Life is Too Short for Self Hatred and Celery Sticks - M. Wann

Bent Spoon in Princeton
September 24, 2011

Saturday, Christine (the lovely girl with the flower) completed her first 80 mile bike race; a particularly awe-inspiring accomplishment in my eyes since I can't even ride a bicycle. I can, however, eat ice cream while basking in the joy of my friends... which is just what I did.

"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart." - Erma Bombeck

Monday's Music Moves Me: Aug. 29, 2011 ~ This Weather Sucks!!

.






Welcome to a Monday's Music Moves Me, the fantabulistic music meme hosted by me, my dearest of friends Dolly from XmasDolly, Larry from Cakeblast, Callie from Jamerican

Before the Evacuation

August 24, 2011

For the past 5 summers, we have rented a house in Sea Isle City, NJ for a week in August with a couple of our friends. This year, our place was a million-dollar home right on the promenade; we moved in last Saturday and are supposed to check out tomorrow - but there is a hurricane coming, and the town is busy boarding up windows and throwing down sandbags... so we are thinking about leaving a day early.



Evacuation is only "suggested" for today - but mandatory tomorrow; Gary just went to get gas because a local said the gas stations are running out. I wonder how badly the Jersey coast is going to get hit by hurricane Irene. At least we had a beautiful week at the shore (see below).

Our Friends' Baby in Front of Our Rental

Our Balcony, Overlooking the Beach

Balcony Dwelling

Morning View from Our Balcony





Afternoon at the Beach

Evening View from Our Balcony

Some Silly Puns to Make You Laugh

.



~ The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Circumference. He acquired his size from too much pi. 
~ I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian. 
~ She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still. 
~ A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption. 
~ No

All Things Happy

It doesn’t always have to big things like expensive watches & dresses (I so want one right now) to make us happy. Many times, its small things that put a smile on our faces. And this is my list of those things.  ♥ Spending time with people I connect and love… be it family or friends. They sure do put a smile on my face.♥ Pulling legs of my friends.♥ That I have changed in past 2 years. Now I m

Big Things Coming Over at XmasDolly's Blog

.

**UPDATE: MARIE HAS DONE IT!!XMASDOLLY NOW HAS OVER 1000 FOLLOWERS - YIPPEE!STAY TUNED FOR INFO ON THE FABULOUS GIVEAWAYS...***



I'm sure you all know my friend Marie over at XmasDolly by now... I am SO excited to let you know that she is just about to reach her 1000th blog follower - at last check, she had ONE MORE TO GO!  I am SO proud of her, she has worked so hard on her blog and truly

13 Best Moments Of Life

1.To fall in love.2.To clear your Last exams.3.To wake up and realize its still possible to sleep.4.To get a phone call saying class is cancelled.5. To feel butterflies every time you see that person.  6. To see an old friend again and to feel that things haven't changed.7. To touch the fingers of newly born child.8.Speaking to an old friend on Sunday evening.  9.Waiting for a call or message

Thursday Recipe Swap Meet ~ Party Punch

.


OK... we know you have all these recipes that you love to make. You got them from your mother, your grandmother, a magazine, or maybe you made it up, perhaps you don't even remember where the recipe came from. Well, how about sharing them with all of us? We are going to share ours with you every Thursday!


My good friend and (according to her husband) excellent cook, Dolly over at

How's the Weather Where You Are?

.


I can't believe that 2/3 of the country is actually HOTTER than the weather we have here in Florida.

I hope you are all able to keep cool while still managing to have some fun this summer.

I'm spending lots of time in the air conditioned house with the doggies and then head to the pool usually once a day to swim and do some exercising.

Don't forget to drink plenty of water, take breaks

Friendship

Friendship is choosing one person, or few persons, over all other people. By calling someone a friend one is stating, "This person is more valuable to me than Stranger Bob whom I have never met." One values some, meaning friends, over others, meaning Stranger Bobs, based on the potential friend's standards or morality. Therefore, people with similar almost synonymous moral standards are

The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

.



My wonderful friend Tami over at Misc. Ramblings has been so kind as to pass along to me The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award. I thank her SO much because I happen to think she is one of the sweetest people I know, she definitely deserved receiving this award. Love you girlfriend!!

The rules: Give 7 random facts about yourself and then pass this award on to 10 deserving bloggers and let them

Weekend Warriors (Extreme Edition)

Over the the past three months, Gary and I have participated in some pretty "extreme" weekend warrior events; below are some brief highlights:

Event: Relay for Life
Participants: Gary, Christine, Chaya and myself (and some of my friends from work)
Date: June 17-18
Website: CLICK HERE
Task: Relay team members must walk continuously around a track from 7 pm to 7 am; proceeds benefit American Cancer Society



Event: 5 Boro Bike Tour
Participants: Gary and Christine
Date: May 1, 2011
Website: CLICK HERE
Task: bike (with 30,000 other bikers) 42 miles of car-free streets through all five boroughs of NYC



Event: Tough Mudder
Participants: Gary (and some of his friends from work)
Date: April 10, 2011
Map of Course: CLICK HERE
Task: 10 miles of obstacles including: slushing through mud swamps, climbing over butter greased monkey bars, running through live wires ... and many more. Proceeds go to wounded soldiers fund.

Monday Music Moves Me ~ Happy, Happy Birthday Dearest Dolly!

Welcome to a very special Monday's Music Moves Me, the fantabulistic music meme hosted by me, Dolly from XmasDolly, Larry from Cakeblast and Callie from Jamerican Spice.  This

Whats LOVE?

Its LOVE when a Little Baby girl puts all her Energy 2 give her Daddy a Head Massage 2 Relief his Headache.Its LOVE when a Wife makes Tea 4 her Husband & take a Sip b4 him 2 See if the Tea is ok. Its LOVE when a Mother gives her Son the best piece of Chicken n he pass it 2 his Younger Sister.Its LOVE when a Friend holds Ur hand Tightly on a slippery Road after Rain 4 your protection.LOVE is

Thursday Recipe Swap Meet ~ Blueberry Bread Pudding

.

First I want to apologize for not getting over to everyone's posts last week to visit as I was without a computer. Second, I want to thank you all for your participation... Dolly and I would be NO where without your wonderful contributions. We love you all... HUGGLES!!


OK... we know you have all these recipes that you love to make. You got them from your mother, your grandmother, a magazine

Friday Food Fight:

.


Denise @ RunDMT

To join the weekly Friday Food Fight, post a picture of your favorite food, meal, snack or drink. Of course, you enjoying your tasty treat would be great, but you don’t need to be in the picture. Then on Friday, post your drool inducing photo and link up with Denise at RunDMT. That’s it!!

It was such a beautiful day last Saturday, that I was craving a nice fresh salad for

Smartphone Safety

.

With the proliferation of smartphones these days, it is really important that we are really careful with how we use them. Especially the photo feature and our children, or even ourselves. There are far too many sickos out there in the world. I was sent this video by a friend of mine that I wanted to share with you all, especially my wonderful friends with such beautiful children whom I care

Happy St. Patrick's Day

.




To all of my dear friends on this fine St. Patrick's Day... I give you an old Irish blessing:





May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.



I wish you

How'd Y'all Say That Again???

.

I ran across this Blog Hop on Cat's blog Three Kids and Us and just had to join in... I know I am later than everyone else, but it is just so much fun, that I had to share it with everyone.  Cat found it on Annie's blog Mama Dweeb.  The idea behind the hop is to see how people from all around the country pronounce different words and hear what they call different things... It really is a ton

Christine's San Francisco "Firsts"

Christine and I took over 250 pictures during our trip to San Francisco, and we thought that a fun way to recap the entire 3 day visit with my friend Diana would be to highlight a few of the "firsts" Christine experienced during our adventure. So get comfortable, scroll down, and enjoy.

Airline Firsts

First Time Flying ...
Virgin America Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Without Sedatives!
In an Exit Isle

Picture Taken By Christine
On Flight from JFK to SFO

San Francisco Sight-Seeing Firsts

First Time Seeing ...

Sea Lions
Bay Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
SF Neighborhoods
City Lights Bookstore
Amoeba Music
Haight Street
The "Real" Ghiradelli (Disney World doesn't count!)

Bay Bridge

Ocean Beach - the Pacific Ocean

Cliff House Lookout: Golden Gate Bridge

Shopping on Haight Street

Fisherman's Warf

Firehouse Firsts

First Time ...

Meeting a SF fireman (Diana's friend)
Riding in a firetruck (to a cafe in North Beach no less!)
Touring a firehouse

...while we didn't use the pole, we did confirm that it is indeed faster than taking the stairs

Food Firsts

First Time Eating...
Ethnic Food: Vietnamese, Indian
Sweets: Kara's Cupcakes, Sees Candy, Chocolate-Banana Bread Pudding, Sharffenburger Chocolate, Julian Pie
Beer: Weihenstephan
Coffee: Blue Bottle, Pete's Coffee
Fast Food: In and Out Burger

Dinner at Ana Mandara
Vietnamese Restaurant