House for Sale

Yep, believe it or not, looks like we're moving!! Yikes! I know that Matt and I had discussed staying in my house for another few years, but the house of our dreams opened up in Edgeboro, a place I would love to raise a family, we made an offer, and they accepted! Aahh!
Soo, despite how much I absolutely love this house, we will now be selling. It all happened so fast, I've just finished some long awaited home projects that I won't even be able to enjoy! But they do look good!
The hallway up the steps in the foyer is a beautiful warm light chocolate color which plays nicely off of the newly refurbished wooden stairs! Long gone is that ugly green linoleum and the steps are the same wide panel pine as the kitchen floor!

If anyone you know is in the hunt, please feel free to pass this on. We're ready to start showing it quickly in order to see what happens. Despite it's appraisal we are only going to list it for $205,000 in the hopes that it sells sooner and we can use the money for closing on the other house. With the 6 rental garages and the fenced in yard and walking distance to Downtown, I'm sure it will be a steal for someone! I'll include plenty of pictures, check it out!

My WEDDING!

Ok, it's been way too long, I should have had this done already, but here it is! Yes, I'm posting this as I procrastinate on writing all of the many thank you's to our amazing friends and family who made the weekend just perfect! Don't worry they're coming, and we are so very grateful!

As you can see, for any of you who might not have been there (who's that?), it was the best wedding, ever! Check it out!
Special thanks now to all of our BEST friends who made the trip to celebrate with us, and my Dad, who made it all possible!
(I'll pick up a more sentimental note when I'm feeling better! The germy kids and cold weather has me far away from that beautiful October day. Maybe that's why I felt the need to post this now!)

Triathlon Fever... it got me!

Those of you that read this may remember me writing about my sister's first Triathlon up in Franklin Lakes, NJ. Well, her husband, who does seem to latch onto things has moved on to the Iron Man competitions or something like that, maybe a half- Iron Man? I know he runs 13 miles, that's way too much for me!
So anyway, my sister is still into it, and after the last one, well, yes, I agreed to do one too! After much procrastination, only in the area of registration, I decided to go ahead and join her. But I'm not a big fan of the swimming, I mean, I can do it, but people swimming into me, over me, on me, not so good! Erin picked one that we could canoe, perfect!
I ended up riding Matt's bike, since mine is technically a hybrid, which wasn't allowed.

(It did give Brewster and I an excuse to ride our bike's on Saturday to the Liberty field hockey game and get some lunch afterwards at BeerBellies, all because I needed to practice!)
As I was saying, the bike worked out great, it seemed like most of the biking was downhill, and the only scary part was lifting my bike over the curb to get started, since the announcer did say that if you couldn't do a curb, you shouldn't be doing the race. He obviously didn't grow up in Shrewsbury, PA where there are no curbs, just nice rounded off little driveways! Matt could tell a whole ugly story right now about my first real curb in Bethlehem, but I'll save that for another time since he's in Austin, still.
The canoe also wasn't bad, I remembered to sit in the middle for better leverage, with the exception of other inexperienced canoers who were playing bumper-boats around the buoy! I made it out just in front of the girls in my sister's group, but had a hard time finding my bag. As Matt and my Dad would say, the transition wasn't as smooth as it should have been, I forgot where to look and I was all ready to just start running. Thankfully I saw the girls looking for their bags, ran towards them, and was able to change into the right sneakers. While the bike and the canoe had gotten shortened a little, the running was lengthened, thank goodness - that's my strength! ( I kept having horrible visions of me going over the handlebars and busting my face, or an arm, or a leg, three weeks from my wedding! Where's the aunt that brought that up?!) However, yes, since the biking was mostly downhill, the run was mostly uphill, and it was longer, ugh!

I finished in about 55 minutes, which I was most impressed with, and I didn't really ask my sister how my time was, because she did finish not too far behind me, and I really didn't want to know that answer. I'm just going to stick with the fact that it was an awesome time because I finished and I didn't even walk, or break any bones, on my first Triathlon! I think I'll give it another try, sometime!
For now, I'll just keep preparing for the Celtic Classic 5K in two weeks. You know, the weekend I'm heading to the shore for my Bachelorette! Yippeee!

My "Daughter" Comes to Visit!

Ok, so everyone knows I don't have any kids, nor will I for a while to come! However, I did have an exchange student come live with me for a while about four years ago! Nicki was supposed to come for the weekend, and she ended up staying a few months!!
We've stayed in touch, and I was hoping she would be able to fly back for the wedding. Well, she was able to come back through YFU, the organization that brought her the first time, but as an escort for exchange students. This meant that she was a few weeks early for the wedding, but we were able to get together and had a blast!
I had started school already, so she came in to visit me, oh, and she brought her boyfriend Torsten too! One of my classes got to meet her and she was gracious in answering some of their silly questions. She's decided to study for teaching, our version of an English as Second Language teacher, in German, so she was really good with the kids.

We made our plan and all worked out almost perfectly. She had a couple of visits already scheduled and was planning to hit NYC on a weekend that Matt was away, so my initial offer of us taking them into the city fell apart. But I braved it alone, and the three of us had a great time! We toured Central Park, the Empire State Building, 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Plaza, and Times Square! We headed back to the hotel to change then took the subway to Greenwich Village for dinner. We did dinner and a whole lot more! We did some bar hopping, but conservatively since we were in the city and not 100% with our surroundings. Next thing we knew the bars were closing and it was 4am! Real conservative, right?!

Well, we tried. Nicki and Torsten had their first ever jello shots, and she even said it was her best night out in the states, yet! Needless to say, getting up and out of the city the next day was another story. Nicki wasn't feeling too well, and based on Torsten's lack of focus while driving, I doubt he was in too good of shape either! They took me back to my sister's, hit Dunkin Donuts, and I headed home while they headed for a night at the beach.
It was soo great to see her, she's 22 now, and maybe she'll come back for a fellowship that she applied for. Either way, we will stay in touch, and maybe in another summer Matt and I can go visit her and Torsten!

My Bridal Shower!

It seems like it took a long time to get here, but it's finally here! And boy was it a blast! My best girlfriend, Karen, has done amazing things to what was once Brownie's bachelor abode, and it was the perfect setting! Lots of friends came, and family, and it was a really nice time! Just what I wanted. Small, intimate, but fun and festive! (Unfortunately my camera didn't come out until after most of the guests had left, sorry!) We even played one game that my sister Erin brought, and it wasn't too shower-y; I think everyone played! I do feel a little guilty for winning and keeping the prize, should I have given those cute little candles for my classroom back, hmmm?
My best memory of it is how hard my little grandmother laughed when she saw she had been very successful in embarassing me! She picked out some serious lingerie, and when I got red, she laughed so hard she cried! Thanks Nana!
Afterwards, some of us hit the local bars on Main Street to continue the fun, and we crashed back at my house, after returning to Brew's to raid the fridge first, probably later than even I had expected!


Hey, there's no such thing as too much fun, although I might have had a little bit of a headache the next day. And when I returned to pick up my gifts, I wasn't the only one!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Thank you to my bridesmaids who put the party together! It was a great time and I really appreciate it, now I have to write out all those thank you cards! Yikes!

Countdown to the Wedding!

Well, we're officially one month away from THE BIG DAY!
The weekend after Chicago Matt and I headed down to Cape May to finalize some last minute details. Ok, they weren't really details at all, they were just last minute things we had to get done, like the cake, the flowers, the chairs for the beach, the marriage license, the officiant, etc. Like I said, not really small details. But it all worked out!
Sooo, invitations are out, I just had my shower (a blog will be forthcoming), Matt survived bachelor party #1, and the next four weeks are all about paying off the bills!
Looking forward to it!!!!!!

Chicago!!

Apart from the dreaded, crappy airlines, I obviously am loving the travel bug, although maybe a little too much!
Our most recent trip was to Chicago! We went to visit Matt's friend, Pavis, and his wife, Caroline, who will be unable to attend our wedding. Well, Pavis is in it, but Caroline will be too far into her pregnancy to make the trip. So, since we love them so much, we decided to make the trip to them!
We happened to be there for their 2 year old's birthday party. But due to our fabulous flight experience with US Airways, and them losing our luggage after us having to stay up all night driving to an airport that would let us fly out, looong story, we didn't celebrate it too much. We did, however, make a trip to Party City with Pavis to pick up balloons!
After some much-needed rest, we hit the town to see Chicago via the Architectural Boat Tour. It was definitely worth the time and money to see the city from such a unique angle. I was also able to get in some of my artsy pictures, which I loved!


After an exotic sushi dinner, I'm so easy to please, the night ended at a really neat Blues bar where some CD's were purchased, autographs gotten, and lemon-puckered face pictures taken. Needless to say, Matt and Mike are two peas in a pod sometimes, especially when they're letting loose!

The guys had also arranged our trip around the Phillies vs. Cubs game, of course, so we hit Wrigley field the next day. It was quite an experience, because I must say, that as someone who has attended a few games in Philly, the people of Chicago were way too nice to us. I was afraid to put my visor on, but not a word was muttered to any of us about our gear, and we even made a few new friends. I don't know if the final score had anything to do with it, in Philly it wouldn't have mattered, actually, for visitors it might be that much worse, but we had a great time!

Neither Matt nor Pavis got kicked out after "celebrating" (I think they call it 'Leafing' - it's some attempt at a dance) in the bar across from Wrigley!

Special thanks Caroline, Mike, and Maggie for having us out! Good luck with the baby, and don't worry Caroline, we'll send you lots of pictures!!

Finger Lakes Wine Festival

A couple can never have too much wine! Ok, maybe they can, but we had an awesome time and survived unscathed!
Last year I traveled to Seneca Lake with a group of 12 girls. This year I decided to plan a trip back and my cousins were also ripe for a weekend without the kids!
We survived some horrible construction traffic, in Pennsylvania, of course, but we made it in four hours. We headed right to the Toga party after pinning ourselves together as best we could. It was more crowded than last year, and we didn't win a prize, but it was a good time. The fireworks were a nice touch! Afterwards we headed to a bar in town for some darts and snacks, then rest for a big Saturday.



We got up early so the six of us could run through the Gorge before breakfast. It was just as beautiful as I remember. I was glad to be able to share it with Matt, since I had told him so much about it before. Marsha, our Inn Keeper, had a wonderful breakfast ready for us when we got back and some of the girls that I went with last year also joined us. The Festival itself seemed more crowded than last year. We bought a dozen bottles or so, some as gifts, some for us, and some for special occasions.

After catching the shuttle bus back into town, some of us napped while others opted for a walk, or even a run! (That was Trisha, she's in training mode right now and took advantage of the time!) Eventually we walked a few blocks up to the lake for dinner, then Matt and I headed out for some live music while my cousins searched out some ice cream.
Unfortunately Megan got sick from dinner, we think, and the groups parted ways to head home after picking up our wine. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend, just the kind of thing we all needed.

OCMD with the boys.

Maybe some of you will notice a difference in my headline. I probably should have italicized the key point, BOYS! Not that sexual orientation has anything to do with it, but sexual nature definitely does. Not too long ago I went to the beach with some of my girlfriends from school and posted a blog about how much fun we had. This time, I went to Ocean City with some of Matt's friends. The first time we went, a few years ago, there were more girls there that I knew and it was a great time. As a matter of fact, my great friend Brewster stems from that first trip!
This year, well, let's just say I got spoiled from my time in Rehobeth, the bed, the cooler of drinks, the meals, the umbrella, and the snacks on the beach - but it was a fun few nights.
Matt and I hit the Fenwick Crab house, an old favorite, for some hardshell crabs and lager. We even stopped at The Green Turtle after dinner, my first time. And another night we did it up at The Bull on the Beach, another favorite for some shuffleboard. Some of us had a little too much fun, as seen in the pictures! Way to go, Hutch!
But I did wake up early to catch sunrise on the beach, albeit by myself, since the guys were still comatose. It's safe to say that next year I'll leave the sleeping on the couch and sweltering on the beach without any added luxuries to Matt and "the boys!"

WE'RE ENGAGED!!

Ok, ok, I know that this news is almost a year old at this point, but we had an engagement party to celebrate!
Let me start by giving a HUGE thank you to my soon-to-be in-laws, Ann and Glenn. They are the best people, ever, and I love them a lot! No one could ask for a sweeter mother-in-law, no matter what those horrible stereotypes are!
Ann had been wanting to have a party but the school year was too busy, for all of us. So, we had it last Saturday!
Matt and I helped set up and even bought a big tent for the yard, which we think will come in handy in our own yard at some point. Anyway, we played some volleyball with Brewster, my Dad and Lydia, who came over early. Then we got all dolled up in our kilts for a little sneak peak of the wedding.
The party was full of entertainment! We had quoits, bean bags, tons of food, beer, and plenty of great companionship! The most entertaining of all might have been the scale from the bathroom. (Yes, there might have been some testosterone involved with that one!) The fire pit was a huge success too, and we stayed up late to open gifts, too! What more could we ask for?
We got wonderful recipes and I have to say that it was just another awesome reason to spend time with family and friends before the wedding!! Thanks to everyone for coming, you all should have received your thank you notes by now, and extra thanks to Ann for making it so special! I love my new necklace! Love you!

Ok, ok, I know the picture isn't from the engagement party, but it's a funny one, and all of us were at the party! Actually, my party pictures were a little boring, and I'm waiting to get back the ones that Ann took as people were coming in.
Addendum - I am adding a few pictures that I took, since I haven't seen Ann's and wanted to get something online.

Rehobeth with the girls!

So I haven't spent a week at the beach with "the girls" since Senior week! And I can't explain how much more fun this was!!


The first night was spent at the house but things got a little crazy as we got to know each other better. I met a couple new girls, whose sibling I actually taught. How ironic! Brewster wasn't shy about trying to catch me up with them since they had started a lot earlier than I was able to get down there. Her specialty pitchers came rolling, and on, and on, and on; you get the picture!
Needless to say, that night I got lost on the way back from the bathroom, without any help from Judy, who was also sharing the room, as she laughed at me for not being able to get comfortable. Brewster got an unexpected bed buddy, with a little snuggling too! She protested the next morning at breakfast, but she liked it. Everyone needs a little cuddle time; it's good for the soul!
"GILF" Judy did make a fabulous breakfast, or two, and hurried us all off to the beach. That night we searched out some karaoke at the Frogg Pond!
For a Sunday night, it definitely lead to some interesting pictures, oh, and not to mention quotable quotes for our "memory book" of the week. We'll never forget scary Mary and how much she loves her brother, or how afraid we were of how angry she seemed when she thinks about her partner! Tracy started a conga line, which drew in some more straight people from the street, but they didn't stay long. The bartender practically begged us to stay, actually she bribed us with shots, but it's all the same. The night did end with some guests on the bar, but I'll keep the names to myself!

The beach we went to, inside the state park, was awesome with very few kids and no crowds. I also have to admit that I felt like we were the most well-prepared beach goers there with our cooler, our chips, magazines, games, umbrella, you name it! A BIT of a difference from the beach with Matt's buddies, rugby guys in OCMD, but that's another blog!

I stayed for a few more beach days and also fit in some Me time by taking the ferry over to Cape May! Lots of fun, just the whole process of loading and unloading the Jeep. Then I bopped around town thinking about the wedding. (I checked out some more rooms at The Chalfonte and visited Henry's, which is the rehearsal dinner site. I also worked on a list of things to do for people who have Saturday afternoon free.)
To sum the week up- it was a ridiculously awesome time!! I freakin love you guys! Thanks for a great time! I already can't wait for next year!

Couldn't be more proud!!

So, this past weekend, before leaving for the beach with some girlfriends of mine, I headed to my sister's in NJ. She had asked if Matt and I would be coming up to watch she and her husband compete in the Franklin Lakes mini-triathlon. I thought it would be awesome and volunteered to help with the kids since they had to get up so early to be at registration. Well, while Lydia eventually got bogged down with all three of the kids, as you can see, I had to write about what an awesome job my sister did!


Matt and I arrived Friday afternoon to hang out with my sister and her husband since I didn't know much time we'd have together on Saturday. Erin and I ended up taking her oldest, Zachary, to a birthday party then running out to Sports Authority to replace her bike helmet that she had cracked up in a bad spill a few weeks prior. We also picked out a nice running top, at which point it began to settle in with me just how serious this whole event would be.

After dinner, some serious starches to fuel them up for the big day, Jason began doing final checks on their bikes, in the living room. My dad and Lydia also arrived, just as Erin was putting the kids to bed and we all sat around talking and catching up on details of the event. Finally, we went to bed, not quite early enough for what they were going to have to do.
After they got up and left at 5:30am (!), her youngest, Paige, woke up crying so I stepped in as "mom" and brought her down to sleep on the couch with me. To my surprise, it worked and I settled her back to bed. Then we were all up, chasing kids, dressing kids, running in and out of Dunkin Donuts to provide breakfast!

Between the four of us, we got the three kids to the lake in time to see Erin finishing her swim as she ran to her bike in her fancy triathlon wetsuit! WOW! Then was the wait for part two - the return from the 17 mile bike ride. My cousin Kim came in first, followed by Jason and Erin. The turnover time was amazing as some men started coming in and were off running in seconds, literally. They pulled their bike shoes off while riding, ran to park their bike, threw on shoes and off they went!
Smiling proudly Erin got off her bike and got ready for phase three - a five mile run. She hydrated, changed, stretched, then off she went, too!


The kids waited patiently again for the end of phase three. We erroneously picked an open spot next to a overly enthusiastic lady who warned everyone else to make way for the runners, but stood in the middle of the path herself. Although I must applaud her unwaning cheering kept every else moving away from us, so I got some good pictures!
Two of my other cousins had created a relay team, so they did come in first. Then Kim, doing her first triathlon at forty, finished! She was followed by Jason and then Erin. Even down the home stretch Erin smiled proudly as we cheered her on.
Congratulations to everyone who participated, but Becky, I couldn't be prouder of you! You did a great job, and maybe at thirty-three, after a few years of swim lessons, I'll join you!

30, for real this time!

Ok, so this time, it's for real. I'm officially 30. Last weekend was a blast, the surprise party, the cards and cake, hanging out - loved it.

This weekend however, well, there's not much fun behind the official date arriving, but I must say that my other friends did make it awesome! I headed to FL for the weekend to attend a Tiki Party. Not just any Tiki party, but Roger's! Roger, Rachel, Matt, and I did some, ok, a lot of partying in Japan together on my JFMF experience.
You see, Rachel celebrated her 30th with us in Fukuoka and we were all having such good times together that Roger invited us to his annual party, for a little reunion you might say. It just so happened that the weekend of his party was also my 30th birthday! So, 7 months later, we all followed through and ended up somewhere in Florida, 20 miles from Gainsville, back a few dirt roads, at a house on Gillis Pond!


As evident by some of the photos there was so much more to the weekend than Tiki-ing or my birthday, and it was great! Rachel and I learned something about the domesticated life by finally spending some time in the kitchen! Although I don't know that we were always cooking, but we tried.

Matt got a few bugbites putting some hard work into party preparation! Oh, and he also got to be the honorary flag raiser for the party. And I think Roger and Donna got to see what three people our age can do to their sleeping schedule! Most imortantly, we got to appreciate the wonderful relationship the two of them have for Donna to have lovingly welcomed Roger's crazy "friends from Japan" into their home. Overall, it was too great to describe but I think the idea is clear.

You guys are great friends that I feel lucky to know, and I can't wait to hang out again! BTW, Rachel, when's that wedding? hah! Thanks! Lots of love!

Surprise!

Last night Matt and I went to dinner for my birthday, even though it's not until this Friday. I'll be heading for Florida to meet my FMF friends at a Tiki Party reunion and he has a busy week with class, so I thought it was nice of him to squeeze my birthday in a little early. He offered to take me to Musashi, the Japanese restaurant I had just gone to on Thursday with my students, and since it's a rare offer on his part, even though I was just there, I thought I'd savor the opportunity!
Good thing I didn't put up a fight, I don't know what he would have had to do, because... Lucky for me, it was a party - for me! Most of my best friends were all waiting in the back room! Yippee!
I so love him, and them, of course!
After a fun dinner we all headed back to our house where a few more people dropped by and everyone got the chance to hang out some more! It's a great time when friends go out of their way to show they care, so thank you to everyone who came, it meant a lot to me! Lots of love back at ya!
Buckie

Easter Break!

This is the first holiday in a while that Matt and I haven't traveled anywhere, but we are saving for a super fun, fantastic wedding, so we'll get over it. Next summer, maybe.
Instead, I was able to visit my sister and see my neices and nephew. It was way more fun that splurging on a plane and other nonsense though, because, well, check out the pictures and you'll see what I mean.
I missed Taylor's birthday, which meant I wanted to make up for that, but I can't take for one without including the others, right? And I had bought one of these really cool "Make your own Peeps" kits, so I thought I'd take that and maybe some egg dye, because I'm sure they'll want to dye easter eggs, and one more thing, just in case, how about some of those stained glass window things that you bake in the oven! Ok, well, yes, I'll admit it, I had been at Michael's that week and I got a little carried away, but we did have an awesome time! Check it out! How stinkin' cute are they?! Lots of fun, and lots of love!