Friday, June 28, 2013

What happens when you press delete by accident

I just spend two hours writing up a post, complete with pictures, recipes, and everything. I pressed publish. It went up. Great.

I went into the draft section, in an attempt to clean up some draft posts and work on those and in the midst of doing that, managed to delete the post that I had already published for the day. The one that I spent two hours on. Shiiiit.

Ooops.


Here is the much abridged version:






I don't like grocery shopping.

Mulder is cute.



I started a 2000 piece puzzle as part of my 101 in 1001.



Perimeter completed



Still can't quite figure out bloglovin.

I made triple bean veggie burgers. The mixture looks like dog vomit (as Ryan claimed) but tastes pretty good. Recipe and pictures to come another day.

School is out for the summer. I'm only working a few hours in the afternoons this summer and pretty happy about the time off.

Just started watching How I Met Your Mother. Love it.

It's raining and I am going to use that as the perfect reason to have a marathon session with How I Met Your Mother


Girls Night tonight. Yay. Makes me happy.

Amy Yakima  on So You Think You Can Dance was unbelievable this week. I have a feeling she will win this season.








Question for you?
Have you ever spent a significant amount of your time on something and then it all goes to waste?

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

100 Things About Me



       It has been a whirlwind of a week with the school year coming to an end and some things in my life that are left to the unknown. I haven't even had the chance to go food shopping this week, let alone cook a real dinner. I'm looking forward to this weekend -so far, no major plans: dinner with my parents on Saturday night and  I hope to start getting some after pictures of the house so I can start posting about them. I may go to Lowe's and start looking at paint colors for the other rooms in the house.

Anyways....
      I started working on my 101 in 1001 list and I can officially cross this off my list! 1 down, 100 more to go!
      I had been working on this list for a while, just gathering random thoughts. I seriously didn't anticipate being this difficult to come up with a 100 things about myself.



1. Pink is my favorite color-pink water bottle, pink cell phone case, ipad cover, key chains. I tried -unsuccessfully- to convince Ryan to let me paint the inside of the walk-in closet  hot pink.
2. Birds and fish freak me out.
3. I looooooooove dogs, especially really big dogs. (See #22)
4. I am a speech-language pathologist
5. I cannot resist chocolate
6. I spent my summers growing up at a Jewish overnight camp-I still consider it my favorite place to be. I went there as a camper for 7 years and 6 as a counselor.
7. My brother married a camp girl.
8. I pee a lot (sorry, TMI?)
9. Because I pee a lot, I wake up at least 2-3 times a night. I can't remember the last time I slept through the whole night.
10. I am the world's worst singer.
11. I can recite nearly every line in the show, Friends, and am pretty sure I could answer almost any trivia question about the show.
12. I know every word in Ice Ice Baby.
13. I prefer drinking out of a straw.
14. This all started in high school when I had those clear braces that turned yellow if you weren't extremely careful.
15. I moved to Florida from the Boston area for two years to attend grad school and didn't know a single person.
16. I name my dogs after TV show characters-First was Bauer (24), now I have Mulder (X-files). I really want my next dog to be named Mr. Feeny. ( I also want my next dog to be a French Mastiff but I have to convince Ryan-he is anti-slober; I'm not.)


Bauer


One of my favorite pictures of Bauer




Bauer

Sleeping Mulder




17. I am obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance.

18. I was also quite obsessed with 24, specifically Jack Bauer (hence #16.)
19. I always shave my left leg first and put my contacts in starting with the left eye.
20. But I always remove my right contact first.
21. I am a grammar nerd (except when I am blogging-I excuse myself from this because I just want to type fast.)
22. I grew up with a 300 pound English Mastiff. His name was Windsor and he was such a good dog.
Size difference or what.





23. My mother used to trick me into eating salmon when I was a kid by referring to it as "pink chicken."
24. I still have (and cuddle with) my stuffed animal. His name is Tim. I got him when I was a baby and recently got my newborn nephew his very own Tim.
Original Tim on the left, sans eyes, nose and mouth. Clean  Tim on the right

25. I keep a running list of the books that I have read since I was in college. I'm up to 130 right now.
26. I grew up dancing-it is still one of my favorite things to do. I cannot sit still when I hear music.
June 1987-My 1st dance recital

2001 Senior Dance Company
Tap
27. Unfortunately, my body was absolutely not meant for dancing. I have had my right hip completely reconstructed because of that.
38. I also broke my left ankle multiple times from dancing. The first time I broke my ankle, I walked on it for 10 days before going to the hospital.
39. My left index finger was cut off right before my 9th birthday.
40. That's why I celebrate 9 1/2 finger day each year.
41. I have the most handsome nephew in the whole world.


42. I have been skydiving-twice.

43. I have a bit of a daredevil side to me.
44. But I will never consider going bungee jumping -something about the possibility of whiplash terrifies me.
45. I am 4'11'' and a half. That half is extremely important to me.
46. I also have a bit a 90-year old woman side to me- I thoroughly enjoy puzzles, knitting, reading, etc.
47. I love folding laundry. I find it relaxing
48. The same way my mother finds vacuuming relaxing and my grandmother thinks ironing is relaxing.
49. I am still friends with my "girls" from high school. Our group has grown over the years, and I am beyond grateful for my friendship with them.
50. When Ryan and I went on our first date, I asked my friend to call me in the middle of the date to proclaim "something bad happened" as a get-away plan in case I needed it.
51. I ended up texting her in the middle of the date to abort the fake emergency call because I was going to marry Ryan.
52. I can't fall asleep without socks on my feet but I kick them off every single night. There are piles of socks gathered at the end of the bed when I change my sheets.
53.  I would prefer to be too cold over being too hot.
54. I love the beach-it is my favorite place to read a book but I don't really care for going in the ocean or getting all sandy.
55. I really dislike taking out the trash.
56. I recently starting drinking and really appreciating craft beer.
57.My favorite movie is "Adventures in Babysitting"-I used to quote the line "don't fuck with the babysitter" when I was a kid. (I still do).
58. And my all time favorite song is Mr. Big's, "To Be With You".
59. I can burp like a truck driver-on command.
60. When I was in college, I didn't know how to cook so I would have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches delivered to me.
61. I want to become fluent in sign-language.
62. My favorite place I have traveled to is Florence, Italy when I went to visit my sister who was studying abroad there.
63. I get weird satisfaction out of making and crossing things off of a to-do list.
64. I crack my knuckles and my hips frequently. When I crack my hips, I lift my leg up, like a dog peeing on a fire hydrant and then lean forward. People always think I am farting when I do this (I don't do this at work or in public.....often.)
65. Despite my insane love for all things chocolate, if I had to pick just one food to eat for the rest of my life it would be Quakers maple and brown sugar oatmeal.
66. At one point, I had 10 piercings (three on each ear, plus two in my left cartilage, my belly button, and my tongue.)
67. The tongue ring came out very shortly after my parents found out. (That didn't go over so well.)
68. I love Sudoku.
69. My favorite book is Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper.
70. I have horrible luck with computers-they tend to break when I am around.
71.  My first crushes were Johnny Castle (not Patrick Swayze) from Dirty Dancing and Jesse Katsopolis from Full House. ( I had/still have a thing for a good head of hair.)


72. I don't like biting into apples because my chin feels sticky the rest of the day.
73. I once met Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston when they came to my dance recital. Bobby Brown even signed my ballet shoe.
74. I can't whistle.
75. My favorite flowers are calla-lillies.
76. I still hold my nose when I swim.
77. I am an overly-cautious driver.
78. I sleep on the left side of the bed.
79. I could be very content sitting on the couch all day with a puzzle (nerd alert.)
80. My first concert was New Kids on the Block.
81. Growing up, my comfort food was chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn mixed up in a bowl.
82. My grandmother makes the greatest chocolate chip cookies-it took my nearly 26 years to get the recipe from her.
83. She also made me promise that I would never give the recipe away.
84. I tend to fall asleep when watching a movie.
85. Foods I dislike: popcorn, olives, pickles, cottage cheese, blueberries.
86.  I am anti-twitter.
87. If I have a bad day, or something horrible happened, all I want to do is take a nap. My mother started referring to these as my "denial naps."
88. I went to college in upstate New York and grad school in Florida. Complete opposites climates and atmospheres.
89. I've only been snowboarding a handful of times but I got the hang of it pretty quickly and I love it.
90. Except that I suck at getting off the ski lift and have to have someone push me off.
91. I hated skiing the one and only time I went.
92.  My earliest memories are of my mother putting my hair in pigtails and curling my hair with a curling iron. The other memory is going to visit my grandfather in the hospital and eating a package of M & M's (refer to #5)
93. I would love to learn how to ride a motorcycle.
94. I won't wear white pants/shorts/capri's.
95. I am good at memorizing vocabulary terms.
96. I enjoy cooking and baking, even though I am not that great at it.
97. If I could meet one person, it would be a tie between Travis Wall and Mia Michaels (See #17.)
98. My father and I both have a thing for old fashioned clocks. I love that we have very similar taste and styles when it comes to decorating, style, and design...old world, wood, brown leather, etc.
99. My mother and I have completely opposite taste. She is very modern, art-deco, contemporary.
100. Writing this list was a lot more difficult than I anticipated.



DONE! Now, I get to cross something off a list, put $5.00 in my savings account as part of my 101 in 1001 list, and feel accomplished for the day! Wahooo





Sunday, June 16, 2013

Grandma's Retirement and a special fathers day

Yesterday, my grandmother retired after 27 years of working and being a driving force at the temple. She was the woman who did it all as the rabbi said in his speech. The synagogue gave her a wonderful send off and the rabbi spoke such kind and inspirational words in her honor.

 She began working shortly after my grandfather passed away in 1986 and found comfort in working as a secretary/do-it-all woman at the temple in which she belonged to for over 50 years.
Grandpa and me, circa 1984


After the services, we had a kiddish lunch to celebrate her. My family put together the reception area and did an amazing job:
sneak peek at what the reception area looked like mid-set up.

Happy Fathers Day to this guy:



myself, my dad, my brother
circa 1986


My father is the most selfless individual who wants only the best for his children and would do ANYTHING for them. I wouldn't be anywhere without him. He really is the best father a girl could ask for.
 
 
And a very special fathers day to my brother. It is his first fathers day and I hope he has a wonderful one at that.
 
 
 
 
And as always, happy fathers day to my amazing boyfriend, Ryan. He is a wonderful dad and I look forward to more wonderful parenting adventures with him.
 





 






 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

If you could judge a reality show....


It was a very trying evening here in my home. I really had to will every power in me to fulfill my part of the orange rhino challenge. 
Without going into too much detail, the teenager got into some teenage trouble today. Nothing major, nothing that lots of teenagers haven't done before but still...enough to make us want to yell. We went for the "so-disappointed-that-I-cant-even-look-at-you-long-enough-to-yell-at-you" approach. I think it worked...for now at least. I am buying us a fancy bottle of champagne when we make it out of the teenage years alive. Anyone have words of wisdom???

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Before Tour




          I've been working on this post for a while-mainly because I am technologically challenged and seem to attract problems with the computers/internet. It took me forever to get the pictures transferred from my phone to the computers, let alone in the right size or format. Like I said, I am technologically challenged with a magnet that seems to attracts computer problems (i.e. in the four years of college, I managed to break/screw up/virus, etc. 7 computers)

          I created this blog as a way to document the process on buying our first house and making it my our home. The very first post described how my boyfriend, Ryan, and I recently purchased our first (and most likely, only) home. We've been here for a few months now and it no longer looks so….retro? 1970’s? Groovy? It took a lot to look past the outdated décor  and I was very hesitant about putting an offer on this house, let alone consider it. Ryan fell in  love with it immediatly and was absolutely able to see past the ugly carpet in the kitchen, outdated décor, and ugly wallpaper, but just to give you an idea, these are some “before” pictures.


Some are from the original listing with the previous owners furniture and decorations, and others are from my phone during the renovation process. It is still an ongoing process, but here you go…

Ignore the fact that these pictures are of horrible quality. I am not a photographer nor do I have a fancy schamncy camera-if I am taking the picture, it usually comes from my phone.





Outside of the house:
The front of the house actually faces that back, I love that






Patio:

Foyer:



Stairs lead to the laundry area, basement, and garage.
Check out that carpet! 

Living Room:

One of the main features that really sold us on the home (The giant brick fireplace, definitely not the giant fish)



Check out that view! 

Dining Area:





Its hard to see from the pictures, but that is actually an orange carpet. A 40 something year old orange carpet

Kitchen:

Just in case you were wondering, that is the same CARPET as the stairs leading into the  laundry.
Yes, carpet in the kitchen. Talk about retro

Double ovens built into the brick. Very Carol Brady. I love the double ovens but  I'm already preparing for a nightmare when we have to replace them

Hallway:
Again, the 40+ year orange carpet throughout the hallway

Main Bathroom:

They don't even make toilets like that anymore. 


It looks like Kermit the Frog exploded in this bathroom


Office:

This picture has the closest represenation of the color of the original carpet. A dingy  green-weird color

Although hard to see in this particular photo, those are built in bookshelves into both sides of that wall, made of solid wood.

The pictures from the office area are from when we moved in, but  nothing had been done to the room. 



Second Bedroom:


Master Bedroom:

Master Bathroom:


Yep, that is some groovy wallpaper and matching tile. 





The house was built in the mid 1970's and nearly everything was original (i.e. wall color, carpets, fixtures, sinks, toilets, etc.) when we moved in.

Keep checking back as I will post "after" pictures for each room as I get around to it!


I didn't get any pictures of the laundry area, garage, or basement but I will be sure to post pictures as I re-do and re-organize this whole house and make it our home.