Success

I graduated from my high school as the class valedictorian and included a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson in my commencement speech. Nearly 10 years later it is still one of my favorites:

"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

My Little Garden

I can't wait until we have a big backyard, but for now I enjoy growing things in the pots on our patio. Last year I just did tomatoes and basil, in addition to the petunias in the window boxes. This year I was a little more ambitious and grew green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, lots of basil, arugula, and blueberries (although I've had a grand total of 2 from that bush). Below are a few pictures of some goodies from my garden:

Family Planning

As far as family planning goes, this has been a big month for us. After several years I finally went off the pill. We're still being careful until we know we're ready to start trying, but going off the pill was a big step to being on our way. It's also exciting to have serious conversations with Rob about family life and what we both want in the next few years.

I'm also so excited Rob is finally starting to talk seriously about it too. He's usually a goof ball, but one of our friends just let us know we're invited to their wedding next June, and when I told Rob his reaction was "think we can bring Anthony?" (that's what I'd like to name a baby if it's a boy). Obviously he or she wouldn't be here by then, but his little comment totally made my day.

Fingers crossed for some good news tomorrow, which will impact whether or not we start trying sooner rather than later!

"It's the shoes"

Rob's sister recently got a pair of toning sneakers similar to the Sketchers Shape-ups. Knowing that we like to walk around the neighborhood with Buster he thought it'd be a great idea to get a pair for the both of us. Since we weren't going to drop $200 on sneakers we found a good deal on some by Champion. So far the only thing I like about them is the extra height it gives me. I haven't noticed anything different yet but fingers crossed that in time these will put us both in better shape!

Buster's Oddities

Anyone who knows me knows I love my dog, Buster. He has quite the personality but today he's been doing things that make me laugh and get frustrated at the same time. It's nothing out of the ordinary, but it's just been one thing after the other tonight:

1) Like most dogs, he hates to go out in the rain. Instead of going out quickly to do his business, he lags behind making both of us more wet. He still didn't do number two because of the drizzle outside.
2) We recently got wood floors on the main level of our house. When he's in a hurry he slip slides around and looks like he's on ice, slowly scratching my new floors in the process. Ugh.
3) Another feature of the wood floors he doesn't like are the three front stairs. He refuses to go up them. It's not like he doesn't try, but I think he gets freaked out that he might slip on them. It's comical when he runs to the front door when someone is there because he can't get back up the stairs once our guests are actually in. We then have to carry him up so he's not stuck in the foyer.
4) I'm not sure if it's because he's a momma's boy, but Buster refuses to go anywhere without me or Rob. He just woke me up because he was thirsty and didn't want to go down to the kitchen by himself. The lights were already on, but once I started to head downstairs he raced ahead of me and went slip sliding into the kitchen straight towards his bowl.
5) When people say a dog is like having a baby, they're not kidding. He'll wake me up at 3am to go to the bathroom. It's better than him having an accident in the house, but waking up at that time with work in a few hours isn't my cup of tea.
6) If we don't want Buster roaming around when we're not home we'll close him in the guest room. He has a comfy bed and a nice view of the neighborhood, which beats being locked in his cage. Without fail every time he's in there my little Buster tosses the stuffed animals off the bed and rearranges the pillows to his liking. If you know me you know I like to have my house in order, so every day when I get home from work I put everything back in its place.. just so he can make a mess of it again the next day.

I guess if he didn't depend on me I'd be kind of bummed. At least my little guy makes me laugh in the process.

Above is a picture of Buster on the guest bed before he decides to redecorate for the day.

Fine wine, fishing and fun in the Finger Lakes

Cotton clouds, blue skies, and a gentle breeze made our weekend away picture perfect. Top it off with great friends and good wine and we couldn't ask for anything more.

Rob and I met up with Jess and her boyfriend Kevin for our annual get together. We also had a great surprise guest, Kevin G., another good friend from college join us for the weekend. We started off with a delicious lunch at Americana, our favorite vineyard from last year, and then went to four other wineries in the Cayuga Lake area.

The start of the vineyard tour at Americana:

After that we went to Lucas Vineyards, where the guys decided to have fun with our picture:

At least we were able to get a few good ones:

From there we went to a few other wineries including the Thirsty Owl, Hosmer Winery, and the Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery before we went back to the bed and breakfast to freshen up for dinner at Kidders Landing. After a delicious meal we went back to the B&B where we captured our traditional SBU picture:

To keep the fun going our friend Kevin G. invited us to hang at his cottage on Seneca Lake the next day and then do some fishing. It was a great time despite the fact that the only fish that touched the pole was the bait:

The highlight for Rob was acting as the captain of the boat for the afternoon...

... while Kevin relaxed was able to sit back and relax...

... and Jess and Kevin enjoyed a tour of the lake...

I just held on for dear life.

All in all, we had a great weekend away and can't wait for our next mini-reunion. It was a picture perfect getaway (minus the nasty Bed and Breakfast).

Sunset on Lake Hopatcong

A reunion in the Finger Lakes

When we graduated from college my roommate, Jessica H., and I made a promise to meet up at least once a year. While that sounds crazy it really is an accomplishment for us. In addition to juggling crazy schedules we're also far apart. Jessica lives in Buffalo - a long haul from New Jersey. We're five years in and so far we've been pretty good about keeping up with our pact:


2006: Time for our one year reunion! We decided to go somewhere we've never been before: Chicago. We met up with another good college friend, Jessica C., over Memorial Day weekend. The girls already knew Rob but this was the first time getting together with both of the Jessica's boyfriends. We had a fun time, despite the fact that our flight out there was really, really delayed getting out there.

2007: Jess came to New Jersey for my wedding.

2008: We decided to meet at a random town in PA that was a mid-way for both of us. We hit up a few wineries and stayed at a cute bed and breakfast (minus the hard beds and rough toliet paper). We also decided it would be fun to do a bar crawl, but the town was so small we were finished with it by 9pm. Grand total for two people on a bar crawl: $15. They definitely had cheap drinks! After exploring the town we went back to the B&B to relax on the balcony and enjoy our new bottles of wine. It was a fun weekend away but on the way home I got my first speeding ticket (For the record, I was going 10 miles over the speed limit, but I was keeping up with the speed of traffic). The cop was a jerk too, and needless to say I was not very happy about my little souvenir. After that, I wanted Rob to come on our next trip so I didn't have to drive.

2009: We decided to go camping in the Finger Lakes - the perfect midway point! Since the boys were coming we wanted to make it fun for them as well. We both had tents, and since Rob had only used his for backyard sleepovers this was the perfect excuse to crack it out. We had an awesome time and hit up some amazing vineyards, our favorite being Americana. By the 4th winery we were pretty buzzed and decided to go back the following year on our quest to make our way around the lake.

2010: This year we're lucky enough to see each other three times! Jessica and her boyfriend, Kevin, came down to visit us in February and we had a great weekend catching up and doing some sightseeing in Manhattan. We also squeezed in a little girl time at our 5 year college reunion in June. Now it's time for our annual trip to the Finger Lakes. We have our game plan in place and another B&B booked (due to time constraints we couldn't do a camping getaway, but we really did love it the first year). Fingers crossed the beds and toliet paper are better than the last one!


I'll try to post pictures from this weekend. One thing we're good about is getting a picture wearing a SBU shirt every time we meet up. The shot above is the most recent one taken at our 5 year reunion.

Just a random Wednesday

I came home from work yesterday to dinner on the table and this beautiful bouquet of flowers from Rob...

... for no particular reason. Isn't he the best? :)

Date Night 2010

"Date Night 2010" is what Rob calls our Tuesday movie nights. I know Tuesdays sound like a random day to go to the movies, but weekends are usually too busy for us to take time out for a movie and as part of Cablevision's Optimum Rewards we get two free tickets on Tuesday nights which works out well.

Since Rob started his new job a few months ago he's been getting home late at night and our date nights seem to be few and far between. Instead of staying home by myself I usually go to the movies with a good group of friends in our community. It's fun and we have a great time, but it's not the same without Rob. It's the little things like holding his hand, leaning on his arm, and the way he makes me laugh that makes movie nights special for me. So this afternoon he surprised me by saying he was able to get out at a decent time and could come to the movies with us. While I knew he probably wouldn't like the movie we chose to see I was still excited since it meant "Date Night 2010" for us.

Some people say movies aren't an ideal date night since you can't talk to each other. While I agree the chit chat is missing, sometimes it's nice to just be together and hold hands during a movie... like we're teenagers on a first date.

It's the little things in life

Rob and I are co-chairs of the recreation committee in our community, Seasons Glen. We have a great group of people who help us coordinate a variety of events for the residents of our association. Some of the events we've had this year include Comedy Night, Super Bowl party, ice cream socials, "Mix & Mingle for Singles," "Movie Under the Stars" held out by the pool, and even fun gatherings for the little kids such as Easter Egg Hunts, and Halloween costume parties.

As a way to say thanks and to get together outside of our events we had everyone over for a BBQ on Saturday night. The atmosphere was perfect: the weather was cool, the food was delicious, the drinks were flowing, and we set up the backyard with a big screened-in tent, white lights, and candles to help keep the bugs away. It was wonderful being able to sit back, relax, and enjoy each others company. The conversations even got a little comical when we compared neighbor stories. Apparently, one of the girls has a neighbor who likes to get his mail in cowboy boots and boxers. Interesting, huh? All in all it was a great night with a good group of friends.

After going to bed around 4am and waking up around 1pm, we decided to get a move on the day and went to visit Rob's grandfather at his nursing home. Since we had plenty of leftovers we decided to bring him a care package complete with pasta salad, a hot dog, and mini-dessert tray. When we got there he was excited to see us, but the fact that we thought about him and brought him food - especially his favorite: a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut - made it extra special.

I haven't tried it, but the look and smell of his nursing home food is worse than my college dining hall. We've offered to bring him food before but he requests fancy meals like lobster and crab legs. It wasn't a lobster but it was cute how something as simple as a hot dog made his day.