Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
So often I'm taking photos of Lily in some themed scenario that I sometimes forget to take the everyday shots. I took this while zipping up her coat in the park. I thought it was a beautiful photograph of her. Mental note: take more casual shots of family!
Saturday, October 25th, 2008
A Few of my Favorite Things
Every year I become so involved in what I'm going to give my friends and family for Christmas (not to mention how I'm going to afford it) that when asked what 'I' want I can't do anything but draw a blank. NOT this year! Here are a few of my favorite things that I've been drooling over lately....yes that includes a hand vac (with kids under 4 you'd drool over a hand vac too). Hopefully someone in my family will take the hint;) Click on image to be directed to description.
Wednesday, October 6th, 2008
Maize Maze
Last Saturday night we drove down to Amish Country and visited Cherry Crest Adventure Farms. It boasts a 5 acre maize maze. We tried it at night but had to leave early because Molly wasn't enjoying herself very much. Though leaving the maize maze proved harder than we anticipated, you can see Molly's frustration if you click the right photo. Perhaps next weekend, perhaps during the day.
Wednesday, October 6th, 2008
Pumpkin Pickin'
We spent the morning at Ashcombe nursery which has a great fall setup including hayrides, hayslides, pumpkin picking and face painting. Lily was so picky about her pumpkin. It had to be small enough for her to carry.
Wednesday, October 6th, 2008
I'm always looking for new music. The songs on the 'regular' radio suck! Really....suck. Brian had purchased XM radio for me last Christmas and it has been a godsend. To me, it's definitely worth the $12 a month. I recently discovered an artist with a great sound. Reminiscent of ELO. You might have heard of him, a couple of his songs were featured on the 'Little Miss Sunshine' album. Sufjan Stevens. Right now, go to iTunes, uTorrent, whatever and download 'For the Windows in Paradise, for the fatherless in Ypsilanti'. Ethereal.
And if you have any good songs that you think I might like PLEASE leave me a comment and let me know. A new great song can sometimes get me through a rough day!
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
And now I know what 'bullpen' means....
Last Saturday Brian, me, his sister and her boyfriend attended a Phillies game. It was a very 'iffy'' day. First of all it POURED on our drive over. So the weather was a big 'if'. All you baseball fans out there might know a little bit about this but the entire excitement of the Phillies game depended on whether the Mets won or lost that afternoon. Depending on which, the Phillies would either clinch their division by the time we got there (thus making the game irrelevant) or not. I'm still a bit confused, not being a big baseball fan. All I know is fortunately that didn't happen and the Phillies clinched their division with us watching from the stands. That's them in the background celebrating. GREAT! And not a stitch of rain!
Friday, September 26th, 2008 I just found this on YouTube. So amazing....you can have videos of you that you didn't know existed. Sort of still wish I didn't know it existed:) I'm the awkward, make-up free mom near the middle. The follow up four-year olds put me to shame.
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Tuesdays not just about 'House' anymore
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE House too! But if you've read my profile you know that I am a sci-fi nerd. You name it, I've fallen in love with it....Battlestar, Lost, Heros, Reaper, Buffy, X-files....And now FRINGE! This however, does not bode well for fringe. MANYof my former Tivo'd favorites now reside in DVD, plot lines never to be fully told. Carnival, Angel, The Invisible Man, Dark Skies, Now and Again, Dark Angel....the list goes on. But I'm hopeful! I've heard modest things about the recent ratings. But so far, it seems J.J. Abrams can do no wrong. So I'm really hopeful! He's totally sucked me in. Only two episodes in and I can't wait to see how John will come back from the dead, who will play William Bell and what will be Peter's reaction when he finds out about how he was conceived! OOoooo, I can't wait for Tuesdays!
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Baby Steps
Molly stood on her own for the first time today! I grabbed the camera that was sitting beside me and took this. She couldn't figure out how to sit down without falling over. Brian reached out to her as if to coax her to walk but as she tried to take a step her legs buckled and she had this momentary look of panic as she fell. I felt bad for her but I have to admit that the whole thing was pretty adorable.
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
....and the worst part was I didn't get carded
Last night was the first time Brian and I have gone out since Molly was born. That's my sister. That's me being goofy. Before this picture was taken we laughed about old homemade videos, common annoyances and our own unique versions of 'the robot'. We left at 12:30 and I was POOPED!
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
Ka Pow!
I took this last year at the lake. Brian is such a goof.
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
End of the World!!!!
Did anyone hear about the Doomsday device that they are powering up TOMORROW?! I myself am very interested in astronomy and the origins of the universe which this machine is supposed to help explain HOWEVER, there is like a one in a couple million chance that it will create mini black holes that will devour the earth thereby bringing an end to mankind....heck....all kind. What it is *supposed* to do is send beams of protons around a 17 mile ring, 11,000 times per second then crash them into each other as what would have happened during the 'big bang'. The questions that will be answered could possibly change the face of science (including time travel....seriously). The device has been in the works for the past 25 years so obviously, people have a lot invested in it, aside from the $6 billion....of course. Brian brought this to my attention a couple months ago and at the time a couple groups had tried to go through legal channels to stop them from using it but apparently it's happening tomorrow. Yikes. Well, if I post on Thursday, you'll that everything went okay. If not, I'm somewhere between here and oblivion. I found a post somewhere on the internet that I thought summed it up sardonically.
"Imagine you have a huge tanker truck parked outside a children's hospital. You don't know what's inside it, but you're fairly confident that it's either a cure for cancer, or 20,000 gallons of explosive nitroglycerin. To find out which, you have to shoot at it with an AK-47."
Read more here.
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
What are friends for?
When the new Batman movie came out I HAD to see it! Brian was away visiting some old friends from law school but my friend from childhood, Abi, was nice enough to accompany me even though I think she would have prefered to see Mama Mia. Here we are....giddy from sneaking brownies and McDonald's iced coffee.
Friday, September 5th, 2008
Why I Envy My Children
They have the hair color of my dreams! I've tried and tried to get my hair to an ASH brown color. But, no matter what I do it looks like this. Reddish Brown. It's my Pacific Islander genes. So I pose the question to you....Does anyone know how to get rid of that red?
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
We've Finally Boarded the HD Wagon
This was my birthday gift to Brian this year. It was either this or a cruise. And since our old tv was starting to get fine white lines at the top of the screen I thought this would be the more practical choice. It's HD. And oh, how lovely it is. We get a kick out of switching the channels back and forth from normal tv to hdtv. Here's the Phillies in hd....but LOOK....here's the Phillies in noormall tv. Ugh. How did we ever survive?!
I went to Best Buy to pick up this tv and had a minor ordeal. Since, of course, I couldn't tell Brian about the surprise, I had to go to the store alone. I pulled the car up to the front where a brawny warehouse employee came out with my tv on a dolley. However, after many attempts we soon discovered that the box was not going to fit in the car. I then had the brilliant idea to remove the tv from the box and slide it in. He then informed me that he could not help me in any way if I was going to take it out of the box. Ugh. So....in front of the store....all 105 lbs of me had to open (without a knife) the box, then lift the 40" flatscreen into my car while all the Best Buy employees stood inside watching the spectacle.
One, Geek Squad guy coming into work insisted on helping me but was quickly thwarted by one of the other employees who promptly ran out and informed him that he could NOT help. I thanked him for being SUCH a gentleman. Overall, I guess I understand why they have that policy but as a customer, is it really worth having people struggle in the front of your store while you all stand inside watching? How must *that* have looked?
Monday, September 1st, 2008
Molly's First Ride
Labor Day we all went to Knobels with Brian's parents and his sister, Caren. This was Molly's first ride. And kind of scary for me as she started squirming mid-flight.
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
The Browns Have It!
I spent all of Sunday sewing a new slipcover for our futon. The old one (see above) was disgusting. I'm ashamed to say that towards the end, this is how it looked right before I'd put it in the wash (this was the worst and the final straw). Bleach could get the stains out temporarily but within a couple days they were back....with their friends. I originally made the white cover a little over a year ago to match my IKEA armchair and ottoman (which have seen better days as well). I figured after a year of washing and bleaching I finally got my money's worth and bought fabric for a new cover, a more....how should I say....chocolate milk colored cover. The top picture is the finished futon. Looks good. Now, only three more pieces of furniture to go....sigh....
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Lily the Lionheart!
Brian, Lily & I on 'The Scrambler' at Hersheypark. Lily was quite the fearless four-year-old, asking when she could be old enough to ride the rollercoasters. Then actually riding one (a small one with no tall hills).......though we led her to believe she was in line for this rollercoaster which she happily accepted.
Friday, August 29th, 2008
Say 'Cheese Curls'!
Last Saturday my sister and I went to the lake with lily and molly. Lily was whole heartily excited about getting in the water. That is, until she saw the sea weed floating on the surface. She clung to my sister like a rhesus monkey. Molly surprisingly sat in her floaty and had a good time. This picture was taken pre-sea weed swim.
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
A Tisket a Tasket
For a long time I thought fresh flowers were a luxury I could not afford. However, after drooling over 'Oh Happy Day's posts about flower arranging and a bit of rationalizing, I decided that (as long as they last a week and I buy the inexpensive varieties), they were something I could splurge on. I'm no florist so to the amateur arranger my bouquet must look like a tangled tot's coif but to me, any fresh flowers in the house brightens my day!
NEW!! I had a couple people ask where I bought the chandelier. However, I had something very specific in mind when I was decorating and could not find anything even close to what I was looking for. So I made it myself. The only advice I can give is how I did it. I took a regular extension cord, cut off the plug, striped the wires and hardwired it into the ceiling. I bought a ceiling plate at Lowes and screwed four eyelet screws into it so that I had something to hang the black chandelier chains from (also bought at Lowes). From the chains, I hung two 3' wreath frames together with floral wire, then finally wrapped brown christmas lights (which were the hardest to find) around the frame and plugged them into the extension cord which I hid inside the chain. Complicated? It sounds a little but to be honest it was easier than I had anticipated. 
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