how is it already Tuesday?

First of all, congrats to Allison and her husband on their freshly born baby! Little Gabriel arrived Monday morning, safe and sound, though he caused a bit of drama by deciding not to cooperate and necessitating a surprise c-section. I stopped by the hospital after work today to say hi and visit, and to bring Allison some chocolate from Claude's. He's very cute, and she looked damn good, especially considering what she went through yesterday. So, congratulations all around!

We were actually quite social this weekend. Kevin called Alfred on Saturday and asked if we were busy, (which, other than packing, we were not) so we met them for an extended lunch (complete with plenty of colorful drinks) and then did a little sightseeing, for free of course. Then on Sunday we headed up to Alfred's parents' house for the Super Bowl. This involved even more eating and drinking. Plenty of frozen margaritas to go around. I think I watched about 10 minutes of football. So, plenty.

Other than that, most of our time over the past several days has been spent cleaning, organizing, packing, and getting things together to donate to Goodwill. They're really going to get to know me over there. So if posts are a little sparse for the rest of the week, that's why.

boston!

It's been a busy week, to say the least! But finally, a Boston post!

I left work a little early on Friday and met up with my girls at a bar after a mostly uneventful journey. They had already had a few drinks, so they ordered me a cocktail to help me catch up. We stayed out for a few more hours, catching up, then eventually made our way back to our respective hotels and homes and crashed for the evening.

Saturday started out pretty cold. Katie was busy with her conference, and Steph had to take care of her dog, so Katherine, Rosemary and I headed out for breakfast. We ate, wandered around Beacon Hill for a bit, and then ended up going back to the hotel for awhile. Some of us had been bitten pretty hard by a rattlesnake the night before, so we needed a little rest to gather our strength for another evening of excitement. Katie and Steph joined us in time to walk through a snowstorm for dinner.

We went to an Italian place, which was good but not fantastic. Then we walked back to the hotel, through the same snowstorm (it was snowing and blowing and wet and cold and gross) and were greeted by this:

They had gotten cake and champagne for Katherine and my birthday! We all got decked out in some robes and slippers (lovingly provided by the housekeeping staff) and ate and drank our little hearts out. At some point Rosemary and Steph decided we needed more booze, so they braved the storm again for some more wine and champagne. We played some speed Uno (because of course I always carry our Uno cards in my purse) and polished off a few more bottles. Katherine and I decided we wanted a snack, so we headed out in the snow to find the CVS that was apparently a block away. We walked in various directions for awhile, then gave up. By the time we got back to the hotel, the other girls had decided to go meet Ingo (Katie's husband) at a bar nearby. On our way, we walked right past the CVS that had eluded us moments before. Curses! But we got some appetizers, and a couple more drinks, so it was all good.

Sunday was still cold, but dry, so it was a good day for walking. We wandered around Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, then went over to the Paul Revere House, then hit up Mike's Pastry for some cannolis!

They were just as good as I remembered. After a pretty full day of walking and sightseeing, Rosemary had to leave to catch her flight, and Katie and Ingo had to spend some time at their conference. Katherine and I headed out to Steph's current home, where Katie joined us later for some homemade soup for dinner. We turned in relatively early (by midnight!) since Steph had to work the next day.

Katherine left for the airport after a last breakfast with me and Katie on Monday morning, then I wandered around for awhile by myself. I wandered over to where Steph works and had lunch with her, then had to head for the airport myself. I ate dinner at the Five Guys that was in my other post, and got in about 15 minutes early. And then I had to go back to real life. It was a great weekend!

back to the wilderness

First of all, happy birthday to Mason, who turned 5 last Thursday. I proved myself the worst aunt in the world by not calling him on his birthday. I tried calling the next day, but didn't get to talk to him. I figure I'll call this week and talk to Ella about school, too. Poor Mason, having such a tool for an aunt. At least I got his gift to him on time. Better than nothing, I guess.

We were out of town this weekend with Ilya and Mercedes. We went to Ichetucknee, which is a spring in FL that's sort of like a lazy river ride from a theme park, but in real life. The three of them talk about how fun it is every summer, but I've never been, so finally this year we managed to go. We got to our campground around 8:00 Friday night, set up camp like pros, and cooked some burgers for dinner. We went to bed at a reasonable hour, since we had to be at the park early the next morning. There are multiple entrances to the river, but only 750 people are allowed to start at the northernmost entrance per day. Since it was a holiday weekend, we got to the park at about 7:30 to make sure we were able to do the whole river. Luckily we were able to rent inner tubes from our campground, so we didn't have to make any stops on our way. It was fun, even though it was a little cool at 9am to be in 70 degree water. It warmed up by the end of our first run though. We stopped for lunch, then went back to the midpoint and went down the river from there twice more. We swam for awhile (except for Mercedes, who is far too sensible to do such things). I kicked a branch underwater and hurt my toes. They're all bruised and they hurt to walk on. But still had lots of fun.

After our day on the river, we headed back to the campground and started in on some drinking. We had Kahlua, vodka, white and chocolate milk, and beer. Ilya and I got pretty drunk on various color Russians (and apparently both snored that night after passing out). Alfred cooked us some massive burgers for dinner. Mercedes made friends with a cat. I found a frog. We made smores. I sat in Bisquick and made a giant mess. Ilya played with his new oil lantern. In other words, a fairly straightforward night.

The next morning we packed up and headed back home, stopping for a nice greasy breakfast at a Huddle House. We dropped Ilya and Mercedes off at their house, then went to go see Alfred's family. I haven't visited since we got back from our trip, so it was nice to see everyone. Alfred had to change his oil, too. Eventually we made our way home, unpacked, and pretty much just crashed. Busy weekend.

embarassing picture day

In honor of the joy that is Friday, I decided to put up some pictures. They're not all that embarrassing, really, except that I look kind of goofy in a few of them. But what else is new.

First up: me and Mercedes at the M&M store in Orlando (it was delicious):


Next: me, Katherine, and Rosemary at Universal. I like how Katherine and I are kind of hunched over, like we're trying to fit into the picture. As if we might be too tall to fit in the frame.


Next, we have me, Katie, and Mike visiting the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine a few years ago. I think it was Mike's idea to make it look like we were scared, and then he just sat there and smiled. What a dope.


This is an old favorite: me, Katie, and Tony enjoying some family bonding time one Christmas. There are lots and lots of pictures of people smoking the hookah and cigars that night. And drinking. What a good influence we are for Katie. I think she was 17 in this picture.


Ok, this one's not embarrassing at all, but I like it. It's been waiting for me in Photoshop so I did a little editing. Kinda nice, I think.


That's it for this installment. Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane, come back and see us sometime!

day off

No post yesterday because I took the day off! It was my parents' last day here so I played hooky. But first, some pictures of mom's birthday cheesecake. Decoration courtesy of Katie.


The bottom layer is brownie, then a layer of caramel, then a layer of cheesecake. It was gooey and delicious. Luckily we ate most of it already, so there's not much more for me to gorge myself on.


Yesterday we went to Fort Matanzas, which I'd never been to but wanted to go to. I didn't realize it was free, so that was cool. Then afterwards we went to the beach. It was much nicer than last weekend when we tried to go to the beach; then we left after only an hour because it was so cold. We were there for maybe 3 1/2 hours yesterday. I got a little sunburned. I had Katie do sunscreen on my left arm so I didn't have to get sunscreen on my burn wound, and she missed a little patch on my shoulder. You like how I sell her out? I also missed a little spot on the backs of both knees. So that'll be fun until it fades.

Speaking of my burn, the blister popped the other night when I was washing dishes, and it oozed for the next 24 hours. It seems like it's finally dried out this morning and maybe starting to heal now. It still looks disgusting and hurts. I have a band aid tan line on that finger.

We also went out to dinner last night. We walked to the restaurant, so Alfred, Katie, and I each brought along a beer for the road (which my parents did not know until right now). I then burst into the men's room accidentally. Apparently since we've been to that restaurant last, they switched the men's and women's restrooms. Totally not my fault. There was a guy at the urinal, but he had his back to me so he didn't see me, and there was no one else in line at that point. Still pretty embarrassing.