whatever happened to the cube fridge?

this is what college students now have in their dorm rooms......nice, huh??????

this is what I had backintheday...and not in this nice black matte finish, OH NO...I had icky brown paneling. I can't complain too much though.....it held leftover pizza just perfectly!

i wanna be a Simpson

so, do you think I would fit it...i'm not sure if my hair is big enough!

me in my hometown.....

....and me in springfield

http://simpsonizeme.com/

Baby Fart

in the last year I've been around more babies doing the cutest things then ever....i cant wait to see this happen:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2318592392954700001&hl=en

up to college (aka: Summer Camp)

this weekend we took derek up to college for his summer orientation (and also for us parents to get a grip on the fact that our kid is going away real soon!!!). After a 6.5 hr drive (actually 7.5 hrs if you count bathroom breaks - we got there.

Its such a NICE town & campus!!!!

After seperating the kids from the parents (i'm still a bit wierded out that I'm not even 40 yet & I'm lumped into the "parent group"!!!!), we were sent off to classrooms & had 2 solid days of meetings with every dept you could imagine. Some things are so different then when i went to school, such as now all rooms are completly wired with wireless internet!

Here is a peak of the dorm rooms that we slept in on Monday night:

the rooms might be wired for internet...but they look EXACTLY the same as when i was in school!!!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

This weekend was my father-in-laws birthday....i might not have any pics of us going out to dinner but i do have pics of the awesome drinks!!!

Ok, first up is mine...this drink is ridiculously yummy! It's prob the best Pina Coloda i've ever had - it had swirled-in pieces of pineapple, raspberries ,blackberries & strawberries ...and topped off with "Penelope Parrot"!
Here is Randy's Rum Runner which has fresh pineapples, blackberries & bananas...and topped off with the "Hemisphere Banana Dancer"
...and ya can't go to jimmy buffet's joint w/o their signature drink - the Cheeseburger in Paradise...which is layers of rum runner, pina coloda, margarita & strawberry daiquiri topped off with blue curacao....and if that isn't enough - check out the gummy cheeseburger to munch on top!

4th of July

this year was weird - the 4th of july fell on a WEDNESDAY. I took off the day before, but went back to work on thursday & boy was i exhausted! Luckily, half of my company took off on thursday, so it was a relatively quiet day.

Randy & I went down to hang out with Joanne (who if you havent found out yet - i can tell all that she is an amazing host!) I wasn't sure who was going to be there (except Barb, of course), but it turned out to be a mini reunion if you add Kerri, Nina, Ellen & Bryan to Barb, Joanne & me. I did bring my camera, but it stayed inside on her couch all day/night - so hopefully I'll get someone to send me pics & I'll update this posting!

..and for those who have seen in stores the margarita mix in a bucket & wonder if it's any good.....the answer is

HELL YES!!!!!

mom's b-day

i know, i know...it takes me FOREVER to post things on my blog {sorry!!!}

With that said...i take you back 2 weeks to the celebration of my mom's b-day at the Chart House. The dinner was on a monday night, so i thought the place would be deserted - WRONG...it was packed! I also thought it was only going to be like 8 people attending - WRONG AGAIN....18 people attended. The best thing about the night was that is was FUN (and also that most people got drunk, so it made it quite amusing to watch)

Here is mom just before they pull into the restaurant (the cones are a bit intimidating - i wonder if the peer is sinking!)
dad & mom are ready for a great evening!
randy & me
with only 2 hrs sleep, Neil & Sherri are up for the night (and hopefully a good night's sleep when they get back home)
but no worries....Sean comes to the rescue (i love that a 4.5 yo is ready to take on babysitting responsibilities!)
what would a seafood restaurant be w/o amazing oysters???

Sam , Linda & Fern

Robby & Karen

Hank, Matthew & Jodi

time for mom to blow out her candles (and after an evening of babysitting, Sean deserves to help!)

so, was the party a success??? Derek gives it the a-ok signal

ummmm.....should we tell my M&D that their present is hanging out the trunk???

NAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

mocha watches oprah!

if i could only find a chair that mocha could sit in (instead of on top of), i bet she would be like this when i wasnt home!

i love summer fridays!!!

I've said it before & i'll say it again - i love my job i can give you a list of PC items that mean a lot to me if i was speaking with a recruiter, but one sweet deal i get at work is: SUMMER FRIDAY's If you get them, you know how valuable they are...and let me tell you - i get them & i appreciate them (amen!)

So, yesterday {{after waking up at 10am...YAWN}}, I headed over to staten island to hang out.

First Stop: Pedicure at Sarah's. One of the best places for pedicures on the south shore. For $24 you get an hour & half of clean, rub, massage, scrub, polish, etc. Pure Bliss! Now, i'm very used to guys coming in for mani's & pedi's. In fact, I'm still working on getting my hubby to go with me (which is his loss if he never goes, but that's another story). What I'm NOT used to is 10 YEAR OLD BOYS having pedicures. Yes, the 30 y/o mom next to me brought her son with her. How do I know he was 10, well for one thing - he arrived in black roller-sneakers, come-on! When I asked her how he convinced him to come with her - she said, "my 10 y/o is just following his 16 y/older brother who loves to go with me".

OHHH-KAAAAAAY ?!?!?

Next stop: head to the gym with Barb. I really needed that (thank you barb for getting me a pass!) My membership expired a few months ago, so it was HEAVEN working out again.

After that we headed back to her place & had a relaxing afternoon with Matty :)

Then it was dinner time: we headed off for sushi at Fushimi - yum, yummmmmmm, yummmmmmmmmmmmmm. And to top it off, i can tell you that the mango martini's beat out the raspberry martini's

Todd BBQ's Peas

here are the pics of the afternoon BBQ where Todd came over to wish derek well on his graduation that evening...
how beautiful is this baby when he smiles????
and now he's beginning to eat real food - today is PEAS (and yes, they make a green mess)
and from what I'm told, what green mess doesn't come out his mouth - comes out the other end!
ok, now derek needs to get dressed in his suit, cap & gown
time to pack up todd to go...bet he cant wait until he's old enough to look at where he's going, not just where he's been

Derek's Graduation

OH...MY...G-D.....i can't believe i have a son (step-son, whatever) who just GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL! So weird!! Earlier that day I was holding my sister's son who is just turning FIVE MONTHS old (and yes, pics of todd being beyond cute to follow shortly)
The ceremony was held on the football field of the high school. It's such a weird comparison to my high school that had close to 1000 graduates....his class was only 100!!!

Randy, Derek & me AFTER graduation...the whole ceremony was only an hr long - NIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!
ok, so he's off TO PARTY (and let me tell you - the school threw an all-nighter party for the graduating class..from 9pm - 5:30am) I can't wait unitl he wakes up to tell us about the rest of his night...well, at least the edited 18 y/o version!

P.S. i saved all the program material so I'm ready to start in 19 years from now planning his 20 year reunion party!!!!!!

thank you!

to everyone who supported me & my family last week on my grandma's passing, I sincerely thank you. You may not have realized it, but you really made a pretty difficult time a little bit easier!

Here is a bunch of us in my parents backyard Memorial Day 2000:

(top row) Sherri, Howie, me, Brian, Donna

(bottom row) Grandma, Jason, Joshua & Saul

memorial day (day 2)...reenie & brian

ok, now it's time to celebrate memorial day "portugeese style"

matthew being held by reenie & her mom
my man has a way of calming down crying little boys (awwwwwwwww)
while I play bubbles with maddie

memorial day (day 1)...mom & dad

a Paulette & Jeff memorial day BBQ wouldnt be the same without Randy & me re-arranging everything...so welcome, have a great time & put that cheesecake over THERE!!!!

here i am again with my ladies on the sunday afternoon (we're just a year older):

barb, me & reenie
kinda wondering what is in fern's water bottle to make her smile so much!

feren & karen
ah-hah....my little cutie nephew has finally arrived...and he sure looks hungry!!!

TJ eyeballing cookiemonster

me & Todd

Todd's learning that there are other babies out there just like him (I think there were 4 newborns at the party!!!)
todd checking out adam (or visa-versa)

Adam posing with him mom (Steph) and dad (Keith)

proud grandpa!!!!

hat or cookie monster?

wouldn't it be nice to go back in time where the biggest dilemma of the day was: "hold on to hat & cookie monster when it's windy" wonder wht Todd decided on?

Mulletstock = ROCKLAHOMA

OH....MY....G-D....this concert has every band I saw when I was 17 y/o: http://www.rockfeverfest.com/

DAY 1 (July 13th)
4:15 - 5:00 WHITE LION
5:30 - 6:30 Y & T (Nat'l Anthem)
7:00 - 8:00 SLAUGHTER
8:30 - 9:30 QUIET RIOT
10:00 - 11:00 RATT
11:30 - 1:00 POISON

DAY 2 (July 14th)
11:55 - 12:40 BANG TANGO
1:00 - 1:45 BULLET BOYS
2:05 - 2:50 FASTER PUSSYCAT
3:10 - 3:55 ENUFF Z NUFF
4:15 - 5:00 FIREHOUSE
5:30 - 6:30 WARRANT (Nat'l Anthem)
7:00 - 8:00 SKID ROW
8:30 - 9:30 WINGER
10:00 - 11:00 DOKKEN
11:30 - 1:00 VINCE NEIL

DAY 3 (July 15th)
12:20 - 1:10 STEELHEART
1:30 - 2:15 BRITNY FOX
2:45 - 3:45 LA GUNS
4:15 - 5:15 GREAT WHITE (Nat'l Anthem)
5:45 - 6:45 JACKYL
7:15 - 8:30 WASP
9:00 - 10:30 TWISTED SISTER

I wanna go to the show...someone, please go with me!!!!

Happy Mother's Day...to my cat!

Hope all had a great Mother's Day...I did!

Here is my cat enjoying my flowers a BIT TOO MUCH! You can see that CHEWIE is trying to get to her, but MOCHA is too happy that she will be dining on flowers for the next few days to care!

post away

so here is what happens when your friends have WAY too much time on their hands after they find out that you won a life time supply of Post-it notes............

my tree is blossoming!

it's now 2 weeks later & with a lot of sunshine & water....here is my tree today:

i guess we planted it a bit late in the season, cuz some of the blossoms are already turning into green leaves. Oh well...there's always next year