Summer Photo Dump

Thank you SO much for the baby love! I have much to share but wanted to quick dump some photos from our recent travels… obviously I needed to explain the big old tumm-a-lumm first! We just got back from a lake trip with my family (lakes… not as lame as they sound!) and some Jersey time with Jeff’s family.  After a crazy summer I’m feeling a little more recharged after having spent a week and a half off the radar.  Very lucky.

Gracie at the helm… is my sister hot or what? I told her she looked like a Bond girl here…

Have I introduced you to my family’s goofball lab Bruce? Bruuuuce!

Doggie butts…

I should get a girl scout patch or something for jumping in nasty lake water… very happy I seem to have come out parasite free! It was just too tempting to resist…

Preggies can have fun too!

Aww the fam… PRECIOUS

Meanwhile, a little further south…

Omg more gratuitous beach belly pictures forgive me….

Back in the USSR

HIIIIIII!

Home sweet home! Work event was successful but most importantly… done!  Each time I am in the depths of pre-event stress, I always envision myself as being hyper, giddy, beside myself with joy when everything’s over.  In reality, I am just pooped, and out of it, and mostly just relieved.  I’m now enjoying a delightful long weekend, and it feels strange to go from so much frenzy and activity to sleeping in and hanging around a quiet house.

Let’s see.  Everything started with me dropping Choocheroo at the Petsmart Hotel, which if you read my Twitter, you know went UN-good.  Umm, you know that moment when you’re so stressed but holding it all together, until something TOTALLY DUMB comes along, shatters your facade, and sends you crumpling to an emotional breakdown? For me that was parting with my dog.  I couldn’t stop crying. SO PATHETIC.

Oh Chooch, bless his heart.  We get there and he is crying, splaying out all 4 limbs while I try to drag him in… then I scooped him up and nuzzled him and he is still crying and shaking.  YOU WOULD HAVE LOST IT TOO.  Then I consented to an extra $20 a day for him to get the deluxe playtime option.  Then an extra $5 for daily frozen yogurt treats and peanut butter kongs.  I REPEAT.  PATHETIC.

Anyway, our office was transported to the greater Phoenix-Scottsdale area for a week and everything went well.

First, Chooch helped me pack…

I love him with his little elephant cuddly tucked under his arm.  All is forgiven.

Frontier is officially my new airline of choice since each jet is branded with a different adorably-named animal.  Did you know this?!

Sherman!

Kinda hard to see but this bird was hanging out under this bush every morning…

This was a quail on top of this building… Don’t know that I’d ever seen one in the wild…

 

Pretty resort, huh? Unfortunately our stomping grounds for the week was our windowless “staff office”…

Would it be weird to pin a grainy blackberry picture? This was pink lemonade with jalepeno! Oddly yummy.

NOM…

Kay I’m going outside.  Be back later.

A Very Merry Easter/Passover/Eastover!

We have come and gone from PA too quickly and I cannot believe it’s time for the week to start again.  I have 3 days in the office before we ship off for our huge annual event so I am frazzled to the max.  Jeff leaves tomorrow for his work’s big annual event.  We still have to make accommodations for Chooch, sell tickets for Springsteen in Greensboro tomorrow night (anyone?!), file our taxes……… mega frazzle-dom.

Fun from our travels home…

 

 

 

Hope everyone had a very lovely holiday weekend.  Commence detox…

BACK!

Holy poopsticks y’all.  It felt like we were gone for the blink of an eye, but going back to work and seeing “December 22″ still on my page-a-day reminds me that it’s been a bit of a while.  Crap. 

So, we’ve been in Florida for the last week with Jeff’s family, and I’ll stop there since I know the last thing the world needs (in January) is some dumb blogger posting palm tree pictures and blabbing about her adventures in the greater West Palm Beach region.  You should know that any smugness I may have carried back with me was promptly wiped away by the stinging, 30-degree winds that greeted us back here in the Mid-Atlantic.  That there is the meteorological equivalent of a big ol’ slice of humble pie.

Also if it makes you feel better, you should know that I have been mauled by mosquitos within an inch of my life, and that all day I’ve been plunging my hand down my tights/up my sweater in fits of scratching fervor like some crazy meth addict.  A functional meth addict that wears cardigans and cute tights, you know.  No seriously, I’m bit up from head to toe and it’s freaking disgusting.  At least I’m hoping it’s just mosquitos and not some horrible, mysterious, tropical affliction.  Yesterday on that note I had another Great Moments in Generalized Anxiety personal moment… I’m standing at the mirror surveying the damage and my inner monologue was like, Gosh this is a lot of mosquito bites.  I mean, it looks like I have small po…OH MY GOD I  HAVE SMALL POX!!!!!!! Wait, no, that’s gone right? Some other kind of pox maybe?

Healthy!  

So I’ll spare you trees and sun-flare pictures and instead give you this one of me and my pork roast of a right arm sleeping all sexy-like by the pool (thanks husband for capturing this magic moment… jerk).

And a bunch of gorggggeeeouuusss sunsets from the plane.  The view from up there never gets old.  Unreal.

A Disappointing New Friend / Happy Halloween / Surprise Bonus Reading Material

So today it was freezing and I didn’t feel like walking anywhere good for lunch.  We have this crap salad bar place on the first floor of our building that I’m convinced is in business exactly for that reason, that people from the building begrudgingly go there when it’s cold or raining.

One of the things this venue lacks is a logical system of salad ordering.  They have those little slips where you check off what you want on it, but once you’ve filled it out, it’s kind of a cluster as to the next step.  Like, at Au Bon Pain you stick them facedown on a designated tray, so it’s very evident to the salad-manufacturer what order they should get made.  At this place, it’s like the freaking Lost island or something.  CHAOS.  And once, out of confusion and lack of system, I made the mistake of handing mine to the salad-maker-dude, and some grouchy, miserable broad honest to God YELLED at me for butting in the sacred salad line.  I swear, mean people ruin my day sometimes!

So anyway.  There I was today.  Confusedly standing with another chick, clutching our salad order forms.  Ours ended up getting made by two gentlemen simultaneously, so she started chatting with me.  She explained that over the weekend she had a bad turnout at her Halloween party due to the terrible weather, so ended up eating all the food herself, and now had to make up for it with salads this week.  I explained that I too was at a Halloween party* and had raped a bowl of guacamole, so was in a similar predicament.  Our rapport went on for a while and I was trying to figure out what was happening.  Are we, like, building friends now? Do people make friends this way? Am I supposed to ask her for her email or something so we can meet up again for crappy salads when it’s cold and/or raining?

So, then, the nice gentlemen handed our salads back to us.  Let me explain what was in mine.  Lettuce, green peas, green beans, and green peppers.  It was one of the most awful, boring things I’ve ever ingested.  And would you believe it, this chick says to me “Oh…  I guess you don’t know the thing about vegetables. You’re supposed to eat them in many colors.”

SRSLY lady? You’re going to give me a complex over my vegetable selection? You’re telling me there is something unhealthy about this craptastic mound of green things? And she wasn’t kidding either.  It was a very serious tone.

I tried to defend myself. “Buh……But…..the…..I didn’t think…. the carrots…. italian dressing…. did not compute….?” 

But the damage was done.  My newfound friend… over as quickly as it began.  Apparently because she likes beets and gets some sick superiority complex from it.  (Freak).

*Halloween party! I did the funnest thing this weekend.  So, I thought for the longest time I had yoga class this weekend, so many many weeks ago had declined with regret the invitation to the Halloween bash being put on by my homeslice Luna (in NYC).  She is my beloved little, for those familiar with greek operations.  Then, at the same time I found out I did NOT have yoga class this weekend, our friend Jordana (Luna’s little, for those following at home) , also found out that SHE was free of a conflict she thought she had.  So, having both told Luna we would not be there, we instead went to New York and surprised her! So, so fun… Love those two

Check it!

Jordana (L) was… get this… one of those hip hop hamsters from the Kia commercials (hard to tell because you can’t see her Hammer pants in this shot) and Luna (R) was a self-described sea captain, although the consensus was that her costume was more reminiscent of an official in the airline industry.  Potato, potato.

Bonus reading material day! My sweet yoga school classmate Cheri is a fledgling blogess, and is doing a series of interviews on all of us for her blog.  Go check out my deep thoughts on my yoga journey!

Hi Again!

Just got back from vacay! We had a super time with my parents, sister, and boyfriend-of-sister… and most of all were so lucky that we were able to change our plans last minute to still get our trip together this year.  And m0ster of all, so lucky that we only lost a day of vacation when so many people were dealing with a lot more serious stuff from the storm.  Thank you, God!

We did the drive down in an evening and the next morning… this was circa 11:00pm at who-the-heck-knows-where, Virginia… ugh painful…

And on the second day passed the iconic/horrific South of the Border…

We’re there!

We immediately dropped Chooch into the pool… his first swim! (He did NOT appreciate it).  I will post the video later, it’s hilarious.

Then off to the beach…

Umm, can I tell you how close I was to losing my engagement ring in this next picture?! I guess I was stupid to have such a cavalier attitude about it, but I said “oh just for a second!,” plunked it down on this seemingly safe spot beyond the reach of waves, and then when my hands were pre-occupied with the camera, WAVE.  Umm, I guess I forgot they are unpredictable like that.  Even though it was the thinnest little layer of water, it swept them right away and my eyeballs couldn’t follow both.  I had my eye on the band and immediately scooped it up, but the engagement ring was lost for a good minute or two.  I frantically waved my parents over and Dan, thank GOD, found it! And, thank God that thing is INSURED.  Seriously, if you’re a dolt like me, pay the $40/year for that. 

The vegetation in the South never ceases to amaze me…

Some more family fun… self timers are not a strength of ours….

Magic moment, I know! Ahh better job this time…

Mama/Gracie…

Dan and I took a bike ride around the “plantation” thing we were on…

Blue heron! 

I went into vacation feeling like Arnold Freaking Schwarzenegger from 3 days of straight yoga training, and after a week of beach-lounging and poor dietary choices, am now feeling more like Jabba the Hut.  With the flu.  Nevertheless, I couldn’t resist a wide open beach to get my asana on….

Two words: PIGGLY WIGGLY.  Yea I know this is because of meth or whatever but I couldn’t help laughing at Visine in the meat department.  Also: is that Visine I spy below the sign?

BOO our last night… (Sadly Gracie and Carl had to leave a day early due to fun-hating employers… BOO again)…

Awkward self timer angle again but I’m loving the reflection in the puddle!

A kind beach-goer took pity and volunteered to take one for us! Much better…

Such a great time with the fam! We had a FAIRLY uneventful ride back today, excepting an unfortunate stop at a Wendy’s in, I don’t know, some Carolina.  You see, Chooch is actually a delight to travel with, he hangs out in the back seat self entertaining or napping like a champ, the only thing that has ever really bothered me about traveling with the pup is the nasty, foul, disgusting plots of grass you encounter when taking him out for a break at a rest stop/gas station/Southern Wendy’s.  So, today I was standing there with him, when I felt a pinch on my foot, and looked down to find ANTS ALL OVER my flip-flopped feet.  O. M. G.  And mind you, not like an ant or two, but like ANTS ants.  Ant party.  Ant Dave Matthews Band concert.  MANY ANTS.  I had been there for like 45 seconds so it must have been a serious infestation.  Shudder!

OK! Well with that… sweet dreams! And happy Labor Day!

Hi

So, yea, household update:

• At this moment, we were supposed to be enjoying coronas on the deck of a beachfront house in the beautiful outerbanks of North Carolina…
• We are, in reality, sitting at home in the dark with no power (while I guzzle the remaining 54% of battery on the laptop to bring you this quality post)…
• The power being lost due to two trees falling on a live wire and creating a FIRE in our neighborhood.  OMG.  The power guys are in head-to-toe ponchos and working hard right outside our door (seriously I hope they are getting quadruple overtime right now)… come on Dominion!
• My family procured an alternate house in South Carolina which we will attempt to make a break for tomorrow…
• I survived my first two days of yoga teacher training! And learned four whole poses! Hold on bear with me let me practice my sanskrit… Tadasana, Uttitha Tadasana, Utkatasana, and Uttanasana! BAM!

I may queue some dumb posts up tomorrow (if power is restored), otherwise the blog will be cashing in its vacation leave OK, I’d love to hang out but Jeff doesn’t know what to do with himself without MLB network and is whining to be entertained.  So stay safe everyone and pray we don’t lose our freaking minds on 95!

Weekend Photo Dump

Ahh! We are back from a four day weekend of wedding/beach/assorted family fun… Summer don’t end yet! NOT! READY!

My westies-in-law!

Pouty puppy eyes perfected…

And if Chooch ever writes a self-help book this would make a great cover.  With his chin propped on his paw, of course!

I love a good open collar! Meow…

The church was gorgeous… and I’m loving the light the crappy old Droid captured here! Who knew!

Sangria on an August Friday evening?! I think so!

Ahh! Check out this sushi display at the cocktail hour! Adorbs!

Since the groomie is a fraternity friend of Jeff’s, we were wisely placed at the kids table…

This gave me a giggle… loving the scare tactics at the bottom there… and the caps lock action!

Can you spot the dolphin?! They were all over the place… it was freaking awesome!

And…

Unforch, we just got home a bit ago from a wretched, rainy 5 hour drive home Does not make for a smooth transition from beach to work week.  Candidates for most awesome thing about the journey…

A) Hail Mary-ing my way over the Delaware Memorial Bridge in a monsoon when the car is due for 4 new tires…
B) Waiting in line for 10 minutes to potty at the Maryland House, alongside approximately 80% of the Delmarva female population, only to find an entire bank of potties (requiring a trip around the corner) un-utilized, lending further evidence to my theory that people in groups are equally as intelligent as wildebeest in groups…
C) 5 hours confined in a car smelling like soggy beagle, despite, inexplicably, the fact that we took great care to keep the beagle out of the rain.  Some sort of miracle of nature, apparently…
D) A but not C
E) Both B and C
F) All of the above
G) None of the above

How much did you despise those out of control multiple choice questions in school?! I need to remind myself every day how lucky I am that academics are no longer a part of my life.  Barf.  Those always confused the crap out of me AND killed any shot you had of beating the odds and getting a blind guess right.  So uncool. 

ANYWAY… how’d I get on that? Whatevs.  Happy Monday, yinz!