Our New Toys

All my life, I've wanted a pool. I'm not much of a swimmer, but there is nothing I like more in the summer time than relaxing in a pool with a good book. I convinced Matt I deserved one. We wanted to get one of the cheaper ones, like the Intex Easy Set pools, because in two summers, when we get married in the backyard, I want to be able to take it down and have space for the wedding to be back there. We ended up getting this great metal frame 15'x42" above ground at WalMart. Matt put it up for me on Friday night and I love it. I've been in it everyday since at least once if not a few times. I can't wait for one day this week when I don't have to be somewhere so that I can relax and float around in the pool with a good book. It's fabulous!At our housewarming & engagement party, quite a few of our friends pitched in and gave us money to get our new patio set. We went out looking on Saturday morning and found a set at Namco marked down ridiculously. We really liked it, and at the price it was marked down to, we couldn't say no. Thank you to Jen for putting together the collection and to Rita, Jeanne O, Barb Ash, Emily S, Stephanie C, Sue Leck, Auntie Donna, Uncle Duane, Kerri, Bobbi, Sherman, Mary W, Amanda, Ashley, Betty, Spikey Jon, Sue H., Marissa, Josh, Joshy, Nancy, Susan T., Kathy M, Laura W., Steve the Butcher, Mariel, Rachel, & Langley for our new set, which we absolutely love!:) You guys are the greatest!To top off our backyard toys (for the time being)... we had registered for this conversation set from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. My mom's neighbors, Fred, Jean, & Samantha, were wonderful enough to buy it for us the day before the party so that we could use it for the party. I love it. It's comfortable & you can attach the seats to make loveseats, sofas, or whatever.
I thought it was really neat, and perfect for under our sunroom. It's comfortable, easily moved, and pretty. Well, Matt and I also got two really great gift cards to Bed, Bath, and Beyond from Steve & from Kathy & Tim, so we went back to BB&B and bought a second set. Now we can latch them together to make loveseats and sofas and we can all relax in the shade under the sunroom. I love the set!
Thank you to everyone who has helped us out and been so generous with us. We really are blessed to have family and friends like all of you!

Housewarming & Engagement Party

Our housewarming & engagement party was on the 18th. We lucked out with a nice day... a little stickier than I would have liked, but it was still nice and there was no rain - for this summer, no rain was all I was asking for! I think the party went really well. It was really important to me that all of our family and friends be there. I think a few peoples' invitations slipped through the cracks. Some people I think never checked their email invitations. Others I didn't have their addresses. But all in all, the people who we really wanted there, were there (minus a few who were missed). With over 130 people there on Saturday, I felt like I was going crazy trying to see everyone, give tours, be a hostess, and try to enjoy myself as well. By the time I was ready to sit down and relax with a drink, it seemed all of my friends were gone for the night! My cousin Michele and her two boys made the trip from New York out here, as did my friend Spikey Jon. I also had my friend Kelly come up from Connecticut which was really awesome to me. It was really important to me that we have all of our friends and family there with us to celebrate the beginning of our life together in our new home. It wasn't just a housewarming party or just an engagement party to me but a day to have all of our closest friends there to be with us. We had a really wonderful time and it seemed like most other people did as well. We can't thank everyone enough for being there for us, helping out with all of the hard work, and celebrating with us. I know it was especially hard for a few people to put their differences aside and be in the presence of other people where it might not have been very comfortable -- and that means the world to me! I hope everyone had as good of a time as we did. We love you all.

The beautiful and huge cake my parents got us

The 129 Jello shots I made to start us off right..
Our basement - finally (just about) finished!
The bar area of the basement!
Our moonbounce to entertain the kids! (Thanks, Chad!)
Some family & friends..
My friend Spikey Jon from NY was kind enough to remove our swing set for us. (Yes, we really wanted it removed.)
Some of the best friends a girl could ask for.

New Babies

This blog is a little late but I've been (im)patiently waiting for Bono to send me pictures so that I could write about the new baby! Most people know that I've had the same group of girlfriends for years. The nine or so of us have been friends for as long as we can remember. Some of the girls met in kindergarten, some of us in second grade, a few of us in middle school -- but by high school, the nine of us were a group. We rarely went places without each other. We did group trips where most, if not all, of us would travel together to places like Florida & Montreal. I was very lucky to have met such wonderful girls. As time goes on, we continue to grow up and do different things and go different places and separate but I think the one thing about us is that when you put us all in a room together, it's like we've never left each others' sides and we're all still 15. I love my girls very much and I hate that we're growing up and doing different things.
Some of us have moved away. Mariel went to Washington State for a while, I lived in South Carolina, PJ lives in Tennessee, Marissa in Providence, RI. Some of us moved back. Marissa is a doctor now. Beth is a nurse. It's weird to think that some of us are so grown up. PJ was the first of us to get married back in 2006. Now, she's the first of us to have a baby. Abigael Jeanne was born on July 5th. Joe, her husband, was able to come home from Afghanistan to be there for the birth of their first child. Abigael is absolutely beautiful and I could not be more happy or proud of PJ and Joe.
It's a scary thought - us growing up. I still can't believe sometimes that I'm getting married or that I own a house... forget the fact that PJ has a husband and a baby! Life goes awfully fast but hopefully we're still taking time for one another in 20 years like we do now.

Registration

My friends with husbands and children have told me how great it is to register. They tell me about how wonderful it is to walk around the store with a little scanner and just scan to your hearts content! As much as I didn't know I was supposed to and didn't really want to register and seem like I'm looking for gifts, I did. To be honest, it's simply because I don't want more bottles of wine and picture frames and pointless knick-knack stuff that I now have to remember to dust. Matt and I have lived together before, and I was only my own for quite a few years, so we have most of the stuff that we need. Apparently, registering is for the stuff that you want but would probably never splurge on or that you need and haven't gotten around to yet. I figured, hey, what the heck. What's the worst that could happen? So what if I get nothing on my list. It's just a wish list!
Well, I decided to register in two places... not because I want a million things, but because I want so few things, that I need to try to broaden my list. I chose Target - because they have just about everything... and Bed, Bath, and Beyond - because they have everything else. I contemplated WalMart, because it's practically my favorite store in the world... but I couldn't imagine walking through there with a scanner. I talked to Matt about it and we made a sort of wish list quickly and I went to the store alone. I started at Target. I entered some stuff on a computer and the lady in red hands me a scanner and says go to it! I spent about an hour in Target today and I scanned ten things. Ten. That is all. I printed out my list and figured I might add a few things when I got home.
I headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, confident in my new ability to carry around a scanner and find items that I would like. Sadly, Bed, Bath, and Beyond is nothing like Target. First I had to meet with a woman named Jen who asked all about my reason for registering and when we'll be married and when we moved into our home... and then I get Matt. Matt is about 19 years old and he becomes my personal consultant. I didn't know I needed a consultant. I'll be honest - I got most of my stuff at Target, but I knew about three or four things that I really liked at BB&B, so I figured I could register there as well. Well, my consultant Matt walks around with me and scans things for me. I have never felt so ridiculous in my life! He wants me to scan everything -- and I? I want to scan nothing. It isn't that I can't find things I like -- it's that I don't want a bunch of crap in my house. I want what I need and then I want breathing space. After telling Matt about how many people are invited to my housewarming and when it is and what kinds of things I need, I end up re-registering for just about everything I've registered for at Target just to give Matt something to do. In the end, I have 13 items (a small step up from 10) and Matt says I need to step it up. Apparently when you invite between 75 and 100 people to a party, you need to have a larger list than 13. I didn't tell him I registered at Target as well, but I did promise him I would go home and add to my registry with the help of my fiance.
As soon as I got home, I immediately went on BB&B.com and deleted all of the things I already picked out at Target. I spent some time going through my drawers and picked out a few things that I needed for the kitchen and talked to Matt about a few more things that I added online. I'll be honest though -- I dread the day I have to register for my wedding at BB&B with my own personal consultant to walk me through the aisles. So awkward!

Happy Fourth

The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. The only thing that can ever beat it is Christmas Eve. I love traditions. I don't think there's anything better than doing the same thing with the same people year after year and just knowing you can count on it. I think that's why I love Christmas and the Fourth. Since I was only a baby in my mom's belly, I've gone to Winthrop on the Fourth. We go with all of my dad's family and my grandmother and all of her friends dress like crazies and go in the parade. They win something almost every year and they're a crowd favorite. This year they were the Winthrop Girls. My grandmother didn't march, but my younger cousin, Shannon, did. They sang this song as they marched down the street about being the Winthrop girls who wear their hair in curls with their jeans rolled up and their father's shirts and brother's ties... I wish I knew the lyrics because it was pretty adorable. They marched & we watched. I love it. I feel like a child again, sitting on the curb, waiting for candy to be thrown. It's really exciting to me. After the parade we used to spend the rest of the day at Kathy & Tiger's house. I would hang on the beach... (After all, this is their back yard..)
I would join in the egg toss on the beach, hang with my cousins, Traci & Sandra, go to the park, and eat all day, awaiting this grand fireworks display. Since I now have to share my favorite holiday with Matt's birthday, he gets some say in what we do as well. This year, we hung in Winthrop until noontime. It was great to sit by the water and just relax (and NOT be working on the basement!) I think Matt had a pretty nice time. At least it looks like he did...
After Winthrop, we came home for a while and then headed to Matt's Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jeff's house in North Andover. I had such a great time hanging out with Matt's family. They're all so welcoming, and they remind me of the family get-togethers we used to have. It's so wonderful.
For the night, Matt wanted to relax so he and I built our first fire in our fire pit in the backyard and Rey & J came over. We watched our neighbors do a fantastic fireworks display which was so close, pieces of fireworks were actually landing around us in the yard. It was such a nice day, and finally, the sun was shining!

To Register or Not to Register? That is the Question..

As most of you know, Matt and I have booked our housewarming/engagement party for July 18th. Matt isn't big on hosting parties, but I really enjoy it so I think he's letting me go with this one. He probably figures how many housewarming or engagement parties can one couple really have? Haha. Just the other day, I was asked where we were registered. Registered? Was I supposed to register? It never occurred to me that I should do such a thing. For one thing, I don't expect people to bring us gifts of any kind. That's not why we're having a get-together. We figure it's a great way for everyone to see the new house, to join us in celebrating the house, and to enjoy the summer. I never even considered the gift aspect. Secondly, what the heck do I register for? Realistically, Matt and I don't need much. Maybe some steak knives... a new welcome mat... a tea kettle.. but I just assumed I'd get that stuff all in good time. I came home and did a Google search. Man, thank God for Google. It has helped me out of quite a few sticky etiquette situations recently. I never know what to do. I looked it up and apparently I am supposed to register for a housewarming or an engagement, but not tell anyone unless they ask. I sort of feel really rude at the idea, but in the past few days - 3 more people have asked me where we're registered. I guess I should throw something together quickly, like a wish list on a couple of websites and try to accommodate those that keep asking? Is that the right thing to do? I don't want to insult anyone.. but God knows we don't need any more picture frames or bottles of wine. I'm packing up picture frames to be put in the attic until who knows when... and neither Matt nor I drink wine. It's too bad we couldn't just post our credit card sites and ask people to pay them off! Haha! Regardless, maybe I'll take a quick trip to Target or Bed, Bath, and Beyond tomorrow and scan some stuff with a gun. I guess it can't be all that bad.