Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day


Happy Father's Day to the Man our beauties call Daddy!! We ran out early this morning and grabbed him some Starbucks so he could enjoy it when he woke up, and then we enjoyed Brunch together as a family at The Hill Cafe - it was delicious, and I love Brunch more than words can say.

I had to explain to the girls this morning why it was so important to let Daddy sleep, that it was his special day and then it dawned on me that to them sleep isn't a treat, its more of a punishment, so they couldn't wrap their heads around why I was working so hard to keep the house quiet and give Brad a chance to sleep in...I am happy to report that he slept until about 8:45am. Mission Accomplished.

We are so proud of him, not only for being such a great husband and father, but yesterday he came in 2nd in his Mountain Bike Race in Bedford, so he had his moment on the podium.  He is bummed that no one snapped a photo, but at least his Parents got to witness it. We wish we could have been there to support him, but we are very proud of him. He is very dedicated to his training and its paying off, so that should make him feel good.

I am a bit of a dud these days, blogging just isn't something I've put much time or energy into and frankly this post is a bit dull for my liking, but I wanted to wish my handsome husband a Happy Father's Day, and I thought this photo was just too cute to pass up - the world needs to see the cuteness.  I hope that I get my blogging mojo back sooner rather than later!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Lazy Weekends...Bittersweet


Saturday we spent the day in the backyard, the neighbors all joined in the fun and we enjoyed the sunshine - lots of fun in the sun was had by all and I made some serious progress on my tan! The girls must have changed in and out of their bathing suits 14 times, they couldn't decide whether they wanted to play in the water or run around in their tutu dresses. Silly girls.  I don't think I wore real clothes all day, I think I went from PJ's to Bathing Suit to PJ's again...that is my kinda day.

Sunday was a lazy day for me, but Brad earned some Husband of the Year points, he took the girls to a Bike Race (Riley too) first thing in the morning and I had a few hours of peace and quiet at home, too bad I wasn't feeling so hot and barely made it out of bed.

I love lazy weekends at home, I don't think I even turned my car on, but then the week starts and I end up stressed out that I didn't hit the grocery store or run a single errand, oh well, I need a lazy weekend every now and then, and I think we all deserve one - a weekend to just decompress and relax with good friends!! I have had several non-domestic weekends with Key West, Boston and then this lazy weekend at home.  I am destined to have a productive weekend...one of these days!

Oh Boston....

how I love thee in the Spring, Summer and Early Fall...but oh how I can't stand you in the winter.  If only you could do something about those long winter months we might be able to rekindle our love affair, but until you renegotiate that with Mother Nature and El Nino, I think I will just continue to visit in the Spring and Summer, sometimes Fall is a bit risky.  With all of that said you would think that we had beautiful weather last weekend, and actually we had terrible weather, outside of a beautiful day on Friday, but in general its much better in the Spring and Summer.


Last Thursday I flew to Boston to visit and stay with two of my girlfriends, Kristen and Kori.  We try and see each other every single year, either they come down or I fly there, and it was my turn to visit them, so I planned a long weekend based on all of our busy schedules and while it wasn't ideal to leave the girls just a few days after getting home from Key West, but this is what worked best.

We had a extra long relaxing weekend full of shopping, eat, karaoke OnDemand (who knew!!) and just some down home QT with the gals.  Don't you miss getting ready in a house of girls? Brad just isn't interested in talking about outfits and dancing around while getting ready...not that we did a lot of getting ready since the majority of the time we spent in sweats, but its still a nice change.  I loved that about living with a group of girls in college, getting ready to go out was a blast!

I was also able to meet up with my cousin Greg, and his twins Jason & Priya, who are too stinkin cute, they are adorable and very well behaved...the beauties could take a few pages from their book on behavior in a restaurant.  Greg is the NFL writer for the Boston Globe, pretty cool job eh? 


Brad and the girls had a blast, they got the huge water slide out for the first time all season and had a yard full of people.  Brad sent me a few photos and the back yard hoppin! It was great to pick the girls up on Monday Night - I flew in Monday morning (flights are SO much cheaper when you travel on a Thur/Mon, instead of a Fri/Sun, if you can, take advantage). Speaking of flights, I love JetBlue, and this trip I was introduced to The Real Housewives of New York City and Orange County - I had never watched them, but that is what was on Bravo while I was on the plane, gotta love DirecTV on the plane. And on the way home I watched 3 episodes of Will & Grace - how funny was that show? I was laughing out loud - people probably thought I was crazy!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Change in Latitude & Change in Attitude


Welcome to The Keys

Brad and I jumped on a jet plane last Thursday morning, bright and early (5:45am flight, imagine us hauling our fannies through the airport, security was insane and we weren't prepared) and were off to celebrate our 7th Anniversary in sunny Key West, Florida.  Neither of us had ever been, and I have to say, it wasn't quite what I expected - I had no idea that there aren't beaches in Key West, that there aren't waves, the water was still, and I missed hearing the waves while falling asleep each night. 


To be frank, Key West is a bit of a freak show - imagine an older gentleman (75+) rocking black fish net stockings, a tiny black tutu (so short that you could see his cheeks and he wasn't wearing any undergarments) and a fishnet tank top that had Christmas lights woven into it - yeah, interesting!!

Brad & Ryan

We landed in Ft. Lauderdale around 10:15am, but didn't leave the airport until almost 12 noon, who knew getting bags and a car would take almost 2 hours, not the most efficient airport around.  We made a quick stop to visit Ryan & Lisa (they live in Ft. Lauderdale) and then hit the road - oh, and did I mention that it was monsooning, and our lovely Corolla was hydroplaning all over the roads.  I was very much looking forward to a beautiful drive through the keys, and it finally cleared up just after our lunch stop at the Shrimp Shack in Islamorada.


We checked into the beautiful Beachside Marriott Resort and quickly made our way to the pool for a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Happy Hour - and a beautiful sunset.  Brad made a rule for our little getaway, he wasn't going to consume a single beverage without a lime in it - he did make a small exception for water, and in those situations he went with a lemon. He almost failed, but I saved the day when the bartender didn't give him a lime in his Pirate Punch at Capt' Tony's, but don't you worry - I didn't let him down.

Shirt from The Lazy Gecko

Our little getaway involved some time in the sun, lots of time walking around Duval Street (for those of you who have never been - imagine Bourbon Street in New Orleans - bar after bar, with a few cheesy t-shirt shops thrown in there) We enjoyed some great happy hour deals at Alonzo's (Brad kept calling it Alfonzo's) everything was 50% off, our tab the first day was $21 - insane right?


We love our time away together, but we were thrilled to get home to the girls. It is so comforting to know that the girls love their time with Bina & PawPaw and that we don't have to worry about them while we are away - of course we worry about them, but we know they are having a blast and we know they are with two people who love them dearly. We've taken a page from all the marriage and parenting books, and all say the same thing - a happy marriage is the first step to happy children, and a happy marriage keeps a family happy, so we are always going to dedicate time and energy to keeping that marriage happy, and a long weekend away is just what ours needs every now and then!!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

7 Year & No Itch



What is it they say? 7 Years of Marriage usually comes with the 7 Year itch...well for us things are just getting good! HA! No itching going on here, just more and more marital bliss. Brad and I celebrated 7 years of marriage on May 29th - we didn't do anything special on the actual day being that we had some quality time together in Key West.

If given the chance, I would marry Brad all over again, in fact,we are talking about renewing our vows in 3 years, so on our 10th Anniversary. I think the beauties will make just precious flower girls, don't you?