrick's mom came to visit. It was still a bit of a struggle to get in - they mysteriously closed the parking lot in the middle of the afternoon, but we made it and enjoyed the small beach and hiking into the woods to see the house sight of Thoreau. My nephew (Patrick's sister's son Matthew) looked really cute in his body glove wet suit. I especially like the extra long zipper pull so he can zip himself up - right after he learns to walk on his own... 
We also found a really great park at Cochituate State Park out in Natick. It had a nice big beach area, a huge open grassy area for games, picnic benches and row boats, kayaks and canoes for rent. We enjoyed a really nice afternoon there with Meg and family and Patrick's mom Marie.
Speaking of Meg's family, I got a few snapshots of what happens when we visit her house. Notice the pretty hair do and the horsie ride below. What a good uncle!
Daily PetCast
I ran across this gem while checking the weekend weather. Just enter your zip, your dog's size, age category and hair length. Your personal PetCast will tell you invaluable information such as your 'Dog Comfort Index' on a five paw scale and 'Best Time to Walk Your Dog' and 'Mosquito activity'. Invaluable. Swap Party
I decided it was time to get the girls together for a Swap Party and Mocktails. I lucked out finding glassware for cheap and made some fun drink recipes (which we proceeded to slop all over the floor in our inexperience of using Martini Glasses). It's a good thing these drinks didn't actually have any alcohol, we were already in bad shape.
Everyone brought a mix of their clothes, baby stuff and house stuff to swap. I was busy having fun (and elbowing people out of my way to get to the good stuff) so I didn't take a ton of pictures, but you can see some of the craziness below.
There were some awesome finds - someone even found a baby for swapping
And an awesome swimsuit, which you can see Marci critiquing for Amberli
Thanks to all the lovely ladies who came with their cast offs and had a good time. You guys are too fun!Patriot's Day
Fortune
I got a fortune cookie today. Besides what this says about my lunch choices, it was kinda profound:
AKA- The grass is greener on the other side. But this sounds much wiser, don't you think?
"The pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by wanting more."
AKA- The grass is greener on the other side. But this sounds much wiser, don't you think?
Take me back to Constantinople
Our last days in Turkey were spent back in Istanbul... We visited the Asia side of the city, ate lunch at The Maiden Tower and then went back to the Spice Market for some last minute shopping. We also attended an alumni reception and had dinner at a nasty fish place that was really overrated (in my humble opinion). The best parts were the shopping and of course...
Turkish Bath
A handful of our fellow travelors ventured intoTurkish baths and returned with stories of various levels of enjoyment/pain/horror. We decided on our very last day in Turkey, this was an experience we shouldn't miss. After the world's scariest taxi ride we made it safely to the Hamami. The Hamami we went to, Cermberlitas (Chimber-luh-Tash), has been around for like 500 years. We got various reviews of different places from our fellow Sloanies but this one sounded the best and most economical. So we arrive and pay. Despite some advertising to the contrary, the separate the men's and women's areas.
Off I head into the women's section where no one speaks a lick of english. I'm pleasantly surprised as I ascend the nice wood stairs and open airy rooms to the changing area. Very modern so far. I'm directed by lots of hand motions to strip and put my stuff in a locker, and cover myself in what amounts to a very thin, white wrap. I'm comforted about the fact that there are definitely other ladies running around in this get-up. I've been warned that nudity is a must-and to be honest, this is the part I'm most nervous about. I wander on down to the actual steam-bath room and fall right into the rabbit hole.
There are about 20 women lying around either completely nude or in just swim bottoms on a large, heated marble slab. Some are being scrubbed down by very large, local and very bare breasted ladies. Others are lounging in the middle of the marble slab enjoying the heat. I'm working hard at taking this all in -without staring -while I clutch my flimsy white towel to my own bare body. Before I have long to chicken out, one of the hamami ladies (I'm sure they have an official name, but I don't know it) comes up to me, and whips my towel away from me.
She slaps someone out of the way - not joking. Bottom slap = move it. And pulls me over to the slab, lays out my towel and I figure from her pulling and pointing that she wants me to lay down. Okay, this is not going to be gentle. Got it. For the next ten minutes she douses me with warm water, soaps me, exfoliates, rubs me down, flips me over, repeats, and does a little back/shoulder rub. Having someone elses hands all over me is actually not as uncomfortable as I thought. It feels a lot like being a 5 year old getting a bath. This feeling is defintely reinforced when she walks me over to the water fountain and washes my hair by dumping bucket loads of water over my head. Definitely five years old again.
I'm surprisingly unembarrassed about the nudity and about being touched. The only downside- they've learned to up-sell. The whole time she's rubbing me down, she says the two words she knows in English. "Bikini Wax?" Of. Course. Bikini Wax - 60 Lyra. (nuh-uh). 30. 20. 10 Lyra (Tempting... but I did shave for this, what's there to wax?) . She continues: "Bikini Wax? Bikini Wax?" So I'm laying there, completely naked feeling kinda embarrassed that she so emphatically thinks I need this service. And I'm also thinking 'wow 10 Lyra is cheap (that's like $6) too bad I did shave'. I fend her off the whole time with a red face. Later, I noticed that I wasn't the only one getting the up-sell treatment and I had to supress a snicker as another white girl got all red-faced and uncertain about her body hair.
Obviously, we couldn't take pictures, but I found these picture on the internet. The heated marble slab in the middle could fit about 15 people and all around the outside were running taps and sinks of hot water. The whole room was filled with steam and nudity. ahh Turkish bath. Definltey glad I did that once in my life. 
Cappadocia, Turkey
Cappadocia was beautiful. And fascinating. They have rock formations called Fairy Chimneys, because they look like chimneys (the fairies' houses would be underground and these are their smoke chimneys above ground). Pretty cool right?
Because the stone is softer, it's easy to carve out caves which the local villagers did way back in the day to protect themselves against invaders. They would just run for the hills. 
Here's a whole city centered around the rock formation that was carved into a castle. The view from the top was amazing as you can see below.
Because the stone is softer, it's easy to carve out caves which the local villagers did way back in the day to protect themselves against invaders. They would just run for the hills. Here's a whole city centered around the rock formation that was carved into a castle. The view from the top was amazing as you can see below.
The early Christians made good use of these caves as they escaped persecution. They turned the caves into places of worship and carved or painted beautiful arches and artwork. Our guide tried to tell us these caves were used in the filming of Star Wars but then implied it wasn't true. I tried to figure this out online through the ever trusty and accurate google and either they did film it there, or it was used as an inspiration or they thought about filming there. Who knows?
This is in a cave!!
This is a picture of ACTUAL HOUSES that villagers were living in. It was shocking. You could see some very old houses with more recent brick additions or roofs. To be fair, this was WAY out in the country, but these little villages were very interesting and kind of sad to think about people living this way. We also visited an amazing underground city. It could house thousands of people for weeks at a time. It was extremely elaborate including Indiana Jones style rolling stone doors to block out invaders and narrow, cramped stairs and hallways to make attackers advance in single file - easy to pick off. 
This was the craziest ride ever. Camels don't move normally. And they're a lot taller than horses. But it was really fun. Then when he had him kneel so we could get off, I actually screamed a little- it was like a three part movement until we were on the ground. A once in a lifetime opportunity for me.Turkey had a lot of really amazing ceramics. We visited a the ceramics shop of Chez Galip (who looks like Einstein's brother -right?). He's apparently the most famous potter in Cappadocia. He was amazing- he whipped together a teapot in like 10 minutes (while talking to us, so he wasn't going for speed). His gallery was amazing too. We got to watch the students actually drawing and painting the designs on the pieces. Of course the pieces are not all made by him, not even close, but they were so beautiful. We ended up deciding we needed to get a bowl to bring home.
Here you can see the Whirling Dervishes, which sounds a lot cooler than it is. These people are a group that believe you can get closer to god by whirling. We watched for 45 minutes as they whirled slowly around in circles and occassionally bowed to the eachother. It was a lot like struggling to stay away during a really boring church service. OH did I mention they also dimmed the lights and had soft, relaxing music played - the couldn't have planned that nap any better. But looking past that, there is something interesting about the way they choose to focus and meditate on God through spinning.
Okay, only one more post- I PROMISE! I just have so many pictures. Particularly from this leg of the trip. Actually, the tour guides kept stopping the bus for us to take pictures of the natural beauty and crazy rock formations until eventually all of us refused to get out of the bus. It was rainy, we were hungry and to be honest, sick of being assaulted by the locals to buy their stuff.
Why they changed it, I can't say. People just liked it better that way...
Monday in Istanbul, Patrick signed up to visit several companies including our sponsor - TurkTelecom. Since the Significant Others weren't invited to the lunch following, a small group of us decided to venture out into the city on our own. This was probably one of my favorite days of the trip because it was just the five of us trying to get around, figuring out the metro system and finding things a little more off the beaten path than our 70 person tour group could attend. First, we visited the Basilica Cistern. Which is an ancient water cistern built in the 6th century by the Byzantine empire- everything in Turkey is so amazingly old! This place was very dark and they had red lighting on the columns, so it was pretty awesome to look at, but bad for photos.
The Cistern was built for water storage for the city. Aqueducts brought the water in from the nearby forest. This is one of two of the Medusa Head columns which I thought was pretty cool. Oh and I didn't find this out until I Wiki'd this thing but it was used as one of the filming locations for the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia with Love.
The Cistern was built for water storage for the city. Aqueducts brought the water in from the nearby forest. This is one of two of the Medusa Head columns which I thought was pretty cool. Oh and I didn't find this out until I Wiki'd this thing but it was used as one of the filming locations for the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia with Love.
Isn't this tile work just amazing? Every surface of the mosque was covered and beautiful tile work was EVERYWHERE in Turkey. I even saw a tile covered bird house on our trip. I kept wanting to buy a few squares, but then the ever practical Patrick would remind me that we don't actually need to retile our bathroom and displaying a single tile is kind of odd... oh well. It was beautiful to look at. 
The next morning we got up at an unBELIEVABLE hour for a flight to Ankara, the capital city. We did company visits for most of the day but stopped by this War Museum/ Memorial/ Mausoleum for Mustafa Ataturk. Patrick loved this stop because it had SO much history about Ataturk and Turkey. We were the last ones on the bus... History lesson for those of you interested: Ataturk was the founding father of Turkey (like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson combined). He was the leader of the army during WWI and regained a lot of the Turkish land from the allied forces who had split up the land amongst themselves (Greece, France and Brittain) afterward, a war hero, he established the Republic of Turkey. He's still a national hero and is beloved by the people. He was incredibly ahead of his time in his views about religious freedom and a separation of church and state for lack of a better term. Turkey is this amazing country that is 95% Muslim, but secular and gets along well with all of their middle-eastern neighbors and the western world. It's very interesting.
The last visit in Ankara was the Golden Mansion. Besides the Memorial I think this is basically the only tourist attraction in the city. The daughter of the man who built it is a MIT Sloan alum, so they invited us all there for a reception and a tour of the house. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the exterior of the House is Gold and Red Wood imported from California. It was built in the 1950's as a representation of the different architectural styles in Turkey and cost about $25 million to build and furnish according to his daughter.
The inside was CRAZY. Every surface was guilded or tiled and very ornate.
That night following the reception, we went on the five hour bus ride from Ankara to Cappadocia (Kapadokya). It was a ridiculously long and semi- painful day when you consider the lack of sleep and flight, bus ride and business wear all day. My next post will be about the two days we spent in Cappadocia.
Turkish Delight on a Moonlit Night
Saturday we toured around Istanbul again. First was the Dolmabahce Palace, which is a European style mansion. It is huge. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but the biggest hall was around 20,000 square feet. That's like 4 or 5 really big houses that could fit in there... There were four or five smaller halls, living quarters, reception rooms, bedrooms and a wing for the harem. It was pretty impressive. I don't have a picture of the whole palace but this is the view from the tourist entrance. 
Here is the view of part of Istanbul from the courtyard of the palace.
Next we toured St. Saviour in Chora. This was a Christian church that was converted to a mosque later on ( you can see the minurette for the mosque). There are a lot of really cool Christian frescos inside from the 14th century during the Byzantine rule.
There were lots and lots of really neat frescos depicting different stories about Jesus and the saints and disciples. It was really interesting to hear our guide's interpretation of the stories the fresco's depicted, including a story we'd never he'ard before about how Mary became betrothed to Joseph. This picture shows "the Jesus" at judgement day. The sinners go to his left (hell) and the good people go to his right (heaven).
We did a lot of other things that day that I won't bore you with- like lunch and a trip to another Mosque and masoleum. But these were the highlights of the day. At night, we headed out one of the local football team's arena for a game. One the way we purchased a Galatasaray scarf and a rain poncho - good thing. It poured on us! The games are INTENSE. We went through two security screenings where they may sure to take away all the things you could possibly throw. The whole time, I mean literally the whole time, the fans were singing, chanting, banging drums and cheering. It wasn't even a big game for the team and it was pouring rain but the fans were intense and really into it. It was pretty fun to be a part of it.
more to come as I get time to update...
Here is the view of part of Istanbul from the courtyard of the palace.
Next we toured St. Saviour in Chora. This was a Christian church that was converted to a mosque later on ( you can see the minurette for the mosque). There are a lot of really cool Christian frescos inside from the 14th century during the Byzantine rule.
There were lots and lots of really neat frescos depicting different stories about Jesus and the saints and disciples. It was really interesting to hear our guide's interpretation of the stories the fresco's depicted, including a story we'd never he'ard before about how Mary became betrothed to Joseph. This picture shows "the Jesus" at judgement day. The sinners go to his left (hell) and the good people go to his right (heaven).
We did a lot of other things that day that I won't bore you with- like lunch and a trip to another Mosque and masoleum. But these were the highlights of the day. At night, we headed out one of the local football team's arena for a game. One the way we purchased a Galatasaray scarf and a rain poncho - good thing. It poured on us! The games are INTENSE. We went through two security screenings where they may sure to take away all the things you could possibly throw. The whole time, I mean literally the whole time, the fans were singing, chanting, banging drums and cheering. It wasn't even a big game for the team and it was pouring rain but the fans were intense and really into it. It was pretty fun to be a part of it.
more to come as I get time to update... Istanbul was Constantinople
After an 11 hour flight (including a four hour layover in Paris -which provided a much needed stretch of uninterrupted sleep and some pan au chocolate for breakfast) we arrived safely Friday afternooon in Turkey. This is the first time Patrick and I have been in a country were neither of us spoke a single word of the local language. It's a bit strange. Luckily we have three locals who organized the trip and 67 fellow travellers from MIT. We checked into the hotel in Taksim Square- the center of Istanbul- and struggled to stay awake until a reasonable hour by sampling the local food from the many street vendors. This is the view from our hotel room over part of Taksim square and onto the Bosphorus Channel. We learned the next day on our tour that Turkey spans both Europe and Asia. The side we're on is the Europe side, and across the water you can see a land mass that is Asia. Pretty crazy.
Friday was filled with lots of sightseeing. The first stop was the Blue Mosque. It's quite the famous tourist stop. It is the only mosque with 6 minurettes. Apparently most have one, two or four and the one in Mecca is the only one with eight. (I took this little picture of the internet because I couldn't get a good one from foot). It gives you an idea of what it looks like. 
This picture is in the inner courtyard. 
Before entering, we were asked to remove our shoes, but the women didn't have to cover their heads as you do in some more conservative mosques and during prayer. The camera didn't really pick it up, but this is nicknamed the Blue Mosque because so much of the tile work, which covers every surface, is blue. 
Our next stop was Hagia Sophia or (aka St. Sophia or Aya Sophya Mosque). It was first built as a Christian church under Constantine. It is huge and was built in only five years. Considering how long it took just to get repairs done on our condo, that would still be a feat in today's world I think. When the Ottoman empire conquered Constantinople, they covered up the Christian murals and added the Muslim ones. Later, when it became the independent country of Turkey, they uncovered the original Christian features- and left the Muslim ones up too! This is interesting because in the photo below you can see in the center the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus. On the right you see the symbol (the big circles) for the prophet Muhammed and on the left Allah. Very inspiring to see the Christian and Muslim symbols getting along so well.
We stopped for lunch at a diner in Topkapi Palace over looking the Asia side of Turkey (you can see that behind us). Looking at the picture reminds be how cold and windy it was today. The day started out pretty nice, but it got more and more windy and cold. By the end we were all freezing and very sick of being outside in the cold. 
We toured through Topkapi palace- we saw the jewels, the former harem and the holy artifacts of the prophet Muhammed and other prophets (like the rod of Moses and sword of David). They consider even the dust from the artifacts to be sacred and keep it all in when they clean. Also, they have someone reading aloud from the Qur'an 24 hours a day, because it is so holy to them. 
The last stop was The Grand Bazaar. I've been looking forward to this one! It is 4000 shops in an indoor market filled with treasures. It's customary to bargain for everything and I had fun haggling over prices and looking at all the things to buy. We avoided all the (not so inexpensive) knock offs that they insist are real, but I really enjoyed all the pashminas, jewelry, pottery and spices/candy they had for sale. It was a fun experience (for me, maybe not so much for Patrick). 
Friday was filled with lots of sightseeing. The first stop was the Blue Mosque. It's quite the famous tourist stop. It is the only mosque with 6 minurettes. Apparently most have one, two or four and the one in Mecca is the only one with eight. (I took this little picture of the internet because I couldn't get a good one from foot). It gives you an idea of what it looks like. This picture is in the inner courtyard. Before entering, we were asked to remove our shoes, but the women didn't have to cover their heads as you do in some more conservative mosques and during prayer. The camera didn't really pick it up, but this is nicknamed the Blue Mosque because so much of the tile work, which covers every surface, is blue. Our next stop was Hagia Sophia or (aka St. Sophia or Aya Sophya Mosque). It was first built as a Christian church under Constantine. It is huge and was built in only five years. Considering how long it took just to get repairs done on our condo, that would still be a feat in today's world I think. When the Ottoman empire conquered Constantinople, they covered up the Christian murals and added the Muslim ones. Later, when it became the independent country of Turkey, they uncovered the original Christian features- and left the Muslim ones up too! This is interesting because in the photo below you can see in the center the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus. On the right you see the symbol (the big circles) for the prophet Muhammed and on the left Allah. Very inspiring to see the Christian and Muslim symbols getting along so well.
We stopped for lunch at a diner in Topkapi Palace over looking the Asia side of Turkey (you can see that behind us). Looking at the picture reminds be how cold and windy it was today. The day started out pretty nice, but it got more and more windy and cold. By the end we were all freezing and very sick of being outside in the cold. We toured through Topkapi palace- we saw the jewels, the former harem and the holy artifacts of the prophet Muhammed and other prophets (like the rod of Moses and sword of David). They consider even the dust from the artifacts to be sacred and keep it all in when they clean. Also, they have someone reading aloud from the Qur'an 24 hours a day, because it is so holy to them. The last stop was The Grand Bazaar. I've been looking forward to this one! It is 4000 shops in an indoor market filled with treasures. It's customary to bargain for everything and I had fun haggling over prices and looking at all the things to buy. We avoided all the (not so inexpensive) knock offs that they insist are real, but I really enjoyed all the pashminas, jewelry, pottery and spices/candy they had for sale. It was a fun experience (for me, maybe not so much for Patrick). 6 years
Patrick and I celebrated our 6th anniversary last month. We're keeping up the tradition of fun anniversary vacations by heading to Turkey next week. For our actual anniversary day, we headed up to Salem, Mass., home of the famous Salem Witch trials. We visited a really cheesy witch house and the Peabody Essex Museum. We didn't take a lot of pictures, but it was a nice day exploring the history (and cheesy tourist traps) of Salem.
That's the devil on my shoulder...
Where's Patrick?
That's the devil on my shoulder...
Where's Patrick?
Goings on in the Donigan house
I've been lazy in my blog updating, so I'll just throw out some recent happenings.
Heart Attack. About a month ago, Patrick and I were sitting at home watching TV when Gatsby starting barking for no reason in the front room - I dismissed it as 'crazy dog barking'. Every few minutes he sort of half barked out in the front room. About five minutes later, the doorbell rings. I head over to the door and open it to find a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies and this:
Apparently, the Young Men and Woman in our ward "heart attacked" our door. It was a nice surprise! They were pretty quiet, but I guess our crazy dog heard them even if we were too absorbed in the TV to notice.
Heart Attack. About a month ago, Patrick and I were sitting at home watching TV when Gatsby starting barking for no reason in the front room - I dismissed it as 'crazy dog barking'. Every few minutes he sort of half barked out in the front room. About five minutes later, the doorbell rings. I head over to the door and open it to find a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies and this:
Apparently, the Young Men and Woman in our ward "heart attacked" our door. It was a nice surprise! They were pretty quiet, but I guess our crazy dog heard them even if we were too absorbed in the TV to notice.Baking Adventures. The other day, we went to a 'break the fast' dinner with a group of friends. The food that get's created by this particular group of friends is always really great and tasty. It's kinda a lot of pressure for people who think Oreos is a great potluck food. I didn't really have anything in the pantry that would create anything wonderful- but we did have strawberries. I experimented with a few different ways to use the strawberries and decided on this version. I think these turned out really cute.
SUPRISE. I have been jonesing for a laptop of my very own. Ever since I left Monitor and Patrick's been at school, I'm left at home without a way to get on the internet. The new laptop from LM is SUPER restricted-I can't connect my camera, or listen to music or anything... so Patrick decided he'd get me a laptop for my Christmas/Birthday/Valentine's/Anniversary present. I LOVE it. He picked it up a few weeks before valentine's day with the intent to give it to me then, but I kept complaining about my lack of computer and he decided to give it to me early. A surprise and a present! It's an Acer computer (the really small kind) and it says Eee on the back. So when it asked me for the computer name... (sidenote: I really hate giving names to things. It's such a huge responsibility. As I child, I had huge guilt over not naming my 100+ teddy bears or now as an adult, I really feel like my car should have a name, but I just can't come up with anything that feels right. It's just too permanent and I'm terrified I'll give them bad names) ... after some careful consideration, I named her Eeeva. Patrick happened to be reformatting his computer that day and he renamed his Wall-E. So there. We have names and they even go together.
Cows are cool. Patrick got to celebrate the beginning of the Lunar New Year in China, but we caught some tail end festivities right here in the US. Some members of our ward who are Chinese invited us out to a community New Year celebration. There were lots and lots of people and performances and decorations. Patrick is celebrating the Year of the Ox in this picture (I think that's his cow face):
Patrick's SUPER birthday
Patrick returned from China just in time to celebrate his birthday which is shared (kinda) with our friend Eunice and also fell on Superbowl Sunday. So this year we celebrated with our friends and 98.7 million of our closest friends/fellow superbowl watchers.The party was hosted at our friend's, The Wangsgard's place. Kate and I made football birthday cupcakes and served them up to the 'birthday kids' with candles. Unfortunately, Kate's camera is a little too good and they look kinda gross, but they were way cute in real life-I promise. And I made them from scratch (that's kinda a big deal for me).
In honor of Patrick's 29th birthday:Dear Patrick,
I love many things about you. Here's a list of the top 29:
1. You will often return to an earlier topic of conversation without any introduction. It's become a trademark move in group conversations.
2. I love your hair- always have. Now it's growing out longer and it makes me happy.
3. You love to cook breakfast. Every morning it's waffles or eggs or puffy pancake or french toast
4. You are musically talented. I think it's great that you won awards and stuff in College for percussion (I know, real specific). And even though you deny it, you have a very nice singing voice too.
5. To quote your father, "Patrick is without guile". It's true. You're not deceitful at all. Even when you're trying to be sneaky.
6. You love to snuggle and "beef" with dogs.
7. Steals children from their parents and then tries to make them cry because "it's cute".
8. You've got tall, dark and handsome down pat. (haha, "pat")
9. You prefer being called 'Patrick', not 'Pat' Okay so maybe this is my preference more than yours, but you humor me.
10. You have Super-amazing recall. You can recall the order of all the cards that were played and how the odds were totally stacked against you and then back it up with numbers.
11. You have a lower threshold for dirtiness than I do and are willing to clean the house to achieve said level of tidy-ness.
12. You are fiesty in an argument but you'll back down if you're wrong. Sometimes it makes me want to kick you, but it shows you care about things and have put thought into it. And one of these days, I'll be the one to prove you wrong.
13. You like teenage girl music and TV shows- Katie Perry, Ting Tings, Laguna Beach, One Tree Hill, Gilmore Girls - the list goes on...
14. Perhaps related to #13, you get along great with the youth. (Almost all of his church callings have been with the youth or children. He really relates to them on their level and enjoys spending time with them)
15. You are a great sounding board for problems. You're level headed, but empathetic. I always feel better after talking about my frustrations with you.
16. You are very giving to others.
17. You have a very cute nose. (What?!? it's true.)
18. Your laugh is strange and contagious.
19. You're very patient. Much more than I am.
20. You are a gracious winner. Which is why you must always win and I must lose to maintain marital harmony :)
21. You don't drink soda- but when you do, it's my favorite kind: Dr Pepper.
22. You let me sleep on any side of the bed I want, whenever I want.
23. You like to snuggle in bed and don't mind if my cold feet touch your bare skin
24. You are a morning person. I thank all that is holy that you get out of bed to feed Gatsby in the morning so I can catch a few more precious moments of sleep.
25. You are so smart. I love that.
26. You think I'm smarter than you. Not true, but still nice that you think it.
27. You are so easy to get along with. I love talking with you and laughing and just being with you.
28. You are open minded. I love that you're open to other's ideas and to my crazy hang-ups and to ways of thinking that are off the beaten track from our mainstream.
29. You chose me. I'm not sure why you did, but you don't seem to regret it and I love you for it.
Yankee Swap
So, because Patrick is gone for the month of January- I've been trying to keep myself busy with visits and activities. I invited our card making group over for a little post Christmas Yankee Swap meet this weekend. We hung out, ate junk food, laughed and exchanged unwanted gifts... It was great fun to hang out with such super gals (that's what my grandma always calls me). My friends are awesome! Thanks for keeping me company.
I'm relying on Amberli's STELLAR memory to list what people got (thanks also for taking pictures):
Kate got Tracy's gift: a loofah and an ornament of the ogden temple. Hee hee. I got one of those too, years ago, of the Logan temple.
Leslie got Berli's book, which the other girlies said was actually by a good author so hopefully she'll like it. and as you can see she is already addicted.
Elizabeth apparently got fuzzy blue loofahs.
Lisa got some mary kay lotion that Kate's mom gave her over a year ago. She stole it from Leslie and received instant Karma when we discovered it smelled like old people.
Berli got magnetic alphabet letters for the fridge from Leslie. She was quite excited about them and STOLE them from Elizabeth.
Tracy got a grow your own jesus from Lisa- That's right- that's what I said.
Best of all I received:
GROPE on a rope! It's a hand, made of soap... for when you need a hand in the shower. There were lots of hilarious and totally inappropriate comments about the appropriate timing of the gift since Patrick is out of town. I won't offend anyone by talking about that though :) missing.
Has anyone seen this boy?
I am such a 'bachelor' when Patrick is not around. Here's a list of the sad things I do:
- Cereal for dinner. Every night.
- I literally stayed in my pajamas ALL DAY one Saturday.
- I have this weird habit of staying up super late for no good reason when Patrick's not around. I've had to force myself to go to sleep at 1am because I know I'll only get 6 hours of sleep. Then of course I'm a wreck the next morning, but the cycle continues.
- anti-social behavior. I'd just rather stay home
- Poor Gatsby hasn't been walked in a month. Some of this has to do with snow- but really!
- Entertainment = shopping. I spend way, way too much on groceries and craft stores
- Accumulation of used dishes around the house... I'm going to need to clean just to make it clean enough for my cleaner to come and clean up after me (did that make sense?)
Only one more week before he's back. This is the longest we've been apart, and it's really not fun at all. BUT, I'm glad he's doing something so cool. I just can't wait to see him again. For more pictures of Patrick's visit to China:
http://picasaweb.google.com/patrickldonigan/China02?authkey=icCR1Py0jkc#
I'm so naive!
OK, so I'm sitting in a meeting with 5 other new employees today, and we're asked to introduce ourselves to the next presenter. I say my name, current title and (by her request) my last job. She says to me - "Wasilla?". Which is of course, my home town.
I was shocked. I ask her how she knows that and she tells me we'll talk afterward (all in good humor). So I sit through her presentation wracking my brain. Have I ever mentioned Wasilla? Did I write it down on some bio at work somewhere? I can't think of a thing. Do I know her from somewhere before? I can't figure it out.
So curious, I wait around and ask her after the presentation. The answer? Google alerts. She and at least 5 other senior managers got an alert when I wrote about my new job on my blog. What? Really?! Cue the face flaming. Oh no - what else did I write?
She clearly *at least* read the previous entry about being from Wasilla. I am scambling to think about what else is on my blog. I mean I knew it was all public, but I didn't know it would be specifically flagged for my new employers.
She was very nice about it all, and laughed. But really- how could I be so naive? From now on, THE JOB is all I'm ever going to refer to.
I was shocked. I ask her how she knows that and she tells me we'll talk afterward (all in good humor). So I sit through her presentation wracking my brain. Have I ever mentioned Wasilla? Did I write it down on some bio at work somewhere? I can't think of a thing. Do I know her from somewhere before? I can't figure it out.
So curious, I wait around and ask her after the presentation. The answer? Google alerts. She and at least 5 other senior managers got an alert when I wrote about my new job on my blog. What? Really?! Cue the face flaming. Oh no - what else did I write?
She clearly *at least* read the previous entry about being from Wasilla. I am scambling to think about what else is on my blog. I mean I knew it was all public, but I didn't know it would be specifically flagged for my new employers.
She was very nice about it all, and laughed. But really- how could I be so naive? From now on, THE JOB is all I'm ever going to refer to.
a series of unfortunate events
We have created an unfortunate tradition of Christmas Catastrophes. Last year our house flooded. This year, although not as drastic - I present the many-minor-Christmas Catastrophes of the Donigan house. So as to not be too depressing, I have counted my many blessings with the ever-technical boo/yay system.
We awoke in the middle of the night to a medium sized crash, smash sound. When we got up the next morning we discovered our tree had fallen over (surprisingly quietly). It had broken 7 of my 15 glass ornaments. (boo!) ...and soaked through two of our Christmas presents which we were forced to open early (yay!).
Our flight was delayed by TWO DAYS. We spent the day at the airport (from 4:30am to 8pm) waiting for our re-routed flight to Salt Lake City (boo!) ...but we got to see my brother and extended family as well as Patrick's brother, sister and mom in Utah (yay!).
Patrick had to schedule a flight to China only four hours after our Alaska-Boston flight landed so we were really asking for this: We went home, showered, changed and napped before heading back to the airport. SUPRISE! The car wouldn't start. We had our neighbor jump it and drove it out into traffic, only to have it die again. We had to PUSH it backwards to our street, then enlist unsuspecting passers-by to help us push it uphill into our driveway. We took a cab there and back costing us $50. Then our bags were delayed from our Alaska flight (boo!) ... and BARELY arrived in time for us to switch things around frantically on the baggage claim floor and run upstairs to check Patrick in for his China flight (yay!). Oh and PS- I FORGOT my coat in Alaska. Who forgets their coat? In Alaska!?
New Years and a year in review
We had a fun New Year's Eve at the Anchorage Aces game. Then we headed home just in time to don our party hats, eat cheesecake and bubbly (a Pontius family tradition that really makes you sick at midnight) and watch the ball drop.
I have to admit I chuckled a little on the inside thinking about the fact that Boston had already celebrated the new year four hours earlier. But the Dick Clark special said it was live, so I choose to believe that we watched that ball drop live at midnight.
January: Most of this month was spent in disarray from the 2007 Donigan Devastation. Our house had no ceiling, walls, our flooring in most of the downstairs.
I have to admit I chuckled a little on the inside thinking about the fact that Boston had already celebrated the new year four hours earlier. But the Dick Clark special said it was live, so I choose to believe that we watched that ball drop live at midnight.
As per last year's post- now a tradition in its second year- A Year in Review:
January: Most of this month was spent in disarray from the 2007 Donigan Devastation. Our house had no ceiling, walls, our flooring in most of the downstairs.
February: We had a party for Patrick's birthday at Good Times where we acted like children and had (surprise!) a Good Time. We also celebrated our 5th anniversary at a great B&B in New Hampshire with fresh maple syrup and massages. We continued the epic battle with the contractors and insurance agents to fix our house.
March: I became obsessed with handmade purses/bags after seeing a shop selling them for $100 each. We celebrated my birthday with a trip to the hospital and took a much needed trip to Hawai'i.
April: The purse OCD continues and I sold my very first purse (to someone who's not related to me too!) Patrick was busy with school and the MIT step and a capella groups. I also threw a baby shower for my friend Kate (my second since moving here and starting this blog).
May: We won!! The hardwood floors are FINALLY finished downstairs. We broke down and gave into consumerism with the purchase of the wii. We moved ourselves to New York for Patrick's summer internship. It became apparent from moving our stuff (twice) up several flights of stairs- that we brought way more than we needed.
June: We continued to spend the summer in New York for Patrick's internship with IBM. We went into the city together, I worked from home, and we managed to come back to Boston almost every weekend for one event or another during the highest gas prices of our lifetime. Luckily most of it was reimbursed by my work as I needed to be back in town for various events.
July: We saw Chicago on Broadway and did fourth of July with our friends the Gentry's and our dogs (in Boston of course - because we seriously couldn't resist the lure of the 4 hour drive back up). I spent a significant portion of my day sewing hand made bags, which saved me fromt he boredom of working from home alone.
August: Patrick's internship ended. My mom and sister visited us in New York and we spent every day that week in the city doing fun things. We saw A Chorus Line on Broadway and the famous Naked Cowboy. I think my mom took as many pictures of him as she did at The Met. I thank my lucky stars for his strategically placed guitar and spare you from the rest of the pictures of him groping willing strangers.
September:We came home from New York. I remember how I love my house and my bed and my air conditioning. Patrick started school back up again. I searched for, interviewed and accepted a new position as a Senior Recruiter at LM's Back Bay office in Boston. The heat around the presidential candidates increases and Sarah Palin and Wasilla became famous. Suddenly people can pronounce Wasilla (without first singing the Here we come a wassiling song) and have heard of my home town.
September:We came home from New York. I remember how I love my house and my bed and my air conditioning. Patrick started school back up again. I searched for, interviewed and accepted a new position as a Senior Recruiter at LM's Back Bay office in Boston. The heat around the presidential candidates increases and Sarah Palin and Wasilla became famous. Suddenly people can pronounce Wasilla (without first singing the Here we come a wassiling song) and have heard of my home town.
October: I work hard on adjusting to a new job. We co-hosted a Halloween Party and spent a lot of time perfecting and creating our Link and Zelda costumes!
November: I voted! I am embarrassed to admit it, but this is the first presidential election I voted in for various reasons. I hosted my third baby shower for my friend Laci (the first at my house), and a group of us went out to the movie Twilight. I laughed so hard my stomach muscles were sore the next day.
December: Christmas time preparations and Christmas in Alaska. (See recent blogs) Seen here visiting the local wildlife.
Beautiful, fun Alaska
We did lots of fun things while we were up in Alaska and every thing was so beautiful!
We went to an Anchorage Aces game, courtesy of Lisa's BF Jake. The whole family went and it was a lot of fun (although I have no idea about the rules of Hockey). We went, they won, we rang cow bells- what more can you ask for?
While we were up there, my dad bought a new van. Here's all of us hanging out the doors and windows before it's maiden voyage. We got a lot of good use out of it and headed into Anchorage quite a few times all together.
And of course one of my favorite things to do is to beat up my sister. You can see how I am wailing on her, and she is crying for mercy. It may look like she's giving my head a noogie, but that's just a misperception of the camera lense angle. 
We also took time to play with the local wild life. Actually we really wanted to see a moose, but hadn't until the second to last day and Lisa spotted one on the side of the road- so we got to see everything on our list! This moose was just hanging out at Sears.
We spent one day in the swamp behind my dad's house playing on the snowmachines. The goal is to toss the people who are riding behind in the sled. I'm wearing my dad's sub-artic gear which is HUGE but really, really warm. Also, you would think the helmet would be for the driver- NOPE. It's for the sledder, the face guard is the only thing between you and the flying snow.
Here's a picture of Patrick pulling me on the sled. I was lying down so he couldn't throw me off and I have to say- I never got tossed. But by the time we stopped, I was buried in snow!
The rest of the days were too cold to do anything outside, but it was a fun and relaxing visit. Thanks to Dad, Terri, Jessica, Z and Ellie for putting us up and showing us a great time. Merry Christmas
We arrived in Alaska two days later than originally planned due to the storms in Boston and in Seattle, where our flight was supposed to originate from. We spent that extra day in SLC with my brother, Matt's family and also will some of Patrick's family. It was great to see them all when we didn't think we would get to this year. We also coincided with a Pontius Family gathering and got to see a ton of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles.
When we arrived in Alaska on Christmas Eve we were pretty dang tired - but ready for some Christmas celebrating! Here's a picture that my dad took that night.
We spent this Christmas in Alaska with my Dad. It was a great way to relax and unwind. Here's a picture of the beautiful Christmas tree and the ridiculous amount of presents waiting to be unwrapped.
I couldn't resist a picture of the aftermath of Christmas unwrapping. You might not be able to tell, but that pile of wrapping paper and boxes was up to my knees!
For presents this year, my sister Lisa made everyone scarves. Here's a picture with all of the scarf-ees and Lisa on Christmas morning. 
Here's a list of the other gifts we received (if this is boring to you, just skip it!)
Patrick:
Garmin GPS system, Wii Remote control charger, matching his and hers watches from my dad and Terri
SuperMario Galaxy for wii from his sister CarrieLyn (which we played every day and Patrick finally passed the last day we were there).
Church Scriptures DVD, The Tales of Beetle the Bard and homemade drink coasters from Patrick's dad and Nancy
Under the counter radio/CD/MP3 player for the kitchen from Patrick's mom
Bonnie:
KitchenAide accessories for grating and slicing from Patrick's sister CarrieLyn
Decorative menu planner for the kitchen from my brother and family
Cricut personal cutting machine, sweater and games from my dad and family
Homemade bracelets and gift money from my mom
Family calendar from my brother Ben
Homemade scarf and earings from my sister Lisa
Wallet from my sister Jessica
When we arrived in Alaska on Christmas Eve we were pretty dang tired - but ready for some Christmas celebrating! Here's a picture that my dad took that night.
We spent this Christmas in Alaska with my Dad. It was a great way to relax and unwind. Here's a picture of the beautiful Christmas tree and the ridiculous amount of presents waiting to be unwrapped.I couldn't resist a picture of the aftermath of Christmas unwrapping. You might not be able to tell, but that pile of wrapping paper and boxes was up to my knees!
For presents this year, my sister Lisa made everyone scarves. Here's a picture with all of the scarf-ees and Lisa on Christmas morning. Here's a list of the other gifts we received (if this is boring to you, just skip it!)
Patrick:
Garmin GPS system, Wii Remote control charger, matching his and hers watches from my dad and Terri
SuperMario Galaxy for wii from his sister CarrieLyn (which we played every day and Patrick finally passed the last day we were there).
Church Scriptures DVD, The Tales of Beetle the Bard and homemade drink coasters from Patrick's dad and Nancy
Under the counter radio/CD/MP3 player for the kitchen from Patrick's mom
Bonnie:
KitchenAide accessories for grating and slicing from Patrick's sister CarrieLyn
Decorative menu planner for the kitchen from my brother and family
Cricut personal cutting machine, sweater and games from my dad and family
Homemade bracelets and gift money from my mom
Family calendar from my brother Ben
Homemade scarf and earings from my sister Lisa
Wallet from my sister Jessica
Look ma, I'm on TV
http://richrosa.typepad.com/massachusetts_real_estate/2008/12/necn-report-on-housing-market.html
So on Sunday we were late to church because we were going around to open houses :) It's a favorite hobby of Patrick's to look up real estate in the area. We're not actually looking for right now, but it's fun to do.
So we went to this open house and NECN (New England Cable Network) happened to be there filming. They had a short conversation with Patrick (I declined being in the shot) and then followed us around the house for a bit. The link above is to some real estate guy's blog which has the video (I can't figure out how to get it on my own).
At one point, I tripped up the stairs and then immediately turned around to the camera guy and asked him not to show that- thank goodness they didn't!
So on Sunday we were late to church because we were going around to open houses :) It's a favorite hobby of Patrick's to look up real estate in the area. We're not actually looking for right now, but it's fun to do.
So we went to this open house and NECN (New England Cable Network) happened to be there filming. They had a short conversation with Patrick (I declined being in the shot) and then followed us around the house for a bit. The link above is to some real estate guy's blog which has the video (I can't figure out how to get it on my own).
At one point, I tripped up the stairs and then immediately turned around to the camera guy and asked him not to show that- thank goodness they didn't!
christmas time memories
I L.O.V.E. Christmas time. It's such a magical time of year. Everyone is kind and there is just this feeling in the air. One of my favorite things about Christmas is decorating the house. I love getting a tree, wrestling it into a stand (read: watching Patrick do it), smelling the fresh pine smell all month and decorating the thing silly. I love bringing out all the Christmas decorations and choosing a place to put them while listening to the Carpenter's Christmas Carols. I decided this year it was time to light all those candles! What's the point of pristine, never lit candles year after year. This way I can enjoy them.
When I was younger I was given a nutcracker doll every year for Christmas. I lugged these guys around for years- and finally decided it was impractical to keep them all, so I kept these big guys and about four smaller ones. They each had names (after a nut of course). The only one I remember is Pistachio which is the blue guy on the far right. He was the first, and I like him because his socks are different heights.
My favorite Christmas traditions as a child all centered around the Christmas Tree. We would arrange the packages under the tree for hours- sorted by who they went to, sorted by color and size or arranged just so to make it look like the optimal amount of presents. I would sit in the dark for hours watching the lights on the tree and listening to Christmas music. My sister and I would sleep in the living room under the lights as many nights as we could. It was all very magical to me. I still love Christmas trees. It's just not the same without one.
When I was younger I was given a nutcracker doll every year for Christmas. I lugged these guys around for years- and finally decided it was impractical to keep them all, so I kept these big guys and about four smaller ones. They each had names (after a nut of course). The only one I remember is Pistachio which is the blue guy on the far right. He was the first, and I like him because his socks are different heights.
My favorite Christmas traditions as a child all centered around the Christmas Tree. We would arrange the packages under the tree for hours- sorted by who they went to, sorted by color and size or arranged just so to make it look like the optimal amount of presents. I would sit in the dark for hours watching the lights on the tree and listening to Christmas music. My sister and I would sleep in the living room under the lights as many nights as we could. It was all very magical to me. I still love Christmas trees. It's just not the same without one.
Wreath Making
Every year the New England wards do a huge Relief Society event called Wreath Making. We order fresh pine boughs to make our own wreaths, and put together a beautiful, musical Christmas program and have dinner. It's THE event of the year. I think this one is the 44th year for our Ward. My friend Amberli was an unknowing hand model for this action shot.
This was the first year since I've moved here that I was not directly involved. I did help create the invitations- but that's it! It was actually a wierd experience. I felt guilty just enjoying the activity instead of laboring away in the kitchen or coming all day the day before to decorate. I didn't even stay to help with the hours (literally) of clean up that are necessary.The relief society room was transformed into a beautiful dining hall.
And the chapel became a wreath making center with carefully covered floors.
what's on your wish list?
All right, all right. I give in - here's the truth about Christmas shopping. Give me $50 and I can shop like a crazy person. I love having wish lists for other people. So logically shouldn't I be able to make my own list and then NOT feel wierd about creating said list? I'm not being materialistic, I'm enabling easy shopping for those who are obligated to buy me a present - right? Right? Some have suggested that this is akin to a registry and it belittles the Christmas giving spirit. I have to disagree, kinda. It would be great if we could all just know exactly the right present to get people. Because you don't want to be the lame present giver in your circle. There is nothing worse than sitting in front of someone who is faking enthusiasm at your gift.So despite this logic, every year I struggle to come up with things to put on my Christmas Wish List. I have a list of people I'm supposed to get presents for that I don't live close to. (I love you all!) I don't know what they have already or what they want now. And it's incredibly helpful for a very specific wish list. I like this policy: tell me EXACTLY what you want and I will buy it for you. *As long as I don't think it's lame and it's in my price range*
So how come I can't come up for anything for my own wish list? Any good ideas?
PS: I do have a wish list. It's on AMAZON.COM That's right, I sold out a long time ago :) If you want/have to buy me a present you can look there. But I'm warning you- it's lame.
Second time's the charm
Okay, I admit it. I went to see Twilight again. This was always my grand, master plan - I would see it first with the girls and then see it with Patrick a few weeks later. So, even though I thought the movie was cheesy the first time, I stuck to the plan and went again.
I have to say... I really enjoyed it the second time around. The theater was a lot more subdued (no random outbursts of giggling and screaming) and it was SO much easier to take the movie seriously. It was still a bit cheesy (especially all the scenes from the forrest) and I still don't like the sparkly, hairy chest of Robert Pattinson (Edward doesn't have chest hair- duh.). But it went from a B- to a B+ in my book. Very enjoyable. Less cheesy.
Soooo if you see it again... You might like it.
I think perhaps my favorite part was meeting up with the Gentry's after the movie (for a birthday dinner for Laci) at Maggiano's *yummy* and having Patrick and Laci argue about the movie. Patrick really liked it and Laci defended her position that it was cheesy. Funny right? They had to finally agree to disagree.
I have to say... I really enjoyed it the second time around. The theater was a lot more subdued (no random outbursts of giggling and screaming) and it was SO much easier to take the movie seriously. It was still a bit cheesy (especially all the scenes from the forrest) and I still don't like the sparkly, hairy chest of Robert Pattinson (Edward doesn't have chest hair- duh.). But it went from a B- to a B+ in my book. Very enjoyable. Less cheesy.
Soooo if you see it again... You might like it.
I think perhaps my favorite part was meeting up with the Gentry's after the movie (for a birthday dinner for Laci) at Maggiano's *yummy* and having Patrick and Laci argue about the movie. Patrick really liked it and Laci defended her position that it was cheesy. Funny right? They had to finally agree to disagree.
Twilight Girls night!
I organized a little get together of ladies to go see Twilight (the movie) on Saturday night. The picture above is the one that I used on the evite- I knew I had to organize a little get together when I saw the Twilight themed evite! I was a little afraid it would be a teenage scream fest, but it wasn't too bad. I think the average age in the theater was about 23 :)
So we met up for dinner first and then over to the theater 45 minutes early - to wait in a HUGE line, Disney Land style. It all went pretty smoothly though, and we were even able to get 10 seats together. Thanks to all the ladies who made it a fun night!
My movie review? : (I think I'm supposed to say "spolier alert" here). I am so torn on the movie. I enjoyed the experience of watching it- it was TOTALLY cheesy in parts, but intense in others. So if I just leave it at that, I'm happy with what they did. AND it could have been SO much worse. I'm curious to see if some of those parts are as hilarious/cringe worthy as they were when there were a ton of people giggling. And to be fair, it does follow the book very well and I have to laugh at the book a little bit with the realization of just how cheesy it is.
BUT, if I let myself think about how it could have been, I have to admit, I'm disappointed in the movie. It could have been really intense and a lot less campy. Sparkles anyone? Specifically I didn't like the way they portrayed Edward. He acted too young and unsure, he was not intense/brooding enough. Wow am I revealing something about myself here?
Anyway overall- I would give it a B-. But I would be interested in seeing it again at some point to see if I have a different reaction to the cheesy parts and I will probably go to the next one (in the hopes that they have a much bigger budget and take the story a little more seriously). PS- other people in our group really liked it, so I think I am just one of those people who wanted an intense move and didn't get what they wanted :)
What did everyone else think?
BUT, if I let myself think about how it could have been, I have to admit, I'm disappointed in the movie. It could have been really intense and a lot less campy. Sparkles anyone? Specifically I didn't like the way they portrayed Edward. He acted too young and unsure, he was not intense/brooding enough. Wow am I revealing something about myself here?
Anyway overall- I would give it a B-. But I would be interested in seeing it again at some point to see if I have a different reaction to the cheesy parts and I will probably go to the next one (in the hopes that they have a much bigger budget and take the story a little more seriously). PS- other people in our group really liked it, so I think I am just one of those people who wanted an intense move and didn't get what they wanted :)
What did everyone else think?
**UPDATE** Okay, So I took Patrick to the movie this weekend. He's read the books and he thinks they're fairly cheesy. I enjoyed the movie a lot more this time. The theater was not full of giggling and the cheesy parts were a lot less cheesy than before. There were still some really, really cheesy parts- I particularly don't like the forrest scenes and Edward's hairy, sparkly belly - but other than that, the movie is a lot more enjoyable if you can suspend your dis-believe and enjoy. I was able to do that a lot more in a more calm theater. I enjoyed it. I really did. It went from a B- to a B+ in my book.
Laci's Babyshower
So, my avid readers, you'll notice that this is the third babyshower I've written about on this blog. Sorry for the repeats- but this is the first one I've hosted at my house.This one was for my friend Laci. Here's the party planning committee me, Kate and Lisa and the lovely lady of the day. It was a really nice event (if I do say so myself), with lots of great foods to eat and friends too.
Here's a group photo at the end. We're missing a handful of folks who left before this photo, but there were about 25 people there.
The party favors! We put together a gift box for each guest with a cute little tag and truffles inside. The tags are really cute (thanks Kate!) They have a little felt dove and it says, "welcome, little one." It was all a lot of work, but it turned out great.
Halloween Party!
We hosted a fantastic Halloween Party with our friends the Wangsgards. We dressed up as Link and Zelda. I've put some pictures of the costumes below - Enjoy!
Link attacks the ferocious beast!
I have to take a moment to brag about our costumes - I made them! I think I am most proud of the hat for Link and the shoulder pad/armor pieces for Zelda. Did you fans of the game notice the tri-force symbols? 
Our co-hosts: Logan "Wolverine" and Katherine Ann "Kitty Pryde", with Soren as "Professor X"
Rich and Leslie as "dinosaur" and "Sumo Wrestler"- hides her 9mos. belly well!
Seth and Sharon as "Spaghetti" and "Meatballs"
Peter and Eunice as "Robes of a False Priesthood" and her sister "Alice".
Amberli, Darek and Atticus as "80's chick", "C3PO" and their "pumpkin" offspring
Gwen and Andrew as "Brazilian Futebol fans"!
Patrick's Quiz from QuizYourFriends.com
Follow this link to take a quiz on Patrick.
http://www02.quizyourfriends.com/take-quiz.php?id=0810282130366035&a=2&
How well do you know me?
8 things
I got tagged by my SIL, Jamie- so here goes.
1. Answer the six "8" items
2. Let each person know they have been tagged
8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Heroes
2. The Office
3. House, MD
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. What Not to Wear
6. The Daily Show
7. Bones
8. Lost
8 Things I did yesterday
1. Went to work
2. Read a book
3. Bought new clothes
4. Returned new clothes
5. Had Seminary at our house
6. Made Dinner for Seminary - you'd be suprised how much food 6 hungry teenagers can eat!
7. Mailed off some important things I had been procrastinating on, but really needed to do
8. Watched The Daily Show spoof on Wasilla!
8 Things I look forward to:
1. Catching up on sleep
2. Weekends
3. An Awesome Halloween Party!
4. Thanksgiving
5. Christmas in Alaska
6. Card making Club
7. eating out
8. warm weather
8 Things on my wish list
1. A personal chef/maid service
2. a back massage/facial/mani-pedi
3. anything craft related
4. work clothes
5. jeans that fit
6. shoes!
7. accessories
8. My own laptop
8 people I tag (if you choose to participate and haven't already done so)
1. Amberli
2. Christie
3. Corinne
4. Kate
5. Laci
6. my sista- Lisa
7. Rainee
8. Tiffany
1. Answer the six "8" items
2. Let each person know they have been tagged
8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Heroes
2. The Office
3. House, MD
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. What Not to Wear
6. The Daily Show
7. Bones
8. Lost
8 Things I did yesterday
1. Went to work
2. Read a book
3. Bought new clothes
4. Returned new clothes
5. Had Seminary at our house
6. Made Dinner for Seminary - you'd be suprised how much food 6 hungry teenagers can eat!
7. Mailed off some important things I had been procrastinating on, but really needed to do
8. Watched The Daily Show spoof on Wasilla!
8 Things I look forward to:
1. Catching up on sleep
2. Weekends
3. An Awesome Halloween Party!
4. Thanksgiving
5. Christmas in Alaska
6. Card making Club
7. eating out
8. warm weather
8 Things on my wish list
1. A personal chef/maid service
2. a back massage/facial/mani-pedi
3. anything craft related
4. work clothes
5. jeans that fit
6. shoes!
7. accessories
8. My own laptop
8 people I tag (if you choose to participate and haven't already done so)
1. Amberli
2. Christie
3. Corinne
4. Kate
5. Laci
6. my sista- Lisa
7. Rainee
8. Tiffany
Return to cube land
So I've now had a week and a day at my new job. So far so good. The only thing I REALLY have to complain about is the return to a cubicle. I was spoiled at Monitor and for the past three years, had an office. It's also a perk of being in HR - all those confidential calls and files.
But alas, I have returned. I mostly hate the feeling that people are looking over my shoulder at my computer screen. Every time a door opens or someone walks near me, my hand twitches and my ears perk up. Even when I'm not doing anything 'suspicious'. Also, it's really hard to make any private phone calls - not that I do that a lot, but sometimes it's necessary.
Here are a few of the tricks that are so painfully coming back to me:
- Find the secret route that allows you to bypass your managers office as you slink into your cubicle late. This route may be indirect, may involve going out of your way or sneaking in the back door- but it's worth it!
- Always keep one hand on the shortcut keys that change your screen back to your email inbox. That way if you're blogging at work (ahem) and someone walks behind you, they won't know what you're doing.
- Headphones. headphones. headphones.
- Keep your desk piled (neatly) with lots of papers and sticky notes and planner pages. That way it will look like you're always busy.
- If you have lights in your cubicle, keep those on at all times. That way, no one will know if you've just stepped out for a few seconds or skipped out early on a Friday.
- You must keep candy on your desk. It's a cubicle rule. I don't know why.
Does anyone else have any tricks I'm missing? I'm a bit rusty...
The Great Debate
For those of us that tuned in last night for the serious train reck that should have been the VP debate, I guess we were all disappointed. I'll share this little humorous flow chart to make up for some of our lack of entertainment.
Seriously, I have to say, I think Palin did a better job of representing 'us folks up North' last night. I was nervous for my state. I wonder what SNL will have to say about it...
at least I have my size X pants
Have you ever found an article of clothing that was just too good to be true? The label says X, and you KNOW you're an X+2 maybe a X+1 on a good day - but miracle of miracles, these make-you-feel-great-teeny-tiny pants fit you! I found one of those pairs of pants. I love to put them on and think to myself "I am wearing a size x!" (The X is there to protect the innocent, insert your own numbers). It's very motivating for my diet, even if I don't deserve them quite yet - hey the tag says it!
So I had a really crappy day today. I came home feeling depressed. I had pictures of my sweatpants and a big hoodie floating around in my head. You know, really comfy. Maybe some icecream and a TV show to finish it off? Well instead, I saw these size X pants sitting on my shelf and I literally thought "at least I have my size X pants".
I'm wearing those feel good pants, and I do feel a bit better. Just a bit.
So I had a really crappy day today. I came home feeling depressed. I had pictures of my sweatpants and a big hoodie floating around in my head. You know, really comfy. Maybe some icecream and a TV show to finish it off? Well instead, I saw these size X pants sitting on my shelf and I literally thought "at least I have my size X pants".
I'm wearing those feel good pants, and I do feel a bit better. Just a bit.
Follow ME
So, I've been trying various ways to follow everyone else's blogs. I have them listed on a little section on the side of my blog here so I can click through - I have them on my google reader on my homepage and NOW I think I have found the best way (especially if you don't want to figure out the complicated inner workings of the google reader).
If you want to follow my blog, you can click the link on the top left. It will keep track of who you're following on the dashboard page of your blog. It lets you know when the blogs you follow are updated.
Sooo... if you read my blog regularly - Follow me.
If you want to follow my blog, you can click the link on the top left. It will keep track of who you're following on the dashboard page of your blog. It lets you know when the blogs you follow are updated.
Sooo... if you read my blog regularly - Follow me.
yadda, yadda and the pursuit of a new job
I spiffed up my resume, purchased a new interview suit, got my hair highlighted (and then fixed), and brushed up on my best interviewing skills. I'm happy to say that after a pretty short hunt I'm going to a Senior Recruiter position at Liberty Mutual in Back Bay. It's about a 20 minute T commute from our place, right off the green line. It's a big raise and a great thing to add to my resume. I start next week- I can't wait!
Things I will miss at Monitor:
The shortest commute ever known to man
Fruit, candy and popcorn Friday's
Fancy Dinners
Cheese Platters on interview days and free sodas
Wonderful colleagues and friends made over the past three years
Free Monitor gear- what ever will I wear on the weekends now?
2 weeks free vacation between Christmas and New Years
Business casual dress... sigh
Things I will miss at Monitor:
The shortest commute ever known to man
Fruit, candy and popcorn Friday's
Fancy Dinners
Cheese Platters on interview days and free sodas
Wonderful colleagues and friends made over the past three years
Free Monitor gear- what ever will I wear on the weekends now?
2 weeks free vacation between Christmas and New Years
Business casual dress... sigh
Wasilla, Alaska
So, it's been long overdue - but as many of you know, I am from Wasilla, Alaska. People who know that, or just know that I'm from Alaska, have been asking me a lot of questions lately.
I wanted to have a whole blog here on Wasilla - pictures and all - but I just haven't gotten to it.
In defense of Wasilla (and/or Alaska)
aka Falsehoods you learned from Sarah Palin:
And for your viewing enjoyment a short skit from SNL about Palin and Hillary (thanks mom!):
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/
I wanted to have a whole blog here on Wasilla - pictures and all - but I just haven't gotten to it.
In defense of Wasilla (and/or Alaska)
aka Falsehoods you learned from Sarah Palin:
- We talk like Canadians. I don't know what you're talking aboot. Err about. It's not true! We talk just like the rest of the Lower 48 (that's right, that's what I called you).
- Alaska is near Russia. Okay, that's true. There is a large contingent of military bases and personnel for that very reason. The foreign policy experience? meh.
- We can all hunt, shoot and field-dress a moose. Okay, that's nearly true. I haven't personally... but I do have lots of friends who have/can and we EAT the meat. For food. It's necessary for a lot of people and tastes pretty good.
- Wasilla is a small hick town. It is relatively small - about 9,000 people- but that's just within the city limits. The entire Matanuska Susitna Valley has around 75,000 people. My high school had 2,000 students and a graduating class of 300 in 1999. Hick is negotiable. You can't look New-York-chic in three layers of Carharts and bunny boots (see point 5). Ever tried walking on grass in heels? Well, try that during break-up season through slush and mud. Heaven forbid you need to push your car out of a ditch (most neighborhood roads are not paved). You'll convert to utilitarian clothing too. The rest follows quickly.
- Local businesses include WalMart and people selling fish out of the back of their vans. It is true that a large majority of businesses are box stores (I know, I know!). The WalMart is open 24/7 and packed at all hours...but there is also a large number of local folks who own their own businesses. My dad owned a car repair shop for years, he now owns a mini-storage company. However, you will see folks who get creative about their money making. My best friend's dad sold government surplus on ebay (before ebay was cool) and during the winter he sold bunny boots on the side of the highway. It worked for them.
- Alaskans don't believe in Global Warming. Hmmm, that might be true. But it's not our fault- here's why. Alaska is about 5 years behind in all cultural trends. For example, I pegged my jeans and ratted my hair all through middle school (we're talking mid 90's here). I also watched the same TV shows my non-Alaskan friends (who are 5-10 years older than me) watched- there's a mysterious time warp that happens as you cross over Canada. You can't blame the people though. Give us a few years and we'll get Al Gore's video up there too.
Things you didn't know about Alaska/Wasilla:
- Sarah Palin was the mayor of Wasilla while I was in High School. I didn't really care at the time, but my family seems to have positive impressions of her as a person. Very intelligent and kind. Some of her actions were questionable (like building the mega-sports plex) but others were long overdue (a city sales tax to support the creation of a police force).
- There are 600,000 people in the state. There are at least twice that number of moose. All of which (the people, not the moose) are paid an annual Permanent Fund Dividend by the government. It ranges from $800 to $2,000 per year depending on the economy. Obviously, that means we don't have a state tax. In case you're wondering- I don't get the PFD anymore because I'm not living in the state and I no longer have the excuse of studenthood. Saaad.
- Wasilla ("the valley") is THE pot growing capital. It's world famous. The rumor is that Wasilla was founded as part of a drug smuggling community by Chief Wasilla - that's what I heard in High School anyway. Speaking of my high school -They took the doors off of the public restrooms so people couldn't smoke pot during school.
- The people of Alaska are very proud of their state. They're also very conservative and wary of big government. These are people who live in a rough environment and are used to taking care of themselves. There is a real vote on re-legalizing marijuana use and ceding from the union every year. It's true, although I think the pot thing is more popular.
- Alaskans take care of eachother. I can't tell you how many times someone has given fish or other game to my family because they had more than they needed. Or how many times my dad plowed out the neighbor's driveway or loaned out his truck to other people. Every time I have been stuck on the side of the road someone has pulled over to help- you just don't pass people up.
- The male to female ratio is extremely male heavy. You would think this is a good thing for the ladies. However, as we like to say - "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."
- Alaskans love their toys. We all have something- snowmachines, airplanes, jetskis, boats, fourwheelers. Also, we have big trucks. Basically, you need something you can attach a snow plow to- a fourwheeler or a big truck were our preferred toys...
- Yes, we say "snowmachine". What else would a snow machine be for? Making snow? ha.
And for your viewing enjoyment a short skit from SNL about Palin and Hillary (thanks mom!):
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/
Stakecenter groundbreaking
We attended the long awaited groundbreaking for our Cambridge stakecenter. It's been in the works for the past few years, and they finally got the process started! Our current "stake center" is out in Westin - a 40 minute drive from here. It's not even in our stake, really, but it's the only place that can hold us all for conference.
Our ward and one other ward currently meet in a rented space that is really unique. It's actually a great building with lots of character. It used to be a boiler factory and has exposed beams and machinery in the ceilings. Actually the area where MIT is located is named after this building- Kendall Square.
The new building will be just one street over from our "chapel". It's on the same street as us- about a 7 minute walk!
There's a good chance we won't be here when it's completed in two years, but we're all very much excited about it being built. It's long overdue.
seriously, so blessed
I got the link to this blog from my friend, Amberli's blog. It appears I am blog-stalking poor Amberli... anyway, it is very funny- because. it's. true. And sadly, I have to admit I do some of these things. For example, I too have a blog and an Etsy.com account. Yup. And I like Twilight. Oh and I also like crafty things - like cardmaking (plug for Cambridge First Ward cardmaking group), but I do make up for it by feeling slight shame that I'm so cliche.
Other than that I think I'm in the clear though. Check it out if you can maintain a sense of humor about stupid mormon/utah-isms.
As TAMN would say:
I have...great hair. And the BEST husband EVER.
I am scared of...spiders. Even just writing that shivered my freak out timbers so I put it teensy.
I hate...frowns, materialism, out of date clothes and judging.
I miss...smooching randoms. j/k!
I write...hardfelt poems.
I wish...I were Bella, plus the plan and minus the vampire ess-ee-ex.
I fear...getting the chubbies.
Other than that I think I'm in the clear though. Check it out if you can maintain a sense of humor about stupid mormon/utah-isms.
As TAMN would say:
I have...great hair. And the BEST husband EVER.
I am scared of...spiders. Even just writing that shivered my freak out timbers so I put it teensy.
I hate...frowns, materialism, out of date clothes and judging.
I miss...smooching randoms. j/k!
I write...hardfelt poems.
I wish...I were Bella, plus the plan and minus the vampire ess-ee-ex.
I fear...getting the chubbies.
Breaking Dawn
Okay, so I was writing a response to my friend Amberli's blog about Breaking Dawn. It became so long, I figured I should just put it up on my own blog. So here it goes -It's going to be long and contains SPOILERS. And if you haven't read the twilight books, you're going to be confused.
Oddly, it was Patrick's favorite of the four books and initially it was my least favorite for the same reasons: More action, less emphasis on relationships. Besides that though, I have three issues with the book. Too much back story crammed into it, no real fight at the end (with the Volturi) and not enough relationship building.
To fix these things, I thought the 800 page book should have been split into two books. The first book should have ended after Jake imprints on Renesmee and after they found out the Volturi are coming for them. Then the author could have fleshed out everything: the fight scene with the Volturi - I mean 'talking scene', the relationships between the main characters that were virtually non-existent (where was Alice people?) and the backstory could have been incorporated a lot more smoothly.
Another thing I couldn't get over was the "Renesmee Carlie" thing. First of all- total Utah name right? Sorry Utah, it's true. Second, I seriously thought vampires couldn't have kids. I was adamant that that wasn't going to happen. Boy was I wrong. But I'm not crazy in thinking this. I heard an interview with the author after the book was released where she admitted that when asked about that possibility she led readers to believe that it wasn't possible, but was very careful about how she phrased things (female vampires can't get pregnant). The first read through, it ruined the rest of the book for me and I felt like I was reading a bad piece of fan fiction. But once I let go of that... it was better.
Intimacy? I know a lot of people have raised concerns about the amount of times the author mentions they're being intimate. First, I thought the way she handled the inevitable consummation of their marriage was perfect. Seriously, the sexual tension in the first three books was very blatant. Did you think it would be less so when they were free of restrictions? Besides that, I think it's great to acknowledge that within marriage sex is happening and it's good too. Yes, even for a mormon author. Did she talk about it alot, perhaps too much- yes. Is it appropriate for a teen audience - I'm not so sure. I blame the publishers for that though.
On to the good stuff, I LOVED the Jacob chapters. What a cool way to see things from his perspective and experience a very important part of the story without Bella's biased perspective. Can you imagine that awful pregnancy from her perspective? No thanks. It was also the most humorous to me. I loved seeing the Cullens and Bella through his perspective and getting more information on how they really act - since Bella misses a lot of it with her 'weak human senses'. I really like Jacob after this book.
Bella did a lot of growing up too. To quote Amberli - I also liked that the plot wasn't driven by her annoying personality traits (eg: stubbornly running to a vampire intent on torturing her to death to save everyone else).
Okay, well that's all I can write without giving away that I'm obsessed with this series :) What did you think?
Oddly, it was Patrick's favorite of the four books and initially it was my least favorite for the same reasons: More action, less emphasis on relationships. Besides that though, I have three issues with the book. Too much back story crammed into it, no real fight at the end (with the Volturi) and not enough relationship building.
To fix these things, I thought the 800 page book should have been split into two books. The first book should have ended after Jake imprints on Renesmee and after they found out the Volturi are coming for them. Then the author could have fleshed out everything: the fight scene with the Volturi - I mean 'talking scene', the relationships between the main characters that were virtually non-existent (where was Alice people?) and the backstory could have been incorporated a lot more smoothly.
Another thing I couldn't get over was the "Renesmee Carlie" thing. First of all- total Utah name right? Sorry Utah, it's true. Second, I seriously thought vampires couldn't have kids. I was adamant that that wasn't going to happen. Boy was I wrong. But I'm not crazy in thinking this. I heard an interview with the author after the book was released where she admitted that when asked about that possibility she led readers to believe that it wasn't possible, but was very careful about how she phrased things (female vampires can't get pregnant). The first read through, it ruined the rest of the book for me and I felt like I was reading a bad piece of fan fiction. But once I let go of that... it was better.
Intimacy? I know a lot of people have raised concerns about the amount of times the author mentions they're being intimate. First, I thought the way she handled the inevitable consummation of their marriage was perfect. Seriously, the sexual tension in the first three books was very blatant. Did you think it would be less so when they were free of restrictions? Besides that, I think it's great to acknowledge that within marriage sex is happening and it's good too. Yes, even for a mormon author. Did she talk about it alot, perhaps too much- yes. Is it appropriate for a teen audience - I'm not so sure. I blame the publishers for that though.
On to the good stuff, I LOVED the Jacob chapters. What a cool way to see things from his perspective and experience a very important part of the story without Bella's biased perspective. Can you imagine that awful pregnancy from her perspective? No thanks. It was also the most humorous to me. I loved seeing the Cullens and Bella through his perspective and getting more information on how they really act - since Bella misses a lot of it with her 'weak human senses'. I really like Jacob after this book.
Bella did a lot of growing up too. To quote Amberli - I also liked that the plot wasn't driven by her annoying personality traits (eg: stubbornly running to a vampire intent on torturing her to death to save everyone else).
Okay, well that's all I can write without giving away that I'm obsessed with this series :) What did you think?
I HATE BLOGSPOT
I am so frustrated with this site. Has anyone else noticed that you can't format anything!?!! I've spent the last hour trying to make the text and pictures line up and it JUST WON'T WORK no matter what I do.
GRRRRRR.
GRRRRRR.
New York, New York
My sister Lisa and my mom came for our last week in New York. Here's what we did:
Saturday - Liberty and Ellis Islands
First order of business - taming wild bulls on Wall Street... then on to Liberty Island and Lady Liberty herself. 
Statue of Liberty (or as I learned it's really called: Liberty Enlightening the World). This was cool to actually walk around the island and get really close to the statue. We then took the ferry over to Ellis Island and spent a long time there. It was really fascinating to see where all these people got their first taste of America and all they had to go through.Sunday - A day of rest.
We had a very relaxed day with church and a picnic on the Hudson River near our apartment. If you could see through the fog that day, you would see the outline of NYC at the end of the river.Monday - Natural History Museum.
We spent all day at the American Museum of Natural History. It was cool to see all the special exhibits. We saw the exhibits on the Horse, a dinosaur Imax movie, Cosmic collisions star show and Snakes Alive.
Patrick and I pulled out our claws and he and Lisa posed as a pair of Alaskan Moose.
Patrick and I pulled out our claws and he and Lisa posed as a pair of Alaskan Moose.
Tuesday - Walking tour of Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, China Town and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Patrick put together a great walking tour, we saw lots of great historical places, had a great lunch and enjoyed pastries in Little Italy and lots of shopping along the way.
Wednesday - Times Square , A Chorus Line and Rockefeller Plaza
Busy day! We went into the city early to get student tickets for A Chorus Line. After we got our tickets, we burned a few hours wandering around Times Square. We even saw The Naked Cowboy. The show was great- we got a box to ourselves which was pretty cool. After the show, we went down to Rockefeller Center and saw the beautiful city from the Top of The Rock. It was much better than our previous trip up the Empire State Building.
We started out the day at the Met. Patrick, Lisa and I had all been before so we spent almost 2 hours hitting some highlights and then went to Central Park while my mom kept up at The Met. We ended up renting a row boat to row around one of the lakes for an hour. Right when we were finishing up, it starting pouring rain. We made a dash for it and hid under a bridge, but we were soaked!
Friday - we took our guests back to the airport for their flights and then headed back home to Cambridge for good. It was a great trip and a lot of fun to have my mom and sister around for a week. We finished every day exhausted from all the fun events.
Memory Tag
Calling all Memories!! So here is a fun new blogging game:
1. Leave one memory that you and I had together, as a comment on my blog. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. Have a nice little trip down memory lane!
1. Leave one memory that you and I had together, as a comment on my blog. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. Have a nice little trip down memory lane!
Fourth
Sorry this is slow in coming- probably because I don't have any pictures this time and I like to write around the pictures I have. So the fourth of July was a good weekend. On Friday, we went to Plum Island Beach with a group of friends. On the way there, an idiot in a monster sized truck decided to do an illegal U turn across our lane and we got into an accident. Everyone was fine- including our friend Kate and her 2 month old boy- sorry Kate! at least he has that first police report for his scrapbook;) - but now we're going to have to get some body work done on our old car. On our way there, we got "pulled over" by another cop. He actually motioned for us to come over to him while sitting in a parking lot and told us he didn't feel like getting out of his car, but our registration was expired. So anyway... we finally made it to the beach and had a lovely day.
Friday night we met up with some friends who also have a dog and walked together from our house to watch the fireworks over the Charles River. Gatsby did well with the noise from the fireworks (he's done this before), but not the crowds. Unfortunately he's so small and black that he disapears into the night and people get awfully close to stepping on him, so we carried him home. Our friend's dog McDuff (featured in earlier blogs) is a slightly larger and white dog, so he did well with the crowds, but seemed a little more freaked out by the fireworks.
Saturday I convinced Patrick that we should throw a BBQ. We haven't been around much this summer and after finally finishing our re-construction projects, I thought we needed a little party. So we had 11 adults and 7 kids (5 were infants) over for the afternoon. It was fun. We ate, we talked, the boys played wii Rock Band, even Meg came with the girls and Matthew. That night we went with some friends to see Wall-E at the theater. It was cute and I enjoyed it. However, I think with all the rave reviews I was hearing I had very high expectations. Couple that with the $10.50 each we had to pay and I was a bit underwhelmed. I definitely recommend it at a cheaper price or on DVD though.
So overall an entirely exhausting and fun weekend. Sorry no pictures.
Friday night we met up with some friends who also have a dog and walked together from our house to watch the fireworks over the Charles River. Gatsby did well with the noise from the fireworks (he's done this before), but not the crowds. Unfortunately he's so small and black that he disapears into the night and people get awfully close to stepping on him, so we carried him home. Our friend's dog McDuff (featured in earlier blogs) is a slightly larger and white dog, so he did well with the crowds, but seemed a little more freaked out by the fireworks.
Saturday I convinced Patrick that we should throw a BBQ. We haven't been around much this summer and after finally finishing our re-construction projects, I thought we needed a little party. So we had 11 adults and 7 kids (5 were infants) over for the afternoon. It was fun. We ate, we talked, the boys played wii Rock Band, even Meg came with the girls and Matthew. That night we went with some friends to see Wall-E at the theater. It was cute and I enjoyed it. However, I think with all the rave reviews I was hearing I had very high expectations. Couple that with the $10.50 each we had to pay and I was a bit underwhelmed. I definitely recommend it at a cheaper price or on DVD though.
So overall an entirely exhausting and fun weekend. Sorry no pictures.
CHICAGO
Another trip into the city for ... wait for it... Chicago! It was great! We got up early (for me) and headed in on the train so we could be in line for the box office 30 minutes before it opened. We got ourselves some student discount tickets ($25!!!) and then wandered around for a few hours before the matinee show.
The show was good. I was very excited to see a real Broadway production! It was kind of shocking to see all these people dancing around in what was basically lingerie, but you soon stopped noticing that. It was a great experience! We were in like the 5th row!Cheers to: Broadway musicals that have student tickets
Jeers to: Street vendors who sell already used water bottles as new
I love surprises
So, I just have to give a quick shout out to my hunny. I love it when he surprises me. Last week I had to be in Cambridge for work while he stayed in New York. When he came back the next weekend, he showed up hours earlier than he led me to believe and with a dozen roses. How sweet is that?
Recently, I'd been craving some apple strudel thingy's and kept looking for them in the grocery store without success. My hunny stopped on his way home from work and brought them home for me as a surprise! Seriously, I love you.
Recently, I'd been craving some apple strudel thingy's and kept looking for them in the grocery store without success. My hunny stopped on his way home from work and brought them home for me as a surprise! Seriously, I love you.
June update
June has been a busy month. We had to move out of our first sublet (the owner didn't know you couldn't have dogs in the building), move into our new sublet, Patrick's sister had her baby, I went back to Cambridge for a week to run our summer internship program, we got our much anticipated Rock Band game for wii and have generally been enjoying the summer and New York.
This week we had a fun date in White Plains. We went to PF Changs and had a great dinner and desserts in small glasses- Patrick said "These are my kind of shots!"
I just had to take a picture of the upturned "dessert shots" all in a row.
Train travels: New York City
So one of our goals this summer is to get into the city a few times. We did a crash visit for our 3rd anniversary to all the tourist places (Times square, Empire State building, MoMa, Statue of Liberty). This time around, we expertly planned our day trip for the hottest day since we've been here (around 90 degrees and sticky!). We took the train from Bronxville to Grand Central Station, walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral up through Central Park and then on to The Met.
Saint Patrick's cathedral. We really liked this stop because it was so cool inside (I mean that in both terms of the word). Patrick thinks this is the prettiest cathedral we've seen (and we've seen a lot).
It was really interesting to see the cathedrals squeezed in right next to the skyscrapers. I almost walked right past this one the first time, when I first caught a glimpse of it between buildings.
Central Park. This was the sweatiest part of our journey - we walked up through central park where people were lounging in their bikinis, bought a nasty $3 pretzel and made it out just in time for The Met. I am pretty amazed that this LARGE patch of nature survived when the property is so highly valued. It seemed like a refuge for the people who are in the city surrounded by glass and steel all day. You couldn't even see the skyscrapers from the park.
Saint Patrick's cathedral. We really liked this stop because it was so cool inside (I mean that in both terms of the word). Patrick thinks this is the prettiest cathedral we've seen (and we've seen a lot).
It was really interesting to see the cathedrals squeezed in right next to the skyscrapers. I almost walked right past this one the first time, when I first caught a glimpse of it between buildings.
Central Park. This was the sweatiest part of our journey - we walked up through central park where people were lounging in their bikinis, bought a nasty $3 pretzel and made it out just in time for The Met. I am pretty amazed that this LARGE patch of nature survived when the property is so highly valued. It seemed like a refuge for the people who are in the city surrounded by glass and steel all day. You couldn't even see the skyscrapers from the park.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. So we thought we were being clever and downloaded a little audio tour of The Met, which was pretty outdated and led us on a wild goose chase around the modern paintings section- we did manage to find 4 out of the 11 paintings just by walking around, and ended our visit with a "highlights tour" that was pretty cool.
I think one of my favorite things in Museums is modern art. I will be the first to admit that I think the only requirement for modern art is a large canvas, but I like it. This installation was really cool and bright. That's Patrick all the way down there at the end. I think he's representing gray.
I don't know if anyone else watches Project Runway or not, but in last year's season they took the final four contestants to The Met and one of the exhibits they showed was the Temple of Dendur (a transplanted Egyptian tomb). This is Patrick "walking like an Egyptian".
I think my favorite thing was a really cool special exhibit on super heroes where fashion designers (like Gucci) designed costumes and apparrel based on the costumes. They wouldn't let us take pictures- but they had a lot of the original costumes from movies like Iron Man, Batman (and Catwoman), Wonder Woman and of course Superman.
Patrick and I were reminiscing about how many museums we've gone through together- We're not sure of the number but it's a lot. You could spend A LONG TIME in a museum like that and still not see enough.
Overall a very good trip. Any suggestions for our next trip in to the city?
How did he do it?
So this wii fit is very cool. It weighs you and tells you your BMI then has you set a goal and a timeline and tracks your progress and all the activities you do. So I've been making an effort to at least weigh in every day, and sometimes it likes to offer unsolicited advice like "Did you know that your weight can fluctuate up to 2 pounds a day? Try weighing yourself at the same time every day to get an accurate picture of your progress." Yesterday it offered me this interesting piece of advice:
Perhaps you're just not paying enough attention to Patrick.
What I want to know is - how did he bribe the wii?
The Bonnie Shop
So I finally did it. I heard so many times that I should sell my purses, so I have a little online store. Take a look, tell you friends, heck you could even buy something if you wanted!
Here's a little preview.
Visit TheBonnieShop.etsy.com
Thanks!
(special thanks to Anna for recommending this fantastic site)
Here's a little preview.
Visit TheBonnieShop.etsy.com
Thanks!
(special thanks to Anna for recommending this fantastic site)
Car Travels: Bronxville, NY
We made it! We spent our Memorial Day packing and cleaning and then driving to New York. We're here in the wonderful village of Bronxville and today Patrick started his first day at IBM for his summer internship.
I realized after schlepping ALL of our stuff up the long walk and two flights of stairs to our new place, that I packed WAY too much stuff for just 11 weeks- oops. The apartment is pretty good for a place that we rented sight unseen. The Village is beautiful and very upscale. I'll try to get pictures of that later. Last night we went to the local grocery store and Patrick nearly choked when we payed $4 for a head of lettuce. He also commented that he was glad he changed into his khaki pants and polo shirt for walking around. If Patrick noticed- then you know it's bad.
I realized after schlepping ALL of our stuff up the long walk and two flights of stairs to our new place, that I packed WAY too much stuff for just 11 weeks- oops. The apartment is pretty good for a place that we rented sight unseen. The Village is beautiful and very upscale. I'll try to get pictures of that later. Last night we went to the local grocery store and Patrick nearly choked when we payed $4 for a head of lettuce. He also commented that he was glad he changed into his khaki pants and polo shirt for walking around. If Patrick noticed- then you know it's bad.
Here's some pics of our "summer house" from the outside.
I realized when I got up this morning that I had a choice if I wanted to change out of my pajamas or not. I think this new found freedom could be very scary... Today, I used my powers for good and went for a run in the cool, misty morning. In the afternoon, Gatbsy and I went for a walk part way into town and along the riverway park. We saw a pair of Geese with their goslings (is that the word?). I thought they were cute even if the momma Goose didn't like us in return.
Recently....
On Saturday Patrick's sister, Meg invited us to go to The Public Garden in Boston to hang out with the fam. We brought Gatsby along for some futbol and a lunchtime picnic. I ventured down to china town to hit up a designer fabric store (for my purse making obsession) and then we went for a quick visit to the Earth Fest at the Hatch Shell. It was a beautiful day and a fun way to spend our holiday.
wii gave in...
So wii finally gave in and (like the good American citizens wii are) used our economic stimulus refund to get a wii!
Patrick and I have been calling the local game stores every day this week to see when they get their wii shipment in. It's like a big secret and they can only tell you once they're in. So this morning, wii went to two different stores (Patrick waited in line at one while I went to the other) and got the complete wii package- the console, the remotes and nun-chucks, Mario Kart (with the wheels) and wii fit. When it comes out next month wii want to get the wii Rock Band! Should be fun. Wii party anyone?
Patrick and I have been calling the local game stores every day this week to see when they get their wii shipment in. It's like a big secret and they can only tell you once they're in. So this morning, wii went to two different stores (Patrick waited in line at one while I went to the other) and got the complete wii package- the console, the remotes and nun-chucks, Mario Kart (with the wheels) and wii fit. When it comes out next month wii want to get the wii Rock Band! Should be fun. Wii party anyone?
where the bodies are buried
We got our hardwood floors installed on Saturday! We're so close to being finished with our home repairs - I can almost taste it! The installation took ALL DAY with lots of pounding- but the end result is great. They look really nice, and flow well with the existing hardwood in the kitchen/living area. Last week we got the carpet installed in the upstairs bedroom. Now we only need to do some paint touch ups and purchase one more piece of furniture for our bedroom upstairs to complete what has been dubbed our "Ikea showroom". I can't wait!Where the bodies are buried....
When they pulled up the carpet, they discovered this access panel in our floor. Underneath was a a HUGE crawlspace area that looks like it has a little tunnel that extends OUT from our house. Our theories include a secret smuggling ring and the maffia's burial ground. It was pretty exciting stuff.
When they pulled up the carpet, they discovered this access panel in our floor. Underneath was a a HUGE crawlspace area that looks like it has a little tunnel that extends OUT from our house. Our theories include a secret smuggling ring and the maffia's burial ground. It was pretty exciting stuff.
Car Travels: Labor and Delivery
(subtitle: Kate's going to have her baby!)
Our car has had a long history of doing interesting things and going to new places - but this is a first for him. We just took our friends and nearly-next-door neighbors, Logan and Kate to the hospital to have their baby. (Special permission was given to share the news). They called us at 7am on Saturday (thank you Soren for waiting until a decent hour to kick around in there- I like him already).
Patrick has been eagerly awaiting this call all week (perhaps, dare I say, almost as much as Kate?) In our sleep addled haze, I had to talk Patrick out of bringing our camera- really? why wouldn't she want her picture taken right now? And we suddenly realized that with a woman in labor, her husband and her mom, we should really only send one of us in this packed car... drama ensues (not really)... So I'm here writing it up on my blog while Patrick makes the trip!
Good luck Kate!
5pm update- Got a text, things are progressing and Kate should delivering in the next couple of hours.
Our car has had a long history of doing interesting things and going to new places - but this is a first for him. We just took our friends and nearly-next-door neighbors, Logan and Kate to the hospital to have their baby. (Special permission was given to share the news). They called us at 7am on Saturday (thank you Soren for waiting until a decent hour to kick around in there- I like him already).
Patrick has been eagerly awaiting this call all week (perhaps, dare I say, almost as much as Kate?) In our sleep addled haze, I had to talk Patrick out of bringing our camera- really? why wouldn't she want her picture taken right now? And we suddenly realized that with a woman in labor, her husband and her mom, we should really only send one of us in this packed car... drama ensues (not really)... So I'm here writing it up on my blog while Patrick makes the trip!
Good luck Kate!
5pm update- Got a text, things are progressing and Kate should delivering in the next couple of hours.
purse OCD
I think I have a little obsession going on. I do have good reasons though- I made two more purses for my step sister's and step mom's birthdays. My step sister is turning 10 and hers is the one on the right (bright flowers/black and white stripes). The other one is for my step mom. These are reversible like the first one I made but quite a bit bigger than the first, so they're more like real bags.
Hopefully they continue to NOT read this blog or the surprise will be ruined :)
Car Travels: Armonk, NY
Patrick has signed his summer internship offer with IBM Armonk, NY and I got permission to "work remotely" for the summer! So we went down on Marathon Monday to check out the area and get a better idea of where we might be able to sublet for the summer. We took Gatsby with us on the 6+ hour round trip and all day driving around the local areas. I have to say, he's a great car pup.
We still don't know exactly where we'll be but we have a better feel for the area.
We still don't know exactly where we'll be but we have a better feel for the area.
How hard could this driving really thing be?
Let me just see if I can reach the pedals....
my first purchase!
I had a co-worker convince me she would pay money for one of my purses and here it is... my first purse for sale! It's similar to the beige one I made previously (there's a pictures on that post). It has pleats and a snap closure on the top. She asked for it to be black with gold lining. I've decided I probably won't make this style of bag anymore- it's just too difficult. I had to redo the top section and I'm still not 100% happy with it... oh well. Thanks Jess, I hope you like it.
On a side note, I discovered that my first purse (the square one) is the perfect size for a set of mini-scriptures. All you church gals out there can appreciated that one!
April Happenings
This month was full of lots of events. Me and a few ladies from our ward helped throw our friend Kate a baby shower. I was in charge of "decorations" so I thought I'd put up a picture of the letters Kate and I made spelling her baby's name. They are very cute!
Because I'm looking at a picture of me with glasses on (which I don't normally wear) that reminds me to tell you all that I got conjuctivitis. I didn't know this at first, but that translates into lay speak as pink eye. I've had it for well over a month! The first thing the eye dr said was "wow, you must have a high pain tolerance." oh well, now I know.
We are getting much closer to finishing the repairs on our house. We think we're going to do hardwood throughout the downstairs hallway and back bedroom, so that's a perk. One of the downfalls has been the vermin around. We've caught three rats in the cabinet where we keep our trash can, so we've been keeping the trash can out in the open where our lovely dog sometimes get to sneak things out of it. Here he is with a prized empty yogurt container. If I could add sound you would be very impressed- think grimlins. on crack.70 and holding
Oh spring how I love you. Please enjoy this list of my favorite things about you.
return of the Sun, BBQs, short sleeves and flip flops, green grass and that fresh cut grass smell, tulips and buds on the trees, open toed shoes and pedicures, storing my winter clothes, longer daylight hours, opening windows to let in fresh air, spring cleaning, vacations, walking the dog outside again, Earth Day and other outdoor fairs, did I mention the return of the sun?
Welcome friend, please stay a while.
return of the Sun, BBQs, short sleeves and flip flops, green grass and that fresh cut grass smell, tulips and buds on the trees, open toed shoes and pedicures, storing my winter clothes, longer daylight hours, opening windows to let in fresh air, spring cleaning, vacations, walking the dog outside again, Earth Day and other outdoor fairs, did I mention the return of the sun?
Welcome friend, please stay a while.
Stomp clap, clap stomp - SUPERMAN!
You can see the video of Patrick performing in the MIT Sloan Step Club at the minority business "c-function" here.
It's pretty dang awesome - he is the only white guy in the most diverse step group ever! When they first come on stage he is the front of the row of guys on the left side of the stage. Sorry about the lighting! Stick around for the 4:45 minute mark- there's wife beaters and The Superman!
It's pretty dang awesome - he is the only white guy in the most diverse step group ever! When they first come on stage he is the front of the row of guys on the left side of the stage. Sorry about the lighting! Stick around for the 4:45 minute mark- there's wife beaters and The Superman!
Hawai'i version 2008
After 14 hours of flying we arrived in Kona at 10 PM Hawai'i time (4am EST). We had a series of near misses and re-routed flights, but arrived nearly on time with our luggage and a bottle of wine that the flight attendant gifted us for celebrating our anniversary (she thought we were honeymooning- ahhh cute!).
Let me just get the amazing beach pictures out of the way... it was beautiful and much, much warmer than beantown in March.
Monday we went to Hapuna Beach. That afternoon Patrick played tennis at a local resort with his dad while my book and I visited the resort's beachside cabana.
Tuesday we were still on East Coast time and left early to go down to the Hilo side of the island. We saw the new eruption in the Halema`uma`u crater and after two hours of trying to see the new lava flow into the sea were informed that the viewpoint wasn't open. We enjoyed the Volcano National Park, even though half of it was closed due to the ash and poor air conditions from the eruption. We walked around on the old lava flows (bottom left) and the next day on the newer flows (bottom right).
We then headed down to South Point. The furthest south point in the US, where we proceeded to pronounce the most southerly of any US houses, cows, horses, windmills and rocks as we passed by. Patrick jumped off a 30-foot cliff into the ocean down at South Point. It was so windy and high up that I wasn't able to bring myself to lean over the edge for a better picture- but the way back up was on this rusty, un-anchored metal ladder (bottom right).
We ended the day in Kailua-Kona, enjoying the luau show at the King Kamehameha Hotel. there's a picture of the Imu (pig roasting pit) on the bottom left. Overall it wasn't as good as the one we went to last year with Patrick's dad, but it was a fun thing to do anyway. There was a HUGE downpour of rain right at the end so most people ran for cover while we got self-upgraded front row seats for the fire-knife dance! Wednesday we went back to Kailua-Kona for a whale-watching cruise, courtesy of Patrick's brother who visited earlier and got skunked on their guaranteed whale spotting. We were able to see only two whales (very briefly) so we were a bit disappointed (although glad WE didn't pay for it). Patrick played tennis again with his dad while I took advantage of the resort's beach side hammock and outdoor hot pool. It's a rough life.... I even managed to finish Jane Eyre because of the alone time.
After much "discussion" Patrick consented that if I could get us booked for the horseback tour of the beautiful Waipio Valley we'd do that and if not we had to go hiking -- soo we went hiking on Thursday. It was a beautiful valley, but we weren't able to make our way to the waterfalls despite hiking around for several hours and removing our shoes to walk through washed out and rocky roads for about a mile - it hurt my feet! The hike in and out was quite steep, (they require 4 wheel drive to let you in) so it was a lot of work. While we were hiking up, Patrick looked over at me and started laughing at how far bent over I was trying to hike up this hill. He had to take a picture. After that we went back to the Puna side of the volcano flows and saw the new flow into the ocean. We couldn't get close enough to the flows to see much of the lava (safety-schmafety, I say- show me some lava!). Unfortunately we mostly saw steam.
After one more trip to the beach and being treated to meals out from Patrick's dad and his wife, we began our 16+ hour return flight. Everything went uneventfully except for discovering our home in even worse condition than before. The plumber strikes again...
the crafster
So, I kind of hate to admit it, but I think it's not as big of a secret as I pretend. I love to do crafty things! When we were in Portsmouth, NH we went into a very cute little purse shop called Anna Street. They had very cute cloth purses for the reasonable prices of ....brace yourselves.... $150! There's a similar store on Newbury Street here in Boston. I decided I could do the same for a lot less. I went into my local fabric store and spent $15 on enough materials to make many, many purses and here are the two purses I made in the last two days.
The first is patterned after the Anna Street bags. I couldn't find the same bright patterns and stripes as they had in the store, but I'm too impatient (and cheap) to order fabric online. I liked this fabric too (especially priced at $1.99 a yard) and went for the darker colors. The second purse is a cute little clutch I found a pattern for online. I altered the shape quite a bit when it didn't turn out looking nearly as good as the picture I found online. I think I may add a ribbon to it... it's a work in progress.Anyway, here's a picture of the Anna Street bags for comparison- maybe I should start my own business and charge $50 a bag- it'd be like a discount purse store :)
i HATE my plumber
I hate, hate, hate my plumber. He is evil. It has been three months since our floody disaster and STILL we have no progress on the plumbing. This also means we can't call in the other contractors to fix the holes in our ceiling and walls or put down new carpet. For the last week, my entire closet of clothes has been laying in a stack OUTSIDE of my closet so he can access the shower. The final straw? He gave our neighbor (not us) the estimate which was TWICE what the insurance allotted us for the repair.
Let me highlight for you the funnest parts of our three month relationship thus far:
"I don't think I can make it out there just to fix the shower, let me see if there's any work your neighbor needs me to do to make it worth my time."
"Oh ya, I know I said I would come at 9am but we were running late. We're here now." [said to me after I took the morning off from work waiting from him at home and then had to take another two hours off while they worked, then needed a different part and then couldn't finish.]
"I don't really want to talk about setting up a time to fix the shower right now. I just got news that my dog has to have an operation and I'm really heart-heavy. I'll call you next week."
"I know that I came over three times already, but I still don't have this part I need."
"Now I'm not questioning your intelligence, but perhaps your husband doesn't know that you need to open this vent to let the heat in"
"Oops, I accidentally shut off your heat and hot water and left for the day." [actually he didn't say this, we discovered it and couldn't get him to come back until 8PM THE NEXT DAY while we huddled helplessly around our space heater locked in our back room where we could contain the most heat! He was there until after midnight trying to fix whatever he screwed up.]
[I walk up to see him dumping 30 gallons of water on the ground which is soaking in directly under our foundation and comment that perhaps he could use a bucket and transport some of that to a different location since we have issues with dampness in that area.] His response while continuing to talk on his cell phone: "It's no more water than a snow or a rainfall. It's not an issue"
So why, you ask, do I have this ridiculous plumber working for us? I tried to write out the reason here and it still doesn't make sense to me. I hate, hate my plumber. That's it plumber man- I'm breaking up with you!
Let me highlight for you the funnest parts of our three month relationship thus far:
"I don't think I can make it out there just to fix the shower, let me see if there's any work your neighbor needs me to do to make it worth my time."
"Oh ya, I know I said I would come at 9am but we were running late. We're here now." [said to me after I took the morning off from work waiting from him at home and then had to take another two hours off while they worked, then needed a different part and then couldn't finish.]
"I don't really want to talk about setting up a time to fix the shower right now. I just got news that my dog has to have an operation and I'm really heart-heavy. I'll call you next week."
"I know that I came over three times already, but I still don't have this part I need."
"Now I'm not questioning your intelligence, but perhaps your husband doesn't know that you need to open this vent to let the heat in"
"Oops, I accidentally shut off your heat and hot water and left for the day." [actually he didn't say this, we discovered it and couldn't get him to come back until 8PM THE NEXT DAY while we huddled helplessly around our space heater locked in our back room where we could contain the most heat! He was there until after midnight trying to fix whatever he screwed up.]
[I walk up to see him dumping 30 gallons of water on the ground which is soaking in directly under our foundation and comment that perhaps he could use a bucket and transport some of that to a different location since we have issues with dampness in that area.] His response while continuing to talk on his cell phone: "It's no more water than a snow or a rainfall. It's not an issue"
So why, you ask, do I have this ridiculous plumber working for us? I tried to write out the reason here and it still doesn't make sense to me. I hate, hate my plumber. That's it plumber man- I'm breaking up with you!
I'm almost 30! (kinda)
I'm catching up on my posting today- and I realized I never commented on my birthday. I think the best thing about birthdays is that you get to hear from everyone you love. I LOVE to stretch out those calls, emails, cards, presents and office lunches and birthday dinners AND birthday weekends for as long as possible.
Really, I didn't do anything to deserve all the attention for my birthday, my mamma did. But hey, who doesn't want love and chocolate cake showered on them? Okay, maybe not the latter... but you get what I'm saying.
This year was a tough bday for personal reasons, but the phone calls and emails and my hunny taking me out to lunch and shopping made it a good day afterall.
Thanks for the love everyone. Still waiting for my chocolate cake, Patrick :)
Really, I didn't do anything to deserve all the attention for my birthday, my mamma did. But hey, who doesn't want love and chocolate cake showered on them? Okay, maybe not the latter... but you get what I'm saying.
This year was a tough bday for personal reasons, but the phone calls and emails and my hunny taking me out to lunch and shopping made it a good day afterall.
Thanks for the love everyone. Still waiting for my chocolate cake, Patrick :)
a fabulous weekend
Our fabu weekend began with dropping off our child at his friend McDuff's house for the weekend. Here he is in his new hoodie outfit waiting patiently in the car.
I realized before we headed up there, that the inn we were staying at was a potential gathering place for gay couples- not that it's a problem for us- but we weren't sure what we would find. I have to say, the couple who ran the inn had a talent for decorating and for delicious breakfasts, so I have no complaints! It was also fun to socialize with the two other couples who were staying for the weekend. 
Can't you just imaging cozying up to the fire with a warm mug of hot chocolate in the morning? Or reading a book? I can! It was fabulous.
The B&B is called Riverbend Inn... and here it is! The river bend right off the back window. No false advertising there.
New Hampshire had SO MUCH SNOW! This is the breakfast room "view". That's about 5 feet of snow!
I have to add in here how AMAZING the breakfasts were. Delicious!
We visited a maple sugar museum and field. It was great! We got on a luxurious hay ride (heated hay, beverage service, fully reclining benches -only the best for us) and tried the sap directly from the trees and visited the sugar shack where they cook and produce maple syrup. 
sap buckets on the trees
Patrick tries the sap directly from the tree
The boiler thingy.
Patrick with my dinner. No! He's just a nice bull that hangs out by the sugar shack! He's almost as tall as me. He didn't like Patrick very much though and kept trying to poke him with his horns...
Back to the inn for the evening. Here's the view from our bathroom! Seriously. We also hit the outlet shops in North Conway and stopped as some really great boutique shops in Portsmouth, NH on our way home. The best part by far was the MASSAGES. It was a great trip!Time to start the swimsuit crash diet...
Okay, I know you've all heard Patrick and I arguing about this, but it's been settled-finally! The weekend after my birthday we're going to a cute little B&B up in New Hampshire. (http://www.riverbendinn.com/aboutus.html) The best part ... the package includes massages!
Also there's some kind of Maple Sugar Festival thing going on, so we'll probably check that out. I got these pictures from their website and it makes me wonder exactly what payment method we signed up for. Will that be us, slogging maple syrup through the snow to pay for our lovely stay?
The next week, we'll be headed out to Hawai'i for Patrick's spring break. We'll be staying with Patrick's dad on the Big Island. Here's a picture I took from our visit last March. Warm weather here we come!
Happy Anniversary!
Year one was mostly smooth sailing. We learned that I am an ungracious winner and Patrick is a poor loser, so for a happy marriage, Patrick must win all games and I must lose.
Year two was a time of change. We moved to Boston and went from students to working professionals. We learned that no matter how small or large the budget, I will always spend more money than Patrick. (This was not a shocker for me, but boys just don't understand the need to shop!)
Year three was a year for working together. We learned that work gossip is a lot more fun when shared.
Year four was a time of scaling back. I learned that I cannot eat the food Patrick eats and expect to weigh less than he does.
Here's to year five! I love you.
Year two was a time of change. We moved to Boston and went from students to working professionals. We learned that no matter how small or large the budget, I will always spend more money than Patrick. (This was not a shocker for me, but boys just don't understand the need to shop!)
Year three was a year for working together. We learned that work gossip is a lot more fun when shared.
Year four was a time of scaling back. I learned that I cannot eat the food Patrick eats and expect to weigh less than he does.
Here's to year five! I love you.
save my sanity...
Help me figure out a vacation. I need help. I am looking for something fun to do over spring break (we're talking March here!). Here's my wish list:
Not too expensive
somewhere warm or relaxing (beach is a bonus)
not too far away - hopefully less than 5 hour flight or drive
Any suggestions?
BSO
The program and ticket stubs. I had to do something to entertain myself before the program began, so I got a little picture happy.
A Blurry and not very flattering picture of the two of us but it proves we were there.
The back of Symphony Hall (from our seats)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were given tickets to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and went on Saturday. This was our second trip (both free) and it was great! There were three pieces- Petite Symphony Concertante for Harp, Harpischord and Piano by Martin; Violin Concerto No.1 in D by Prokofiev; Symphony No 3 by Saint-Saens. Patrick and I agreed that the first was a little to off beat (wierd beats, chords and timing) for us and was our least favorite. The second was our favorite because the violin soloist was AMAZING. She had three different movements completely memorized and was a great performer. Her name is Viviane Hagner - I'm hoping to check out some of her music. The final performance was our second favorite. Thanks to Patrick's sister, Meg for a great night and wonderful seats!
I had to include this picture because it shows just how close we were to the stage. We definitely couldn't afford seats this close! Plus you can see part of the cool organ pipes.
visit from an old friend
My friend from High School, Colby Rampton, came to visit this week. He's the one in the red jacket. We met up with some friends of his (the couple on the left) and my good friend Heather (with the baby). We ate dinner at Legal Sea Food (a NE staple). Colby is moving in a few months to Nashville to focus on his music career. He's got some good stuff- his link is on my blog here. This was a vacation/scouting trip so he came over to say hi to all of us.
the big 2-8
For Patrick's birthday I talked him into actually having a party- I know, it's amazing since Patrick hates social gatherings and refuses to make a big deal out of his birthday. I accomplished this by suggesting we all go to Good Times (which is seriously Patrick's favorite place). Before anyone came over, we got take-out from our favorite Thai restaurant Similans (as a little aside here- Patrick has this irrational hatred of sitting down at restaurants. I usually argue that he's just being cheap and doesn't want to tip, but since it was his birthday I caved this time- he's quirky, but it keeps life interesting). After dinner, I created a little scavenger hunt for Patrick to find his presents. I like to think this makes up for him knowing what I was getting him (honestly, I made him tell me what he wanted and then drop me off at the actual store, so he really knew what I was getting him).
Is it in there?Is it under here?
A victorious hunt- Patrick's birthday presents
We invited a bunch of friends including the Coxs, Noyes' and Wangsgards over to our place for birthday cake and icecream, then headed off to Good Times. We did batting cages, skee-ball, a Japanese knock off of Guitar Hero and a similar game for drums, and Deal or No Deal. Overall a very fun birthday party for someone who doesn't like parties.
Deal or No Deal
The amazing prizes
bowling
The East has a different kind of bowling than I'm used to(what they call here Big Ball Bowling). This one is called candlepin bowling. The pins are straight and very skinny, and much harder to knock over, so you get three bowls. Patrick takes his candlepin bowling very seriously and begins each game with this ritual dance to the gods of bowling.
Okay, so I was totally posing for this shot. Can you tell from the cheasy grin on my face? It's the only action shot I have though.
So, when I was in high school, bowling shoes were cool. Kids would steal them from the local bowling alley and wear them around school. I never did get to that level of coolness and steal my own pair, but I do currently own a pair of shoes that looks an awful lot like a less colorful version of a bowling shoe. I didn't realize it until much, much later - it must have been a subconcious desire to be cool after all.
Patrick won the first game, but was given some serious competition in the second. All he had to do to win was knock down 3 pins in his last frame ... just three little pins. His competition, Laci can be seen here next to him giving him the "boogie dice" a distraction which cost him the game! Laci couldn't have been more excited.Donigan Devastation update
Have no fear- the power is back on. I lived for three days without electricity in the only working bathroom until Patrick came home and simply pushed the reset button. Yes, I feel stupid. Anyway- we got the estimate from the insurance company and it looks like everything will work out okay (finger's crossed). We're going to ask for a bit more than they offered and see how that goes as we'd like to replace some carpeting that got wet and stretched out. I'll let you know how that goes.
Snuggle Pup
I put my foot down- I swear I did. No dog in the bed. It all started innocently enough: a snuggle on a lazy Saturday morning progressed to a daily morning snuggle after breakfast, which progressed to doggy stairs up to the bed so we wouldn't have to lift him into the bed (he runs away when you reach for him and then comes back to bark at you when he's feeling safe again-it's annoying when you're trying to catch that last 10 minutes of sleep). Anyway, this progressed until I was home alone (with Patrick traveling on business) and I wisely decided my 10 pound dog offered some sort of protection. Now, as you can see, the dog sleeps with us every night. He LOVES to snuggle and now I wonder if this was all part of the master plan from the start.
T Travels- Cleveland Circle
I decided we haven't had enough exposure to the Boston area in the past 3+ years that we've lived here. So, we're doing a new date night thing where we pick a T stop and go there to explore all the great places around the stop. Patrick (being a consultant at heart) created a spreadsheet with all the T stops and did a random number generator to select our first adventure. It picked Field's Corner in Dorchester, which when we googled it produced such exciting quotes as "Is Fields Corner safe?", "a relatively safe neighborhood", and "a rougher part of town" so we re-generated our random number (is it still random at this point? I don't know) and got to Cleveland Circle in Brighton. After a long T ride out there (we realized we easily could have driven, saved $8 on T fare and a lot of time on transfers- but really it's the experience that counts- right?)
Anyway, we had dinner at a great burrito/wrap place called boloco (apparently stands for Boston Local and is all over the place). We were impressed by the organic ingredients, a good amount of vegetarian options, and biodegradable cups made from corn (seriously!). For our entertainment portion of the evening, we went to a movie. The theater was SO small. I couldn't believe it. I took a picture as proof. Seriously? I paid $10 for this sized screen? I think the theater had 50 seats- smallest I've ever been in.
Anyway, it was a good idea. We'll have to pick a different stop next time where there is some more entertainment besides movies.
The cleanup
You can see the industrial fans in these pictures trying to dry everything out. This one is drying out the inside of the ceiling in our living room. In total, the fans were going for three days. They were quite loud and I kept imagining I was hearing my cell phone ringing- it was seriously driving me crazy.
Here's a picture of our bedroom closet (the wall between the bathtub and the closet). They also removed the carpet from inside to reveal this lovely linoleum.
I think you get the idea- lots of fans, lots of dirt, lots of ugly linoleum. Can't wait until the insurance guy actually calls us back and we can get some of this fixed up.
brotherly love ...
Key Players:
My nephew, Taylor- 4 years old.
Taylor's brother, Alex - 2 years old aka "Baby Alex"
Taylor: Aunt Bonnie, do you need a baby?
[insert awkward pause while I try to figure out what he's talking about]
Bonnie: Sure. Can you get me one?
Taylor: (thoughfully) You can have Alex
My nephew, Taylor- 4 years old.
Taylor's brother, Alex - 2 years old aka "Baby Alex"
Taylor: Aunt Bonnie, do you need a baby?
[insert awkward pause while I try to figure out what he's talking about]
Bonnie: Sure. Can you get me one?
Taylor: (thoughfully) You can have Alex
what a floody mess...
Our pipes froze and burst while we were in Utah for Christmas vacation. The result -
Good news first- looks like insurance will cover replacing everything (minus a hefty deductible). Scroll down to see the devastation.
The water soaked through the ceiling from the bathroom to the living room. Luckily it dripped directly onto our couch instead of onto our wood floors! Don't worry, the couch is all dried out now and just fine.
PS- I have some more photos of the clean-up effort that I'll be posting soon. Stay tuned!
Other water related problems: (perhaps our Chi is out of balance? Or my Pisces status is starting to take itself a little too seriously?)
1) I recently found out that there is a huge puddle of water in the spare tire well of my car's trunk. I found this out when I got a flat tire and couldn't use the rusty tire jack. I'm still not sure how to get all that water out, so I've been riding around with it in there. I think it's now a huge block of ice considering the weather. Maybe I'll go chip it out.
2) A non-flood related leak in our boiler room has soaked the floor. Just one more thing to fix up!
The Great Flood of '08
aka the Donigan Devastation
(Thanks to Logan for the name and the pre-cleanup photos)
Good news first- looks like insurance will cover replacing everything (minus a hefty deductible). Scroll down to see the devastation.
The carpet was so soaked, they had to rip it all out and toss it. This might actually be a good thing, it was in pretty bad shape and we knew we'd have to replace it before we moved out. We're currently considering extending the wood into the hallway - so if the insurance plays nice, we should be getting an upgrade.
The water soaked through the ceiling from the bathroom to the living room. Luckily it dripped directly onto our couch instead of onto our wood floors! Don't worry, the couch is all dried out now and just fine.
PS- I have some more photos of the clean-up effort that I'll be posting soon. Stay tuned!
Other water related problems: (perhaps our Chi is out of balance? Or my Pisces status is starting to take itself a little too seriously?)
1) I recently found out that there is a huge puddle of water in the spare tire well of my car's trunk. I found this out when I got a flat tire and couldn't use the rusty tire jack. I'm still not sure how to get all that water out, so I've been riding around with it in there. I think it's now a huge block of ice considering the weather. Maybe I'll go chip it out.
2) A non-flood related leak in our boiler room has soaked the floor. Just one more thing to fix up!
A year in review...
2007 - A year in review:
January - Patrick is accepted at MIT Sloan to get his MBA degree. My BF from HS comes to live in Boston with her new hubby. They stay at our place until they find an apartment.
February - Patrick's celebrates his 27th birthday. We celebrated our 4th Anniversary at Helmand (a very good Afghani restaurant near our house).
March - I celebrate my 26th birthday (officially closer to middle aged) with a fabulous trip to Hawai'i (also as an anniversary present to ourselves)
April - A considerable pay increase for Bonnie! (Neatly coinciding with the upcoming loss of Patrick's income)
May - My paternal Grandfather dies from Colon cancer. A personally difficult event, but an opportunity to see my extended and immediate family. (Sorry this one is sad, but I couldn't not say it.)
June - A sucessful orientation week for the intern program I ran this year. Believe me, it was a lot of work.
July - Whitewater rafting in Maine. Celebrating the nations birth in a very historic city! Watching the famous fireworks within walking distance of our house. Patrick's last day at Monitor.
August - A wonderful two week vacation. First week in Boston, second week on the Cape with my brother Matt's family, my sis Lisa and my Mom.
September - Patrick starts b-school and survives a sky diving trip with classmates (I told him to get it done before we have kids, because it's not happening after).
October - Fall leaves in New England and apple picking. Pumpkin soup and butternut squash ravioli. Yum!
November - Thanksgiving with Patrick's sister, Meg and friends.
December - Gatsby's 7th birthday and Christmas spent visiting with family!
January - Patrick is accepted at MIT Sloan to get his MBA degree. My BF from HS comes to live in Boston with her new hubby. They stay at our place until they find an apartment.
February - Patrick's celebrates his 27th birthday. We celebrated our 4th Anniversary at Helmand (a very good Afghani restaurant near our house).
March - I celebrate my 26th birthday (officially closer to middle aged) with a fabulous trip to Hawai'i (also as an anniversary present to ourselves)
April - A considerable pay increase for Bonnie! (Neatly coinciding with the upcoming loss of Patrick's income)
May - My paternal Grandfather dies from Colon cancer. A personally difficult event, but an opportunity to see my extended and immediate family. (Sorry this one is sad, but I couldn't not say it.)
June - A sucessful orientation week for the intern program I ran this year. Believe me, it was a lot of work.
July - Whitewater rafting in Maine. Celebrating the nations birth in a very historic city! Watching the famous fireworks within walking distance of our house. Patrick's last day at Monitor.
August - A wonderful two week vacation. First week in Boston, second week on the Cape with my brother Matt's family, my sis Lisa and my Mom.
September - Patrick starts b-school and survives a sky diving trip with classmates (I told him to get it done before we have kids, because it's not happening after).
October - Fall leaves in New England and apple picking. Pumpkin soup and butternut squash ravioli. Yum!
November - Thanksgiving with Patrick's sister, Meg and friends.
December - Gatsby's 7th birthday and Christmas spent visiting with family!
Say CHEESE!
As a Christmas present from my sister Lisa, we took a family photograph of all of the siblings and their families. The photographer was great with the kids and had them all laughing and enjoying the experience. I think the winner was "Say Candy!".It's been great to see my nephews and niece again. I haven't seen my brother Ben's kids (Isaac and Adelyn) in about a year and a half, which is really sad for me. Isaac, the oldest is full of life and energy. He currently obsessed with robots and Spiderman. Taylor, the next oldest by two weeks, asked Santa for only one thing- a blue car watch. He loves that watch and anything else Lightning McQueen related. Alex, next in line, loves to talk and talk and talk. He is actually quite understandable for a two year old. He loves to be read to and his favorite book (and also movie) is Curious George. Adelyn, the youngest by a week, is a princess at heart. She loves her mommy, anything pink and her baby dolls.
Christmas Lights at Temple Square
This Christmas we visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We braved the cold to enjoy all the beautiful lights. My sister Lisa and I wandered around taking pictures of ourselves before meeting up with Patrick who was returning from a ski trip and visit with his brother, Rob.
Christmas gifts
These are the growth chart banners I made for my nephews for Christmas this year. I just finished today! It took forever, but they are cute if I do say so myself.
My original plan was very simple- but like many things in life, it got all complicated. I ended up "quilting" the border out of different sports fabrics, then attaching it to the main fabric (the first time through I sewed them all together, the second time I used iron-on hemming tape- so much easier). On the right side, I made little balls (basket, base and soccer) to mark each inch. The frames on the left side are for pictures of the boys. In case you're wondering what the little cuties look like... here they are!
(photo added after Christmas) My what a pretty tree you have...
Behold the 2007 Donigan Christmas Tree!
I decided I didn't want to re-use last years decorations and made my own! I love our tree. It's very colorful and sparkly, what more could a girl want?
Here's a close up of some of my handywork.
I decided I didn't want to re-use last years decorations and made my own! I love our tree. It's very colorful and sparkly, what more could a girl want?
Here's a close up of some of my handywork.