panic button??

Red Sox nation - is it time for the panic button?? I think we're getting there...

Wedding planning update

Things we have:
Church/Reverend
Reception Hall
Caterer
Cake
Centerpieces
Bouquets
Dress/veil/shoes for me
Dresses for bridesmaids and possibly the flower girl (we'll have to see what it looks like when it ships - I ordered it online)
We are also in the process of designing our Save the Date cards - so be on the lookout for those!!

Things we don't have:
DJ (but we do have SEVERAL people looking into creating a dance band for us - we didn't ask for it, but I am NOT going to complain!!) :-)
Photographer - but we are talking to someone who is checking the date, and is going to get back to us
Invitations
Favors

What else is there? I'm not sure exactly, but it sure does seem like A LOT!!! Everytime I turn around, it seems like there are more things to do, but I also have done a lot at the same time. I am proud to report, however, that we are keeping a VERY reasonable budget on this whole thing, and are not spending a half million like on "My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding" or whatever it is called on VH1. :-)

Anyone else getting excited???

are we playing football or baseball?

If I said that the final score of a sports game was 30-3, what sport would you think I was talking about?

Football?
Basketball?
Certainly not hockey....

And I NEVER would have guessed BASEBALL!!!!

But there it is: Texas 30 - Baltimore 3

Good Lord...

all I have is weiners

I looked in the fridge and freezer tonight to figure out what to have for dinner. All I had was weiners. HOT DAWGS

I made a hot dog casserole. Spinach, egg noodles, sour cream, milk, cream of mushroom soup, hotdogs, peas, and crumbled bacon. YUMMY.

And the boy ate it!

He picked out most of the peas, but he ate the spinach. I guess I should call him Popeye from now on...

I am a food magician

I turned muffins into biscuits!!

I'll even let you in on my top secret trick!

When the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour, just simply add 2 1/2 cups!!!

This is why I should not make muffins first thing in the morning when I am half asleep...

(They taste alright, just a little dense - kinda like me, I guess...)

Flufferbeer??

I would like to warn ANYONE who attempts to eat a fluffernutter sandwich while drinking beer. Upon taking a sip of beer, any remnants of fluff still in your mouth will expand into a tickly foam, making it difficult to swallow.

Beware.

Thank you.

it's really happening

After my cousin's wedding this past weekend, the boy and I have realized....

holy crap...

we're getting married!!

Tomorrow we're going to talk to the cake people, and help my sister pick out her maid of honor dress at David's Bridal (the other two bridesmaids have theirs already).
This morning, we were talking about groomsmen's outfits and what we wanted to do for the bar at the reception.

It is imminent...

as my uncle said "another one bites the dust"

I used to live here...

So I am allowed to poke fun!!

Thanks to Kellypuffs for pointing this out!!

THIS is what I am here for!

I got to fill in for John tonight...big shoes to fill.

But I had FUNNNNNN doing it!!! I decided to go for the "change of pace" route. I took the program for our upcoming concert, and we went through the whole thing! That's A LOT of music. We stopped and fixed things on the way, but we made it through a LOT tonight!!

There was a clashing of two worlds tonight...there were several of my ex-students in the band tonight while I was conducting. ....weird....

And it was HOT in the auditorium tonight...I was literally sweating...it was gross....

Then it was O'Hanlon's, which was always fun. (and an ex-student was there too - working as a waiter!!)

We left talking about oil....only in the NVCB.

I love this band

She lived a good life

(sort of)

Rest in Peace Petunia.

My much-tormented fishy has finally gone to the big fishbowl in the sky (or the big toilet bowl in the bathroom)

Although she didn't pass away under my watch (I was in Cleveland), I still don't blame the boy, he couldn't have helped it.

Her much-tormented few months are over.

Following the Sox Day 7

Again, no pics, but I will get them soon!

Today we started at A Christmas Story House and Museum. It was fun to look around and see what you remember from the movie (even though Debbie has apparently never seen it). They had the snowsuit and rifle in a display case. They also had many leg lamps that you could buy (I bought a nightlight version) I never realized the movie was shot in Cleveland (it took place somewhere else, and a lot of the scenes were also shot in CA as well as Canada). A few years back, the house was for sale on EBay, and a guy (who has the company that makes the leg lamps - apparently he's obsessed with the movie) who lives in CA bought it and is having MAJOR renovations done to make it look like it did in the movie. They mostly used the house for outdoor scenes in the movie, they shot the inside scenes on a soundstage. The house was originally a duplex, and had to be completely gutted. They couldn't recreate the dining room, because there wasn't actually room for it in the house, it would have to be on the neighboor's property if they wanted to do that. All of the furniture that is in there was donated, and is all 1940s-era furniture that is similar to what they used in the movie. It was fun. I'll post pics later.

Next we went to the Cleveland Zoo. IT IS HUUUUUGE!!! We didn't even get a chance to see some of the exhibits because it was so big! It was a lot of fun. We saw a rainforest exhibit, and I got to touch manta rays, and there was an entire Dinosaur exhibit that had life size moving mechanical dinosaurs. One of them even spit water (instead of poisonous juices, which is a good substitute as far as I am concerned). There were a lot of great exhibits, I had a great time, and took A LOT of photos. (which, again, I apologize, but I really don't feel like logging them into shutterfly...I want to label, and don't just want to dump).

We went to Houlihan's in Tower City for dinner again. I forgot to mention that we went there yesterday too. So let's backtrack...

Yesterday we went to Houlihan's. GREAT FOOD!!! They have this special - 3 minitinis for $8.50, instead of one martini for the same price. It was way cool, because you can try three different ones. I tried a quavatini, a chocolatetini, and a cosmotini. We split an appetizer sampler of buffalo fingers, stuffed mushrooms, and quesadillas. Then I had AN AMAZING SALAD!!! It was a Calamari salad with an asian-inspired base. You eat it with chopsticks, and it has cabbage instead of lettuce. And the strangest thing is, it had BANANAS in it...which sounds like it would be gross, but it was DELICIOUS!!! And since our waitress accidentally spilled a little of the martinis on me, she felt bad and gave us a free dessert. Yum!

Today we went back to Houlihan's, and we requested the same waitress, because she was so nice. We practically got our own room. We were in a little niche, and there was no one else around. I got the three minitinis again, but I got a bluetini, adam and eve tini (apple) and the cosmo tini again. I ordered the Ahi Tuna Salad, which has the same base as the calamari salad, but has Ahi Tuna again. IT IS SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD!!!!! We split an order of creme brulee for dessert. YUMMY!!!

Then it was off to the ballgame. We left later than normal, because there was a thunderstorm DIRECTLY overhead, and we didn't want to go outside in it. One crash of thunder was so loud, I swear to you it shook the entire hotel!!! The game was only about 1/2 hour late in starting, which wasn't too bad. Tonight's game was definitely NOT a pitcher's duel. We ran away with it for a bit, the Tribe tried to come back, but it wasn't enough, we blasted in a few more, and it was over. There was a 3 week old baby girl behind us with her parents, and this was her 2nd Sox game!!

Great game tonight!!

We head back to Pennsylvania tomorrow, and fly out of Pittsburgh to Boston on Saturday. Perhaps I should call my little brother at some point and remind him to pick me up from the bus station....

Following the Sox Day 6

Ok...one day late, and no pics (cuz I am tired)

Yesterday was spent at the West Side Market, which was way cool, and if I lived here, I would shop at all the time. It has fresh fruits and veggies, and local butchers, seafood, and pastries. I bought a sour pickle to eat right then and there, some chocolate-covered espresso beans, and some stuffed olives (stuffed with some different italian meats ie. capicola, prosciutto, etc) I saw lots of fish, and even an entire smoked pig!

We also spent many hours touring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I could have probably even spent longer there, but I COULDN'T BRING IN A CAMERA!! grr argh I'm an angry gumball!!! I wanted to take lots of pix to show my students, but I could only take some photos of the outside and the lobby, nothin on the inside of the museum. I got to see the different outfits that several artists wore, which is really fun, because I kept thinking, "wow that's a nice pair of pants, or wow that's a nice pair of shoes", and then I read the names, and they were worn by men. HA! Jimi Hendrix had some nice clothes!!

Then we went to the ballgame. We lost, but it was still a great game. It was a pitcher's duel to the end. Beckett made one mistake, and it turned out to be the game winning one. Oh well, that's baseball.

I will get pics up as soon as I can sit down at the computer for a while (there are quite a few)

Following the Sox Day 5

What a close game!!! SOX WIN 1-0!!

Trot started in tonight's game, but he didn't do much. It was a really close game the entire night. Pitchers duel between DiceK and Sebathia, it was a really good game.

We went shopping earlier today at the mall that is attached to our hotel. I definitely got a nice birthday gift from Victoria's Secret - I bought a $50 bra and two $15.99 bras and used a $10 coupon and only paid $60. It was sweet. I also got a pedicure at a spa....niiiice....

We had lunch at the Great Lakes Brewing Co. We split a sausage sampler appetizer - 4 different types of sausage with mustards. Yummy! I had a portabello sandwich...also yummy. There were a LOT of yummy beers to choose from. I apparently picked the most bitter one to try, it was still pretty good, and it also had the most alcohol per volume.

Then it was off to the game!

I think we might go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow (I know I said that yesterday, but I think we really will tomorrow)

Oh great...

Just at the time I am about to fly...

We have to worry about people sneaking fake bombs on our planes

Ok...so I won't be bringing any cheese onto any airplanes anytime soon.

Following the Sox Day 4

SOX WON!!! WOOT!! GREAT GAME!!!

We went shopping in Grove City, PA this morning at a HUGE outlet mall. I bought some clothes and a game called Encore. Then we went on to Cleveland.

It took us a while to get here, but we're in Cleveland. There's a lot of construction around the hotel, so it was a little tricky to get here, but we're here safe and sound.

I'll check out the hotel tomorrow and take some pics. In the mean time, there are more pics on my Shutterfly site.

We're thinking of going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow.

Following the Sox Day 3

Today was the Polish Festival at PNC Park. We waited in line for 45 minutes to eat pierogis and golabki (stuffed cabbage). It was funny, because I thought I was going to like the pierogis better, but I liked the golabki better, it was really good.

The Pirates game was a quick one today! It was only 2 hours and 11 minutes! I would say it was a pitcher's duel, but that would be giving the pitchers way too much credit. It was almost a defensive game, there were a few good plays, but it was mostly a poorly-hit game. The Bucs lost 1-0.

We went out to dinner at Atria's restaurant. I had a crab cake sandwich, Debbie had a reuben (how she could eat more sauerkraut, I'll never know). It was a good dinner.

We're off to Cleveland tomorrow morning to see the Sox tomorrow night, stopping at the Heinz Retail Store on the way (not really on the way - slightly out of the way, actually)

Following the Sox Day 2

Click here to see the pics on shutterfly!

We started off today with a yummy breakfast at the hotel. We had our choice of all kinds of fruit, cereal, yogurt, make-you-own-waffles, english muffins, bagels, donuts, eggs, sausages, juices, coffee, milk...it was a lot (I obviously didn't EAT all of it, but it looked good)

Then we headed off to Aunt Ruth's house, where we met up with her and our cousin Glen. On our way over, we stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some drinks for the hotel room, and to replace the contact solution that exploded in my bag, as well as buy a little potted plant for our aunt.

Turns out there was some construction on the way to her house, and we got taken on a LOOONG scenic detour. (which made us arrive about 15 minutes late) sorry Ruth!

We stayed at Ruth's house for a while, where we caught up (I haven't seen her in about 7 years) with both her and Glen. We had lunch, and had a small tour of the yard, where Glen showed us what he has been working on. Turns out he hasn't been to the house in about 3 years!

After that, we drove around for a bit, and headed back to the hotel to plan what to do next. We decided to check out the Senator John Heinz History Center downtown. This museum has a little bit of everything - sports, Heinz 57, Lewis and Clark, Glass making, Soul Soldiers (African American soldiers of the US), and of course a whole lot on Pittsburgh's history. It was a pretty cool place to spend a few hours.

After that, we headed back to the hotel again, to head out to the ballgame at PNC - Pittsburgh vs. Houston. PNC park is literally across the street from our hotel. We step outside, and it is in front of us. Tonight was bobblehead night, so we each now have a Pirate bobblehead. It was a pretty good game, all and all, considering I really don't follow or have a vested interest in either team. Pittsburgh won 7-3. I kept score on my scorecard. We shared a bucket of wings from a place called Quaker Steak and Lube, I had 13 and Debbie had 12. That's a lot of chicken!!

Following the Sox Day 1

Our hotel has a living room...crazy...

...and a kitchen...(which sadly is nicer than the one in my apartment)

This is the sink part of the bathroom that is outside of the actual bathroom. (I figured that no one really wanted to see a picture of a toilet, so I didn't take one)

And these are our beds. They felt pretty comfy when sitting on them, but I will have to give you the full report after sleeping on it all night.

Ok, sadly, I have nothing to show you but the inside of our hotel room. It was a looong day. I left the apartment at 9:20 a.m., drove to mom's house where the little bro drove me to the C&J Trailways bus station in Newburyport, where I waited for an hour (better to be early than late...) for the bus that carried Debbie from Portsmouth and brought us both to Logan. We got there about 2 hours before our flight, so we ate a small lunch at Wolfgang Pucks. I crocheted some, and we boarded a flight to JFK at 2:20 - takeoff at 2:50.

We landed at JFK at 4:00, and made a mad dash across the entire airport (we actually had to get onto a shuttlebus) to our next flight, which boarded at 4:10 to leave around 4:40 to get to Pittsburgh. We sat on that plane for at least 1/2 hour before it took off.

We landed about 6:45 in Pittsburgh, picked up our luggage and car, and made for the hotel. Which sounds easier than it is, because 1/2 of the streets to our hotel were blocked off because of the baseball game at PNC. (who really watches the Pirates and Astros anyways??) We finally got here, and when I opened my bag, I found that my contact solution bottle had opened and leaked about 1/4 of the bottle all over some shirts and other clothes and papers in my suitcase. At least it was just basically water, instead of my sunscreen or hairgel, or anything else that could have been a WAAAY bigger mess!

We went to the restaurant that is a part of the hotel (you can enter from the street or the hotel), called SoHo. It was pretty good. I had a Midori sour, and we split artichoke and spinach dip for an appetizer. I had a mesculin salad for my meal, and we split a piece of chocolate peanutbutter pie for dessert.

Now, I'm off to read a chapter (or crochet...one of the two...) before I hit the hay.

Birthday

My birthday (the big 27) was last Sunday. The boy bought me a new MP3 player, because my old one (that he bought me 2 years ago for Valentine's Day) was only 500-something MB, which isn't a lot of songs, and it didn't hold a charge very well. This one is a Creative Zen V plus. It is pretty good, and is WAY cheaper than an IPod, but is just as good. It can hold photos and video as well as MP3s. He also took me to a Japanese Steak House in Concord (next door to Papa Razzi). We were the only ones in the restaurant, it was really good. I had salmon and scallops, and he had chicken and steak.

My college roomie came over yesterday to bring me my birthday present: 3 shirts from Life is Good.

This shirt is definitely me...especially when I am driving!!!

I could have used this last weekend! My uncle and aunt DEFINITELY would have appreciated it (considering the weather they had for the past 2 weeks)

This one though, is my FAVORITE! Isn't it adorable? I'm going to wear it to NVCB tonight. :-)

Carnival Glass

I went to my grandmother's house on Saturday, and she had me up in the piping hot steaming attic with her for at LEAST a 1/2 hour. It was nasty. She sent me home with two boxes though. One contained a punch bowl set (which I forgot to take pics of). The set had 7 glasses, and the bowl was kinda small. The box also contained 16 other glasses that matched each other, but not the bowl or other cups. I'm thinking of trying to find a punch bowl somewhere without any glasses and buy it to go with the other cups.

The other box contained all these pieces of carnival glass. I didn't take a picture of it all together, I probably should have. There's a LOT of pieces. My little brother's gf and I agreed that having one or two of these pieces would be cool, but who needs a whole set?? I certainly don't want to get rid of any of it, so I left it in my sister's bedroom at my mom's house for her to look at. If she doesn't want the whole set either, we might split some of it up between us and our brothers if they want it. It would make for some cool accent pieces, but it's a little too much orange for an entire set for me.