so M&R take a mini vacation

what do you do if you are 7 hrs away from home - ya might as well enjoy the sites! By noon we left Derek (no guilt, please) and headed to Lake Placid - such a beautiful village. Here is the view from our room:

can't stay at a lodge in Lake Placid w/o riding a bobsled (with a black bear behind me)

the next day we headed over to Vermont to the Champlain Valley Fair. On the way (route 89) we passed the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Magic Hat Brewery and Ben & Jerry's

tell me this sandcastle just doesnt blow you away!!!!!

we left the fair (and yes...I had to have funnel cake) about 8pm & got home before midnight...what a weekend!

Derek moves :(

it seems like this day was always so far away....but this weekend we took Derek up to college. It was a looooooooooooooooooooooong drive (almost 7 hrs). We left Friday morning at 2:30am & got there by 9am. Then we had the tiring job of UNLOADING the car

the 3 of us unloading wasn't that bad.....

...now waiting for an elevator was another story (and fyi: the building is NOT air conditioned & it was over 90 degrees this weekend!!!!)
derek & his roommate begininning the unpacking process (hopefully I get an undated pic of the final result)
see ya Derek at thanksgiving!!!!

Todd Goes College Shopping

Todd isnt going to let his cousin derek leave for school w/o a massive box of rice crispy treats....luckily, he has a costco coupon (from his awesome aunt mishy!!!!)

Graduation / Off to College Party

Here are some pics from last weekend's BBQ - it was probably the most relaxing party i've ever thrown....I hope Derek had a great time cuz I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

here is a congrats poster for derek that randy & I made
derek surrounded by some NJ & SI friends...mostly SI though :)
tom & randy (I dont want to know where those hotdog thongs went after this pic)
they look so innocent.....trust me - they weren't!!!!
my ladies 2007 (barb, me & reenie)
me, fern & karen
mom & jessica (was that 3 glasses or 4....oh, whose counting!!!!!!!)
how the little ones need us to tell them about brain freeze!!!
Bryan & Donna / Michelle & Randy

so what happens if you fall asleep in my backyard with childrens toys & drunk adults???? You end up wearing a 3 y/o's hat, holding a baby bottle with thomas the train looking over your shoulder!
the BEST investment I ever made!!!!

DMB - N2 at Camden

last night's DMB show was AMAZING..............I'm in the SECOND ROW!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

the energy from the crowd was awesome..especially when Dave & Boyd really started jamming!
thx for taking me w/you into the pit "it's all good"!!!!!

Dave Matthews Band @ Tweeter Center

Honey, Honey...come & daaaaaaaaaaaance with me......
sing & dance...I'll play for ya tonight...the thrill of it all.....
WHOO-HOOO....I'm gonna be dancing to dave in about 8 more hours!!!!

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