Christmas so far...

So as I am sitting around the house on a Sunday afternoon, I think to myself "Self, this is a perfect time to write a blog about Christmas". I was thinking that because I am very lazy, the Giants don't play until 8:15pm tonight, and I can write about Christmas so far.

It seems like it all came up on us like a whirlwind the past few days....3-5 inches of snow, Christmas cards being sent and getting received, holiday parties, family...its been crazy since Friday. We got our first big storm on Friday, which left us with about 2 inches of snow and ice....which made getting to and from work very fun! I got in around noon, and Emily met me at about 7pm for the St. Regis holiday party....they had so much good food! Our department (event technology) spent the entire afternoon setting up all of the lights and sound for the party...I think it came out pretty good:






When we got home at 12:30am after the party, we had the 2 inches of snow and slush....the temp was dropping, but I couldn't shovel anything at 12:30am without waking all of my neighbors up, so I left it alone, knowing full well that it would be pure ice in the morning....and it was....I spent about an hour Saturday morning trying to chip it apart and get it away, but I only had the energy to do the walkway....so we are still parking on ice for now until it all melts!





On Saturday morning, we went to my sisters house to have a home-made dinnner with all of the cousins...it was our gift to our Grandmother for Christmas...it was nice...we all made some food and brought it, ate, hung out, and got to spend time with each other...it was a lot of fun...plus we finally got a picture of all of the family together...three generations together:



The best part of this is that I got to see my littlest niece! She is so stinking cute!
She is such a happy baby, she laughs at everything, and I just love her! She is only 5 months old, is sitting up by herself, and is SO CLOSE to crawling! We spent about 30 minutes just watching her try to crawl at the end of the night...it was not boring at all! I can't wait to have one of those of my own :-) Look at how cute she is!!!



There are will many more days to come over the next 2 weeks! I can't wait!

Happenings...

So I pretty much suck at this blog thing since this is only my 3rd post so far....I guess I just don't have a very interesting and exciting life;)
Beth Walter made me feel guilty about not reading her blog, so then I started thinking about mine....long story short: I'm really only doing this post for Beth--woot!

So the past few days and weeks have been busy, working on the house, thanksgiving, Christmas preparations, vacation planning...

Me and Em were putting together Christmas cards the other night and it made me realize a few things...

1) we have more friends spread out across other states than we do here in NJ...Is very sad....but I am very thankful for our NJ friends, we would go crazy without you!
Especially Leah and Ryan, who we don't see nearly enough!

Ok, 2) it's great to have friends that you don't see or talk to that often and still know that you can jump right back where you left off last time you saw them and there are no hard feelings or pettiness about having not seen or talked to them in awhile....I so appreciate all of you for that!

3) I miss all of my friends! 'nuff said

So vacation is another story....we have been trying to plan a vacation for next summer...and we want it to be a big one--sort of a last hurrah if you will....read into that however you like;)

In any case, we wanted to do a trip to London and Paris....but flights are SO expensive it is crazy!! Plus, not sure how I feel about Europe in the summer....so, then we thought Australia...but that place is so big we would not be able to do everything we want....then there was St. Lucia---but that is hurricane season so that's no good.

Now Alaska is on the list....but we don't know about going there in the summer bc we want to do winter stuff like dog-sledding and snowmobiling!

So we are back to having no clue!
I'll try to update with any new news!

Btw, I've been listening to the newest SCC album all day, and it really has some pretty great songs on it....check it out if you can!

Until next time...

Commuting...

So, it all of a sudden struck me how many odd and interesting things I see everyday commuting to and from NYC...

For example, this morning the lady sitting next to me did nothing but eat graham crackers, burp, and try to figure out how to recline her chair....btw, she ended up in what looked like a very uncomfortable position and then gave up trying to adjust it.

I am on the 12pm bus today, which means I'll be at work late tonight....the later buses are always more entertaining though because they don't have the bitter, seasoned commuters on them---just regular folks taking a day trip to the city for God only knows what reason...

The normal rush hour buses are usually more crowded and everybody ignores everyone else. The times when it gets really interesting is when a non-commuter gets on a rush hour bus and does not observe "the rules".....these conflicts are what makes the trip VERY interesting...

Now, "the rules" are not written....but every commuter knows them...here are some examples:

#1 don't talk on your cell phone. If you have to for some reason, you better be off In 15 seconds or less, or the entire bus will start sighing and telling you to shut up.

#2 unless you weigh 400 lbs, don't take up more than one seat....for example, don't sit your briefcase or luggage on the seat next to you, and definitely don't lay across the seat.

#3 do not, under any circumstances recline your seat all the way back....this is what usually causes the fights between the regular riders and the day-trippers

#4 personal coversations between riders are allowed, but if the whole bus can hear your every word, you will get the same reaction as if you were on your cell phone.

#5 this is my favorite....it is generally acceptable to fall asleep and lean against the person sitting next to you, and it is also generally acceptable to snore....I have had this happen to me a number of times.....however, if you are snoring AND leaning against someone, you are asking for a rude awakening.

That's all I can think of for now, but I'll be back with more.....the late-night bus home is always good for some stories....we call that "the drunk bus"......and the only thing more entertaining than the drunk bus, is the drunk train!

Until later!

Nom Nom Nom

So, my friend Sara has this weird facebook status the other night...I ask her what its about, and she sends me the following picture:

So, quite naturally, I am very amused. She says its been catching on with her and her husband Casey's friends, and they can't stop saying it...

Let me just say, I am on that bus!

I think everyone should be Nom Nom Nom!

But I must give credit to Casey and Sara for being the hilarious couple they are!

They are great friends from college, and I really miss them...hopefully soon we'll get to Nashville and play poker in their condo! WooHoo!

OK, other than that, this is my very first blog posting....I've been doing a lot of chatting on facebook lately and figured this might be a better forum....although I doubt I will piss as many people off this way.

Sorry so short and boring, more to come!