This article came across my blogger dashboard today, and I found it too good not to share. I love the thought of collecting pictures of the ordinary people who take the time to be a litte extraordinary. I wonder how Blair will feel about collections of photographs of strangers? Cheers to all!
http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2011/08/whos-on-your-fridge.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and the Hangovers that Bind Us
My, my, my what a week! An earthquake and a hurricane! Because we were fortunate enough not to have damage from the earthquake and we were fairly certain we would be safe through the hurricane, we used these events as excuses for themed meals, Dairy Queen trips, and lots of drinks.
My mom has long wanted to get her father's side of the family together for a mini reunion. This weekend was the big event! She did all of the cooking, but she was kind enough to let me name all of the dishes with earthquake and hurricane themed names...her brilliant idea + my snarky sense of humor = awesome (at least in my opinion). Tectonic taters anyone? Storm Surge Shrimp? How about Might Cause "An Aftershock" Beans (waka waka waka). Of course my Dad's hurricane cocktails made all of this much funnier.
Afterwords it was off to celebrate the 30th birthday of a good friend and then home to find our neighbors celebrating a hurricane and their 12th wedding anniversary with copious amounts of wine. They invited us to join them, which we did with great enthusiasm. This lead to a morning which gave a whole new meaning to "in the wake of the storm"...sigh.
In between all of this I worked on a gallery wall I have planned for our family room. I had so much fun going through old family photos from both Blair's past and mine. What great memories! I hope you all stayed safe, and used this week as a reminder that this world, science, nature and God are all much bigger than we are. Enjoy life and keep it all in perspective. Here are two of the pics from our new gallery wall! Pics of the finished product to come!
My mom has long wanted to get her father's side of the family together for a mini reunion. This weekend was the big event! She did all of the cooking, but she was kind enough to let me name all of the dishes with earthquake and hurricane themed names...her brilliant idea + my snarky sense of humor = awesome (at least in my opinion). Tectonic taters anyone? Storm Surge Shrimp? How about Might Cause "An Aftershock" Beans (waka waka waka). Of course my Dad's hurricane cocktails made all of this much funnier.
Afterwords it was off to celebrate the 30th birthday of a good friend and then home to find our neighbors celebrating a hurricane and their 12th wedding anniversary with copious amounts of wine. They invited us to join them, which we did with great enthusiasm. This lead to a morning which gave a whole new meaning to "in the wake of the storm"...sigh.
In between all of this I worked on a gallery wall I have planned for our family room. I had so much fun going through old family photos from both Blair's past and mine. What great memories! I hope you all stayed safe, and used this week as a reminder that this world, science, nature and God are all much bigger than we are. Enjoy life and keep it all in perspective. Here are two of the pics from our new gallery wall! Pics of the finished product to come!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Party Like a Rockstar
Phew...what a GREAT few weeks we have had. My birthday was celebrated more than a few times with a wonderful dinner with my parents at Clyde's Willow Creek Farm, another wonderful dinner with Blair's parents at Tuscarora Mill, a fabulous dinner with my girls, a date night with Blair at American Eats which was followed up by a surprise hotel stay at the Mayflower. I am one very very spoiled girl! After all of that celebrating, Blair and I took off for Palm Beach, Florida on Wednesday where we stayed at The Breakers Hotel. A girl could seriously get used to this...unfortunately, my waistline and credit card limits cannot. Ah sigh...
We had so much fun in Palm Beach spending time golfing (Ok, Blair golfed. I pretended to golf for a few holes and walked around the course while he played...lessons are a requirement), hanging out at the beach, visiting his aunt Dianne and cousin John, and finally a night out with Blair's brother, Adam and his wife Luciane and our three nieces and nephews- Chase, Alexa and Bella. John is the golf pro at The Breakers, so he is our incentive to stay there while we are in Florida...not that we needed a lot of convincing.
We have been living the life of rockstars lately, and it has been so much fun. However, it is nice to be home. Except for the fact that one of our balcony doors was mysteriously open when we arrived home, which lead to a massive hunt through the house to see if anything had been stolen or if there was an axe murderer living in our closets. Fortunately, so far, we have not found the axe murderer and nothing seems to be missing. I suppose it was just blown open by the wind or something. This certainly was not the welcome home we had hoped for. Oh well, at least the house was still standing...after all of our repairs lately, I'm never quite sure it will be.
We are looking forward to a little bit of time at home before the madness of Hokie football starts. And I am super excited because we booked our one-year anniversary trip to PARIS today!!!!! We will be going in November, and I am so so so excited!!!
Here are some pics from this weekend!
We had so much fun in Palm Beach spending time golfing (Ok, Blair golfed. I pretended to golf for a few holes and walked around the course while he played...lessons are a requirement), hanging out at the beach, visiting his aunt Dianne and cousin John, and finally a night out with Blair's brother, Adam and his wife Luciane and our three nieces and nephews- Chase, Alexa and Bella. John is the golf pro at The Breakers, so he is our incentive to stay there while we are in Florida...not that we needed a lot of convincing.
We have been living the life of rockstars lately, and it has been so much fun. However, it is nice to be home. Except for the fact that one of our balcony doors was mysteriously open when we arrived home, which lead to a massive hunt through the house to see if anything had been stolen or if there was an axe murderer living in our closets. Fortunately, so far, we have not found the axe murderer and nothing seems to be missing. I suppose it was just blown open by the wind or something. This certainly was not the welcome home we had hoped for. Oh well, at least the house was still standing...after all of our repairs lately, I'm never quite sure it will be.
We are looking forward to a little bit of time at home before the madness of Hokie football starts. And I am super excited because we booked our one-year anniversary trip to PARIS today!!!!! We will be going in November, and I am so so so excited!!!
Here are some pics from this weekend!
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| Dinner at Flagler Steakhouse |
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| A little bit of us, a lot of The Breakers |
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| Alexa the Princess |
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| Chase the Prince |
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| Chase and Alexa with "their baby" Bella |
Sunday, August 7, 2011
A very happy birthday!
I had such a wonderful 29th (gulp) birthday! I heard from so many family members and old friends, and I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend with one of my dearest friends, Sarah and her beautiful baby, Ella. I left work early on Friday and started the 5 hour drive to WV to visit Sarah, John and Ella and check out their brand new home. The drive went relatively smoothly until the last 2.6 miles... there was a fork in the road where I could have gone straight to a gravel road or veered left. I should have veered left, but I stayed straight onto a gravel road, which became a dirt road, which became a nightmarish scene of a slipping and sliding Mazda 3 driven by a crazed city-slicker lunatic who was clearly out of her element and void of any cell reception (me). I finally ended up down by the river where some fellows stared at me like I had just been dropped in front of them by a UFO. There was one thing these dudes and I agreed on: I was not supposed to be there.
So I turn my Mazda around and made the hair raising trek back up the dirt road, where I finally got enough signal to call Sarah. She laughed and came and got me. A few minutes later, I was in the driveway of a home that was straight out of my dreams. It is the custom home she and her husband had built on family property. It is stunning to say the least! I had so much fun palling around with my old friend and falling in love with Ella. She is one of those babies that make parenting look like the easiest thing on earth...my children will be nothing like her I'm sure. Sarah drove me around on her four wheeler, showed me her new bow and arrow, and her dear target...I stayed on the patio and drank sangria. If you would have told me ten years ago my prissy friend would be hunting in the woods of West Virginia, I would ask if she had been abducted or if DC had been taken over and we were all forced to "live off the land." Truth is, after seeing her beautiful home, the peace and quiet, and the amazing friends and family she has there, I know this life is perfect for her.
So I turn my Mazda around and made the hair raising trek back up the dirt road, where I finally got enough signal to call Sarah. She laughed and came and got me. A few minutes later, I was in the driveway of a home that was straight out of my dreams. It is the custom home she and her husband had built on family property. It is stunning to say the least! I had so much fun palling around with my old friend and falling in love with Ella. She is one of those babies that make parenting look like the easiest thing on earth...my children will be nothing like her I'm sure. Sarah drove me around on her four wheeler, showed me her new bow and arrow, and her dear target...I stayed on the patio and drank sangria. If you would have told me ten years ago my prissy friend would be hunting in the woods of West Virginia, I would ask if she had been abducted or if DC had been taken over and we were all forced to "live off the land." Truth is, after seeing her beautiful home, the peace and quiet, and the amazing friends and family she has there, I know this life is perfect for her.
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