All Aboard

On Saturday, a few of us went on an local attraction--the Blues Train. It's a slow moving train between two towns and features a band and food and drink. It's a lot of fun (we did this about a month ago--but I don't remember much of that night. yikes). It's a great time and wanted to share pictures from the night:

This is the train as we were boarding. Alicia & I found a great place to stand.

Jill and Ashley (her BFF)The view from the train before it got dark.

Alicia and I. Again. After dark. Jill and Ashley dancing.
The ladies.

It was a great time and we plan to go again next month for a different band. I love summer nights!

The Way Life Should Be

I've always noticed that people that are from Maine always seem to LOVE their state. I've never really noticed that about any other state except for Maine. And there are a lot of tag lines for the state: Vacationland, The Pine Tree State, and my personal favorite, The Way Life Should Be. Not only do people who were born and raised there love it, everyone I've ever met that has visited there for any period of time has come back with only great things to say about the 23rd State. I've been before, but I guess I didn't fully get it back then.

This week my friend Jill and I took a trip to see our friend Andi (she used to work with us before she returned to her native Maine to go to graduate school) and Steph (she used to go to school here and live next door to me before she went back to Maine to go to grad school too). It was a great week! It was so relaxing to be away from here and all the stresses that I had been feeling.

Andi was a great host and took us to some touristy spots. Our first day was the best weather and we spent it in Bar Harbor. Such a cute place! We went in to the little shops and had lunch there.
Jill, Me and Andi Andi took us to where she & Steph went to grad school (U of Maine Orono). It's a nice campus and almost made me want to go back to school. Almost.

This is a project that one of the sororities did on campus ( a planter with pink flowers) for breast cancer awareness.

I would love to do something like this on our campus.

Thebullet proof tent on campus. Random.We ventured down to Andi's mom's house for 2 days too. It was so great to finally meet her mom. I've heard so much about her and this farm that she lives on. It was great! We spent the nights sitting around the kitchen table eating, playing cards, laughing, listening to the radio.

Here are Steph, Andi and Jill during our kitchen table bonding time.

We played Gin Rummy. I dominated. Even though Jill says I can't count.

Here is a picture of Jersey, Andi and John's new puppy. She is SO cute. This is her during our game night. We also went to Freeport (the home of LL Bean) but I didn't get pictures of that because I was too busy shopping at the outlet stores. We also went to the outlets at Andi's house too.

I had a great time in Maine this week. Thanks to Andi for being a great hostess. I can't wait to go back to Maine...

to The Way Life Should Be, indeed.

2 Years of Cuteness.

Yesterday I ventured down to Lucy's 2nd birthday party. Lucy is the beautiful daughter of one of my best girls, Courtney. I missed her 1st birthday last year because I had to attend a wedding so I wasn't going to miss this one. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love little Miss Lucy! She is so adorable and sweet. And I always love to go down to see Courtney and Mark and their families. I only spent the afternoon but it was so nice to see them all.

Lucy & I

Lucy & her new baby doll.
Yum, cake.

And I also got to meet Brodie. He's so beautiful--with those huge blue eyes.

I had a great time! And after the stress I've been feeling lately, it was nice to see these cute little faces to remind me how lucky I am to have friends that I consider family. :)

I'm off to Maine today so I'll be out of the blog loop for most of the week but I'll be back with pictures from our adventures there. Have a great week!

So Far So Good

Officially, I'm a fan of staying at home. I've been really productive the last two days. I made a list of all the projects I need to get done while I'm off and quickly got started.

Yesterday was a stay at home kind of day. I actually finished a little craft project for work. I painted these t-shirt ornaments that I got at Michael's for the Greek organizations that I advise. I think they turned out really cute and will look great on a bulletin board. I know that this seems silly but I really love making sure that my bulletin boards are cute. I think it's the teacher in me. It was quite the project to get the letters. There is only one place in town that sells them now. I also joined in the Harrry Potter mania and went to the midnight showing of the new movie. I was a reluctant fan of Harry. I refused to read it or watch the movies for many years. I think I finally broke down and gave in after the 6th book was released. Anyway, I really like the books and I think the movies are also very well done. This one was no different. I'm glad I saw it. I think I'm gonna have to reread book 7. Today I got up and was wildly productive with errands. The kind of errands that have been on my list for months and always get pushed to the bottom of the list. It felt great! Tomorrow I plan to continue tackling my to do list--including setting up apartment viewings and world domination.

Happy Wednesday!

New Things from the Weekend

I mentioned that I was going to a wine tasting thing at my friend Cristina's on Saturday night. I should mention that it's actually called The Traveling Vineyard.It was fun and definitely something I'd like to do again. I'm kind of a wine dummy and generally don't like many types of wine so this was educational too. Although, I stuck to what I know and ordered a bottle of champagne. I'm super classy, what can I say. ha ha.

Here are the ladies tasting some wine.
Cristina's Mother-In-Law, Diane. She reads my blog sometimes so I want to make sure she gets a special shout out.

And more wine....

Jill & I keeping it classy at our end of the table.Me being a fool before we went out later that night. I'm super excited that I don't have to work for 3 weeks! :)

On Sunday I went to Aldi with Jill. I always hear how great this place is but have never been. It's a grocery store that is super cheap. It's a great place to get fresh fruit and veggies and those items that you seem to go through so quickly. I'm very impressed and going to be going there more often. If you have one near you, check it out.

Okay, off to work out and get started on my list of around the house projects. This not working stuff is okay.

Friday Food

Friday was a busy day. I spent the majority of the day in meetings. It was nice to come home and relax and know that I don't have to go to work for 3 weeks! What up.

So anyway, this is kind of random but I wanted to share two of my favorite summer '09 foods. First, I really enjoy a summer salad. It consists of strawberries, grapes, cucumbers, feta and red wine vinegar. It's delicious and perfect for summer dinners. Yum.
A few weeks ago my friend at work brought in some coconut M&M's that she found randomly in the store (she couldn't remember which one). I've searched high and low but have been unable to locate them but my friend Alisha scored a bag and I ate some last night. A LOT of them actually. I don't even care how many points they are. They are so good. I'm kind of glad I can't find them because that means I won't be tempted to eat an entire bag. :) I highly recommend them.

Tonight I'm heading over to Cristina's to a wine party (I guess it's like a pampered chef party for wine) and then maybe heading out with some friends for a drink or two. So far today has been a great day.

Oh, and an update about my grandpa (via a text from my aunt). He's awake and coherent today. Awesome!

I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend!

Pimp My Office

True or False. My office is almost settled.

True (ish)

I spent the day putting my office back together. I'm pretty organized so it wasn't that bad. It's a much bigger space than I've been in for the past 5 years so it feels a little empty. But I like it. And now that I have a camera again, I can give you a tour.

Here is the seating area across from my desk with a gumball machine that I got at a yard sale a few years ago.

The giant bookshelf with all of my binders and stuff. It's behind the door so it's not the first thing people see.
The table for meetings with students. This is new to me and I think I like the option to sit somewhere other than my desk. The bulletin board will feature leadership quotes eventually. (laminated of course) The quote above the window is "Be the Change You Wish To See In The World"

This is where the brilliance happens--the desk.

The fabric on the bulletin board is exactly what I wanted and matches the other bulletin boards.

So that's how I spent my day. Tomorrow is my last day of work for the month so I think I'll actually be able to sit down and be productive. That OR I'll spend my day reading blogs and commenting. You never can tell.

Have a great Friday!

Lights, Camera, Action!

I'm back from NC today. My Grandpa recognized us (I think) before we left so that was good. I hate that we live so far away.

We got back late last night. Today started off on a not-so-positive note (long story) so I was actually glad to go to work. My new office is finally ready for me to move in. The furniture gets moved tomorrow and I can put stuff back in order and get ready for my 3 week hiatus. Yay!

Tonight I had to get my groceries at Walmart so I decided that I would finally replace my camera. You remember the one that I dropped on the dance floor back in May? I am so happy to finally have a camera again. I know I have my phone but it's just not the same. This time around I got the green version of the camera I used to have. Awesome.

I can't wait to take pictures of my life again. :) Get ready.

Happy Tuesday!

The 5th of July

It's been yet another week since I posted. I'll give you the highlights:

• It rained just about every day of the week. Seriously. Annoying.
• I spent some quality time with the elliptical machine because of the rain.
• I got my new dress and bag that I ordered from Land's End.



• My colleagues and I are moving our offices around. This was really stressing me out because I thought I couldn't move until August because I'll be off for most of July but I actually got to pack up my desk on Thursday and it looks like I'll be able to move on Tuesday. I hate moving my office.


• I have a few leads on a new apartment. This still causes me stress to think about but I kind of excited now.


• The big thing of the week is that my Dad and I came down to North Carolina to see my Grandpa this weekend. He's currently in the hospital and not doing well. It's hard to see him like this but I'm so glad to be here.


• We watched fireworks with my Aunt and cousin on Friday night. I did this while drinking a blue coconut slush from Sonic. We don't have these in NY so this was fun for me.


• My Aunt, Cousin and I went shopping on Saturday to a place called DeWayne's. I picked up a new Vera lunch bag that I've been wanting (it was $10 off so I had to have it) We also hit up a few outlet stores, too.


• And I got a Tervis Tumbler. I've heard these are great and I'm always looking for the perfect water bottle. Plus it's really cute.


• My Aunt gave me the cutest little bag. I think I'm also going to use this for a lunch bag. (Thanks Aunt Karen!)

So that's what's been up with me this week. I know there seem to be a lot of frivolous stuff mentioned here but the important thing has been my Grandfather. Please keep him in your thoughts.

We head back to NY tomorrow so I'll probably update again on Tuesday. I hope you all had a happy 4th of July weekend!