Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! As per usual, our holidays are crazy. We bounce from house to house. This year, we were thankful to only have to attend two Thanksgiving feedings, a brunch at my mom's house and a turkey dinner at his mom's house. It is always nice to be around good family and friends and for that, I am eternally grateful..

Cupcakes

My beautiful cousin, Tiana

Dominick telling Pops secrets

Angelina Ballerina

Dom, on Uncle Tony's bike

Dominick & Tiana

Dom & Ang

Cory, Dom, & Angelina

Angelina & Dominick

Giving Thanks

Now is as good a time as any to share the many things I am thankful for...

1. My fiance, Matt, who is my best friend. I can't imagine my life without him.


2. The brother and sister I always wanted... and was lucky enough to find in school.

3. The most wonderful, loving, giving parents in the world.

4. Friends and family that make me happy to be around them.

5. My job, my students, my co-workers.

6. My beautiful home.

7. My smart, sweet godson, Cory.


8. That my parents live only a few streets away and are here whenever I need them.

9. First Tuesday Book Swaps with good friends, good foods, and good reads.

10. The opportunity to become an AmeriCorps, where I learned so much more than just how to build a house.
11. My South Carolina Seacoast family... who did much more for me than I ever expected and showed me true southern hospitality when I needed it most.
12. This problem I have in which I have more friends than I can count on one hand.

13. My health.

14. Friends that are farther away than I'd like but here for me when I call.


15. Christmas Eve traditions at my parents' house.


16. Having met and lost someone so wonderful that they showed me what I deserved & what I want... leading me to Matt.


17. Having had the opportunity to complete a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in the past eight years.

18. The opportunity to see true love and know what it is and why it's worth finding.

19. Having so many wonderful children in my life who constantly make me smile.


20. The giggles, the pitter patter of their feet on the floor, the clomping of dress shoes, crocodile tears, the cute comments, the honesty of children.

21. My life. It's not always perfect, but I love it.

Happy Birthday Beth & Rey!

For the occasion of two of Matt and I's nearest and dearest, we had a little get together at the house. I hope it was as much fun for them as it was for us! Happy Birthday guys!

Rey's UFC Cupcake Pull-Apart Cake

Beth's Rose Cupcakes

Jen & Josh


Beth & Coop

Langs, Mia, & Beth

Beth & Derek

Veterans Day Mission: Surprise Matt

Matt has been working very hard on the basement for quite some time now. He is in school every night, but it seems every spare moment is working on the basement. I'm so proud of him. The one thing Matt really hates is painting so I devised this plan to completely surprise him and get it done for him. On Tuesday night I impatiently waited for Matt to leave for class. As soon as he pulled out of the driveway, I ran downstairs and began priming the entire other half of the basement. Stupid me bought oil-based primer and no paint thinner, so at 9:30, when I finished and was trying to clean up quickly before Matt came home, I had white speckles all over my arms. I hid in long sleeves and hoped he wouldn't notice the few on my face and in my hair.

Yesterday morning, I woke up with Matt. When he left for work, I bolted downstairs and started with the first coat of our paint. I got the entire half of the basement done in a matter of about 6 hours. I called Matt at work and told him I'd be at my mom's so he wouldn't expect anything at the house to be done. I painted all of both rooms and got everything cleaned up with time to spare. When Matt came home for dinner around 5:30, we sat down to eat together. He talked at dinner about how he had to go down in the basement and get started on painting and how much he didn't want to. It was so hard for me to keep a straight face. I am officially the worst liar. After dinner Matt headed downstairs to get started and, for a few minutes, I thought he was actually screwing with me. He took about ten minutes at the top of the stairs looking at the trim. He finally went downstairs and he didn't notice the paint in the first room because the light wouldn't kick on. He was down there for at least a full minute (which felt like eternity) when I heard him yell "Hey! You painted!" Haha. It was nice to do something nice for him and have it be a surprise. It was one less thing he had to do. :)


Also, because it was Veterans Day, I'd like to make sure I mention how thankful I am for all of our veterans, my grandfather, Mike, Tony, Joe, Kyle, Rich, Andrew, Nate, Jess, and all the rest of the men and women who currently serve and have served our country. It is something that I know I could not do and it makes me appreciate those people that much more. Thank you, Veterans!

The Construction Continues

Matt has moved on to the other half of the basement now. I am so proud of him. Somehow he squeezes in time while he works full time and is taking two college courses at the same time. We had to tear down the ceiling in the tiled room and one and half walls (which were stucco - yuck!) Matt raised the duct to give a little more headroom as well. He's also working on making the unfinished laundry room into two rooms: one unfinished tool room in the back and one finished laundry room in the front. It's really coming along considering the little time Matt actually gets to spend working down there.

Pumptoberfest '09

The second annual Pumptoberfest was a success. Pumptoberfest came around as a complete and total accident. Last year, Matt and I planned on attending Pumpkinfest in Keene, NH. We had planned to meet up with my AmeriCorps friends, Kate and Kelly, in Keene. Bad weather kept us home and we ended up setting up a tent in the back yard and having our own "Pumptoberfest". We went to the farm down the street and bought some pumpkins, set up the tent next to a roaring campfire, carved pumpkins, had a few drinks, roasted pumpkin seeds, and had a nice, relaxing night.

Since last year's Pumptoberfest was such a nice time, we decided to repeat it this year, adding in some other traditions to make a real day of it. Kate wasn't able to join us from Long Island this time, but Kelly made it up with her boyfriend Ashley. The plans were to hit up Connors Farm in Danvers. There we would pick apples, choose some pumpkins, and run the corn maize before coming back to our house to carve pumpkins and have a few drinks. The farm started out simple enough with only five of us, no apples on the trees, a few too many pumpkins, and a fantastic corn maize.

In the apple-less orchard

Kel, Ashley, Mariel, Matt, & I in the Corn Maize

We came back to the house to carve some pumpkins out in the backyard.

I made this really cool haunted tree.

Somehow, this simple get-together of a few people sporadically turned into a party. A few other people showed up, and in the end.. well, I think the last time I stayed up until 4am had to have been sometime in college, but I can't even remember doing it then. Pumptoberfest lasted into the wee hours of the morning with some really great company, Guitar Hero, foosball, lasagna, apple crisp, pumpkin seeds, and plenty of drinks. What started out as a simple get-together sort of turned into a bit of a bash, but it was wonderfully fun & I'm already excited for Pumptoberfest '10. Maybe I'll get tee-shirts made up!:-p

Matt & Joe... with all those empty bottles of tonic water....

Foosball
The love of my life<3>

Welcome Fall!

Fall is here! As much as I love the warm weather and the summer cook-outs, I love fall, too. I think it's because there's so much to do during this time of year and it flies by. There's apple-picking and pumpkin carving and corn maizes and little children in costumes... Traditions and families... There's beautiful foliage, comfort foods like apple crisp, and the holidays right around the corner. As soon as I could, I dragged Matt into the attic with me to pull down decorations. So exciting!

Damon with my pirate Scooby Doo

Our Bay Window