this is the story...

{i love you more than...}

2009-01-19T11:43:00.002-05:00

this is SUCH a cute idea! i found the blog love you more than blank this morning and was instantly smitten. i love this blog and the whole idea behind it. i haven't had a chance to read all of the sentiments yet, but i will be thinking about mine and adding it sometime this week. you can email them here with your fill in the blank valentine sentiment. if you send one in, let me know so i can look for it!

{first week of 365}

2009-01-11T11:01:00.003-05:00

i decided that i would try to create a mosaic every week to document my progress on my 365 project here on my regular blog. so this is my first mosaic i have ever made and i am quite proud of myself. actually it wasn't that hard, i used bighugelabs' flickrtoys to create it. it's so easy and fun! anyway, i hope to do this every week here.

{new art project}

2009-01-11T00:07:00.003-05:00

so one of my goals for this year is to try new art projects. i came across this project idea on emily falconbridge's blog, here. she is a very talented scrapbooker and artist that i came across a few months ago during one of my blog surfing expeditions.

anyway, the idea is that you answer a question about yourself every week for an entire year. emily is posting the questions and the goal is to answer the question in a mini art journal format of some sort. i decided that i would use playing cards as my medium for this art project. i made a mini album a few months ago during the art class that i was taking and loved working on something so small. it was such a different experience from working on my larger scrapbook pages.

so the first prompt was the question: "what are your wishes for 2009?" and here is my first card for this project...

i am very excited about this project. jackie and courtney are also partaking in this project, which i am also very excited about. you can check out more from this project on the flickr group site: 52Q: a year of mini art journaling

{new photo project}

2009-01-03T11:25:00.002-05:00

well with a new year comes lots of new things. for me, this year, i wanted to attempt another 365 photo project, or a photo a day for a year. i tried this last year as some of you may remember, but it landed me in failure. last year i attempted a self portrait a day, that didn't work for me. this year, i am going for more of a slice of everyday life approach, with just a highlight photo from each day to sum up the activities of the day. now, i know some of you are skeptical that i will stick with this, but, i am going to give it my best shot and hope for success! i think that my new approach to this project will help a lot because i am not limiting myself to a certain type of photo.

so, i will be posting the daily photos on my photo blog, which has gone unloved for quite some time now. you can check it out here...

steph's photo blog

you can also check out my pictures on flickr...

steph's flickr

and i also convinced courtney to join in this project with me. you can see her pictures on flickr also...

courtney's flickr

so hop on over to flickr or the blog and check it out! leave a comment or two, enjoy the photos! (courtney has a few funny ones!) wish me luck...

{favorite links of 2008}

2009-01-02T11:28:00.003-05:00

these are a few of my favorite things... :)

these are blogs i frequent or links to things that interest me, just thought i would share the things that have kept me busy this last year.

first of all, places i go for inspiration...

a beautiful mess
tara whitney
ali edwards
design*sponge
today's creative blog
crafty carnival
two peas in a bucket
splitcoast stampers
flickr
allsorts

secondly, people i know...

shawn
jay and jackie
courtney
alex and megan
andrew and sarah vonfrank
sharon

lastly, things that help keep me organized and productive (at least in theory)...

unclutterer
zen habits
creative organizing
flylady

and i guess that's it for now, i find new things all the time and i will try to post fun things here more often to share with you. i hope you will take some time to check something out from this list and maybe find something that interests you. have fun!

{goodbye 2008...}

2008-12-30T23:36:00.007-05:00

i cannot believe that the end of 2008 is here already. it seems like the year was just starting not that long ago. i guess it is true what they say about time flying when you get older. this year has been an interesting ride. lots of new adventures and lots of getting back to normal. both of which feel great!

so first things first...a list of firsts for me this year...(in no particular order)

...the first time i ate lunch by myself, i know it seems trivial, but i have never eaten out alone, it was only mcd's, but still

...my first trip to arizona - loved every second of it; gorgeous scenery, an enormous connection to sean, warm!

...my first hike - next time i should know that starting with the grand canyon may have been a little ambitious for a newbie like me, but i survived and even enjoyed it (and i didn't have to have my foot amputated :) )

...i bought my first new car! it's a nissan pathfinder and i bought it all by myself and it's my very first brand new car, and i <3 it!

...my first trip to cedar point, which coincides with my first camping trip in a camper and my first camping trip with shawn's family; super great time!

...my first thanksgiving at the house without sean...i decided this year that i wanted to have thanksgiving back here at the house and so the whole fam-damily was here, the carabines, the partos, and the grimes' came for dessert...it was awesome

...my first stab at geocaching (with shawn of course) and i love it soooo much! it is so much fun! i look forward to doing it more in the future

...my first time to go to the cramer reunion, my mom's family's annual reunion in wva; this is not technically the first time i have attended the reunion, but it is the first time i remember. it was a lot of fun, and it was good to have my good buddy shawn with me.

...my first trip to boston. not all it was cracked up to be, but it was a week away from home and that is always fun.

...also my first trip to salem, loved salem! such a fun place.

..my first visit to historic coney island, lots of surprises here, both good and bad, shawn and leah and i went for a long weekend, we had a great time. it was my first time to a sideshow and my first time seeing a burlseque show, it was so much fun! coney island itself left a little to be desired though...

...i completed my first year of teaching! woo hoo! it was a great year, i loved my students from my first full year, now i look at them as big first graders and they look so old!

...my first HonFest; every year Baltimore has a big festival in Hampden, to honor the baltimore hon, most fun was convincing courtney to get some "hon hair"!

...my first drink out of a fishbowl!! well it was not technically a fishbowl, but it was a giant flaming volcano bowl of alcohol, this is one i was waiting for! :)

...my first visit to assateague island, shawn and i jaunted over there during one of our weekends in ocean city and it was so neat! the wild horses were so cool and it was a gorgeous day to be out there

...my first time trying some new craft endeavors outside the paper crafting arena. as you may remember, the last few months i was working on an online class with an artist that i love and i have been trying my hand at a few new things, shawn's mom even bought me a sewing machine for christmas!

...my first christmas morning at home with a new family. the grimes' all spent the night on christmas eve and amber made us all breakfast on christmas morning and we sat in front of the beautiful tree and fireplace and opened our gifts, it was so nice. it was the first time there were more than two people in this house on christmas morn :)

...my first year without sean, there has been goodness and sadness and lots of in between, but i am glad to say that i have made it through and was happy to celebrate his life (as i do quite frequently) with family and friends in east hampton in april for the unveiling of his memorial bench...such a special time and place

well as much as i was looking to expand this list into the "normal" things that happened this year, my "firsts" list is pretty all-encompassing and, boy, i did a lot of things this year, a lot of new things! i am so excited for this next year and all of the new fabulous adventures it will bring. last year was all about survival and making it through, it feels so good to come out on top of that heap and be so excited about life again. that got a little preachy i guess, but every word of it is true. so on to bright and sunny days...

{holiday daily: day 10}

2008-12-06T21:48:00.000-05:00

well, today was quite a special day! bert and leah and shawn and i were supposed to go to new york city this weekend for some christmas fun, but money is crunched and we really couldn't find a good deal on hotels so we decided we would stay home and do some fun things locally. amber is staying with us this weekend and so she tagged along with us, which was fun.

we decided last night that it would be really fun to go to amazing glaze and paint some pottery! this is something that i LOVE to do and i know that bert and leah are also big fans. shawn and amber have never been before, so that was exciting. we all had a great time. here we are all working hard...

after we were finished at amazing glaze, it was snowing! i mean, like really snowing! at first i thought it was just some flurries, but it really lasted for a while. there was no accumulation, but it was cold enough that it stayed on the grass for a while. after our painting, we headed to friday's for dinner.

the original plan included driving around after dark to look at christmas lights, but when we found out it was snowing, and we were full from eating, we decided we would go home and watch a holiday movie and sit in front of the fire :) so we came home and played some wii mini golf and watched superbad. i know, i know, it's not a holiday movie, but it was a unanimous vote :)

after superbad, bert headed home, shawn headed off to bed, and it was just us girls. leah was going to leave, but amber and i convinced her to stay and watch p.s. i love you. this was a movie that i have wanted to see for some time, but hesitated, because i wasn't sure if i could handle watching it or not. the story is that a woman's husband dies and then she receives letters from him for about a year afterward guiding her to new things in her life. well, after the emotional upheaval i experienced after watching catch and release after sean passed away, i was not sure i was in for another. but man, oh man, this movie was great! it was a total chick flick so to any of the boys reading this: you probably won't like it. but the three of us loved it!

after the movie, we were all (well at least leah and i) looking for a little reminder of our dear dear sean, so i pulled out the stack of videos i have that i thought he might be on. things like our wedding reception and a new years eve in deep creek. it was fun to watch them and fill amber in on what was going on, but we didn't see a lot of sean. it was fun to reminisce and it was a nice way to end the day.

well today was a busy, but awesome, day.

{holiday daily: day 9}

2008-12-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

today was another great day. work was, well, work. then this evening, i had a few girlfriends over for our first crafting night. this is something i decided i wanted to do on our munny night. we had so much fun that evening working alongside each other and inspiring one another and bouncing ideas around, that i thought it would be a great idea to have one of these kinds of nights every month, or as often as possible. so i invited the girls over to bring along any of the goody projects they are currently working on and we would have drinks and spend time together crafting. our first night was a lot of fun! amber, leah, jackie, and mitra all brought over some projects and we spent a few hours in front of the fire creating away while shawn kept the drinks flowing!

i was able to start and finish the button tree i have been wanting to make (i will have to add pictures later) and it turned out so cute! but it took a lot longer than i thought it would! i was also able to finish one of my christmas gifts for someone special! i love the idea of having a mostly handmade christmas, i just hope that everyone that is getting handmade goody for christmas enjoys it!

{holiday daily: day 8}

2008-12-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

well today was a nice day. i decided to take a mental health day from work and spend the day tidying the house and crafting. for my class with elsie, she was hosting an online video chat all day. well there were some technical difficulties with that, but it was fun to join in and catch a peek here and there. it was very inspiring. this whole class has been very inspiring, i am going to be very very sad when it is over in a few weeks. it has definitely been something new and exciting for me.

anyway, most of what i worked on was christmas gifts, so, sorry, no pictures! i don't want any peeking!

this evening shawn had nicholas' christmas photo shoot. that was a lot of fun, and a bit of a challenge. getting and keeping a two year old interested in sitting still and smiling is really hard! but i think we did a pretty good job and nick's pictures turned out pretty good. here is a little sample of the goodness...

{holiday daily: day 7}

2008-12-03T21:11:00.002-05:00

tonight was our usual wednesday night dinner in dundalk. shawn had dinner at his grandmothers and mom and i went to squires for dinner. after dinner, we all watched the tree lighting in rockefeller center on tv. it was nice to watch something christmasy on tv and since i won't be able to see the tree in person this year, this is as good as it gets :) another normal evening, nothing spectacular.

{holiday daily: day 6}

2008-12-02T21:08:00.001-05:00

today was another work day and i was determined to come home and get my holiday garland finished, which i did!

here are the pictures of the finished product...

and here are pictures of my inspiration for this project. the initial idea came from a project prompt for my craft class with elsie. this is what her's looks like, so cute!

and from that i found this...and instantly fell in love.

so after a few days of hand-sewing and collecting supplies, my adorable holiday garland is complete! i love it hanging on my wall and am excited to try and make some more garlands for the house.

{holiday daily: day 5}

2008-12-01T21:03:00.002-05:00

today was back to work, the dreaded time from now until the last day of school before holiday vacation. yay! nothing too special today. shawn and i met at the house after work and i worked a little on my holiday garland (which i will post pictures of when i am finished) and then we met bert and leah at red robin for dinner. always a lot of fun.

{holiday daily: day 4}

2008-11-30T20:54:00.002-05:00

today was sort of an uneventful day. we needed much rest after our long day of candy-making yesterday, however, that was not coming this morning. we had a photo shoot with the tirschman family bright and early. it was a great shoot and we had a nice time. (you can see more about that shoot on shawn's blog here).

the afternoon consisted of napping and wrapped up with family dinner with the grimes and partos at cracker barrel.

{holiday daily: day 3}

2008-11-29T20:22:00.001-05:00

today a long-time family christmas tradition continues...candy making at mom-mom's house. on this day every year my entire family gathers at my grandmothers to spend the day making our (secret) recipe family christmas candy. this candy is a huge hit with everyone i know and has been for years. people that we know wait patiently for this candy and hope that they will be one of the lucky receivers of a small batch for a christmas gift. it is an event that i look forward to every year and it is a huge bonding experience for our family and something that no one else i know does. this year shawn tagged along for the second year in a row and we were lucky enough to have amber come along to help. she was a hard worker and loved every minute of it! she has been a self-proclaimed "christmas candy lover" for many years and was excited to finally get the behind the scenes scoop on how it all came to be. here are some photos of our sugar and sweetness filled day...

{holiday daily: day 2}

2008-11-28T21:38:00.002-05:00

on a day when most people are rushing out to the stores at god-awful hours of the morning, i have (mostly) opted out of that today. instead, i decided to devote the day to relaxing and crafting. shawn's sister, amber, did manage to get me out to target and michael's for a few things, but it was short lived. about mid-afternoon i met amber and shawn's mom and then stole amber away to come home with me to get some crafting done :)

it took us a little while to actually get to the crafting, eating had to happen first! pru and brian and brigid and alex ventured over to the proving grounds with the kiddos to visit the ordnance museum and check out all of the super cool tanks. so hunger had definitely settled in after checking out all of the tanks and our (mini)shopping extravaganza. alex and pru had suggested kfc for dinner, but i can't eat kfc. then amber suggested hickory dicks, our most favoritest fried chicken place. since it is at least a half hour away, i declined that suggestion. i lost this battle when shawn came home from work about five minutes later and when he heard about fried chicken and made the same suggestion amber did (i guess great minds really do think alike :) ) and it worked out nicely for us, because everyone LOVED the chicken. We enjoyed another nice "family" dinner around the table and got to the festivities.

amber and i had a few different things we were working on and the rest of the gang decided they were going to tackle rock band! now, i would have thought that alex would have been the one who rocked it, but that assumption would have been a little off. brigid grabbed the microphone and sang her little heart out.

it was a lot of fun to watch shawn and alex and brigid enjoy themselves so much. amber and i continued crafting while we all watched juno together, one of my new favorites.

while amber worked on another munny and some cute little felt purses,

i began working on my cute holiday garland.

i also finished a scrapbook page, my first in a while, i was inspired with all of this holiday goodness surrounding me to finally scrap all of my holiday pictures from last year.

we had a lot of fun and our crafting carried over into the wee hours of the morning. i have had so much fun with amber and our crafty endeavors lately, i am so glad we are getting to hang out and it reminds me a lot of the times we used to hang out when we were teenagers. i look forward to all of the times we will get to spend together in the future :)

as much fun as the last three days have been with all of our company, i am definitely going to miss having everyone around. we always have such a nice time when we are together and the kids are so much fun. i would be lying if i said that i didn't miss sean over the last few days, but i am very very happy that we can all still spend time together and make new memories...i think sean would be very pleased :) i hope that everyone has had a wonderful thanksgiving!

now it's time to get ready for christmas....... :)

{holiday daily: gobble gobble}

2008-11-27T20:52:00.001-05:00

thursday, november 27

turkey day has come along once again. and this year i was ready to celebrate this holiday with the same zeal and enthusiasm i did a few years ago. last year, shawn and i refrained from celebrating thanksgiving. we had a nice quite dinner of fried chicken and a relaxing day of going to the movies and taking pictures downtown. we just weren't in the holiday spirit last year. this year, however, is much different. i wanted to open my home back up to the carabines and do thanksgiving right. so last night pru and brian and brigid and alex and david, emma, and grace showed up at the house to spend the next few days, just like it used to be. sure, things are a little different this year, and this is the first time any of them have been to the house since sean passed away, but, it is so nice to have them here and i hope they feel the same.

today was a great day of eating and catching up. the kids have been working on crafts and playing the wii and the adults have been scavenging through the black friday sale papers and chatting with one another.

the turkey was delicious and the meal went off without a hitch. for dessert, we fired up the chocolate fountain (yum-o) had an array of pies, including a few apple pies that jackie and i made together on monday. the carabines were here of course, the partos were all here, and the grimes clan came over to join us for dessert.

the wii was a big hit with the kids, especially david. mom mom even played along. everyone enjoyed some friendly competition and had a great time.

here are some photos from the day, not the best, but they will do...

{holiday daily}

2008-11-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

well folks it has been a while, but i am back, and hopefully for quite a while this time. i have decided that after seeing this idea for a a december daily album i wanted to try one of my own. well, seeing as how i am so busy with all of the new crafty adventures i am trying i would be too busy to actually assemble an album right now and add to it daily, i am going to try to complete mine right here on my blog. instead of just completing a december daily, though, i wanted to extend mine and make it a "holiday daily" to include thanksgiving, since some of my most important christmas traditions occur before december actually gets here. so i am hoping that i will be able to keep up with this and post stories and projects and pictures and lots of holiday goodness to document this wonderful time of year, something new everyday. happy holidays!

{happy today}

2008-11-21T11:38:00.002-05:00

today there are lots of things that i am happy about...

- took the day off work to get the house ready for thanksgiving

- woke up to the first real snow of the season! it snowed for about three minutes earlier this week, but that was all. this is actually quite a little squall and has actually covered the grass! i will try to post some pictures later on.

- my good buddy kevin is coming to look at my broken shower door today and *hopefully* be able to get it fixed by next week so i can move back in to my own bathroom!

- this weekend promises to be quite exciting. hoping to be able to get some crafty things completed and create! create! create! woke up with LOTS of great ideas this morning!

- saturday we are hosting MUNNY MADNESS with some friends. we will be creating our very own munny dolls which shawn and i have been wanting to do for a long time now...still not sure what i want to create, if you have any ideas, please send them my way before tomorrow!

- sunday we are going to take my little sister out and take some photos, then it is birthday dinner for my dear grandmother

well i hope that everyone has an inspired and fun weekend!

{so inspired}

2008-11-17T21:22:00.002-05:00

i have been so inspired by the class i am taking with elsie flannigan! we are in week two of a six week time together and it is absolutely awesome! my weeks are generally too busy to work on any of the projects, but i was able to spend a lot of time on friday night working on last week's projects which included painting a new journal, creating some new journal entries, and creating a mini album - which i have only done once or twice before and never like this. i forgot to take pictures of my new journal which i love so i will have to post that later this week.

but for now, i can post the mini album pictures. this was a book i made to show some of the pictures of my sister jackie and i together when i visited her in san diego in february. enjoy!

this was so much fun to make and i can't wait to make more mini albums. i also can't wait to make more of the projects for this class.

in other news, this weekend was a blast! friday night shawn was home working on the nistico's pictures so i spent the evening cooped up in my scraproom listening to my favorite music and crafting away. it was so nice to spend that time, i haven't done that in a long time.

saturday shawn and his sister, amber, and myself ventured down to baltimore for the holiday heap craft show sponsored by charm city craft mafia. we had such a great time. there was so much eye candy, and it was so nice to see all of the different handmade goodies that each crafter had to offer. i got a few prints for my living room and a cute handmade purse and a few awesome cards to send to friends during the holiday season. after the show, we went to hampden for lunch at cafe hon which shawn and i have wanted to do for quite a while. it is such a great little place. after lunch we visited a fave store of ours atomic pop so we could each buy a munny to decorate at our munny decorating party this weekend. you can see the munny here...munny (i will have to update to include photos of the finished product after the decorating party).

sunday we had a photo shoot with zach and stacie and simon howes here at the house. we were shooting christmas pictures for them. we had so much fun with the three of them and the pictures turned out great! we are having so much fun with our recent shoots. particularly those involving the little ones (when did kids get so darn cute?!?!?) we concluded the weekend with our usual grimes/parto family dinner at outback steakhouse, which is always such a nice treat!

this week at school is american education week and i expect to have lots of visitors in and out of my classroom all week, joy of joys! wish me luck!

[things i love today...]

2008-11-06T20:44:00.002-05:00

...i am finally feeling a little better after a nasty illness and missing three days of work

...fall is in full swing and halloween has passed with thanksgiving now on the horizon, beginning to think about all of the things i am grateful for this year and preparing for having family around this holiday season

...getting ready to take a few classes with some of the people that inspire me
elsiecake class
stories in hand

...a new president has been chosen, and man does he inspire me. watched his election night speech last night on youtube, definitely struck a chord with me

...preparing for two photo shoots this weekend, my cousins and shawn's cousin

...the cute little charlie brown christmas tree that shawn bought

...my sister has moved back home! jackie and jay have a lovely little house in the city that we helped them move into last weekend, very excited to have her back home

...my sister's dog remus is the most cutest little dog ever! very spunky, makes me miss my little brutie a whole lot

...this video, came across this today. i am loving this song right now and when i saw this it brought a giant smile to my face...

{great weekend}

2008-10-27T19:25:00.002-04:00

this weekend was so enjoyable! despite the fact that our much anticipated camping trip with shawn's family was cancelled due to the impending rainy weather, the weekend still ended up being a lot of fun. friday was a cool and breezy day and after work i met shawn and we went to the closest park to scout some spots for a few photo shoots. after taking a new scenic route out of the park, (and having no idea where we were!) we ended up on a familiar road, then realized it was the road to chicken :) we quickly changed our dinner plans to include a trip to delta, pa for some fabulous fried chicken from hickory dicks. so we drove gleefully and starving to pennsylvania only to arrive at the glorious chicken place to find that they had run out of chicken breasts! the only piece of the chicken i eat, and they were out of it, after i drove a half an hour to get there! it was fine, i got some chicken legs and some curly fries and it made it somewhat better. after chicken we drove back home and made an impromptu stop at target where we bought a new wii game, carnival games mini golf! it was a lot of fun and of course, very competitive.

saturday had us facing some gloomy weather, but we made the best of it. we started with a kinda early breakfast at cracker barrel (yum!) and then spontaneously drove to northeast to the 5 & 10 antique shop. shawn actually initiated the trip and we had a lot of fun. we bought a few cute props for the "studio" and can't wait to get to use them. the rest of the afternoon was left to napping and wrapped up with a family dinner at squire's for my grandfather's birthday. after a stop at my other grandfather's for a quick visit, we headed out with to meet shawn's family for some late night rock-n-bowl! so much fun!! we all had so much fun, but man, my bowling game stinks! i started off strong, but quickly lost any source of talent completely!

yesterday we took to the road again, the weather was gorgeous! we took courtney to annapolis for some shooting and had a great afternoon. the weekend wrapped up with dinner with the grimes clan and parto clan at outback, which has sorta become a weekly thing with us. it's a very nice way for us all to catch up and enjoy each other's company.

i hope you all had an equally enjoyable weekend.

{a new book}

2008-10-23T22:15:00.002-04:00

went to the bookstore tonight, one of my favorite things to do, after dinner at red robin with my dear cousin and his fiance. i purchased a few things, but the BEST thing i got was this book:

listography: your life in lists

i have been wanting to get my hands on this book for months now, and tonight while i was browsing for it at the bookstore, not knowing exactly where it would be located, just as i was ready to give up my search and walk to the check-out counter, i saw it! sitting crooked on the shelf, misplaced, with no others around it, located near some blank journals, someone had left the book i have been looking so hard for.

it must be my lucky day :)

{my loves today}

2008-10-23T14:21:00.002-04:00

things i am loving today....

..had a professional development meeting that was supposed to last all day, got out at 1:00, woo hoo!

..the stinkin' nasty new report card that the office of early childhood developed for us this year has been canned! we are getting a new, much better report card, as common sense sets in...

..looking forward to extra time to play with photos, maybe some scrapbooking, and definitely some card making

..gathering ideas for a few photo shoots that shawn and i have coming up

..signed up for the stories in hand course and am getting excited about all the creativity that will bring forth

..super-inspired by these two things right this minute:
elsie flannigan and her things i wish i had known... post
ali edwards' clear halloween album and her week in the life project

..and finally, having time to actually post on my blog!

hope everyone else is having a great day!

thinking about...

2008-10-18T18:04:00.003-04:00

...trying this class. definitely something i am interested in, telling more of the small stories that make up the big things in life. think it will be a lot of fun and gives me a new project to work on, something new and different.

{i am a very bad blogger...}

2008-10-18T11:36:00.003-04:00

well it has been a disgustingly long time since i have blogged and i am completely ashamed of myself. but it was a necessary break, time needed to sort things out and get my head on straight again. so hopefully i will have some luck breaking back into this. to all of my loyal readers, thanks for checking this page looking for updates that simply weren't coming and i hope some of you are still around although i wouldn't blame you if you weren't.

i have been really inspired by a lot of other female bloggers in the last few months and have been very moved to get back to my own blog and the creative outlet that it brings.

currently i am in ocean city with shawn and his family for the maryland state teachers convention. yesterday i spent some time at the convention trying to find a reason to love my job again, unsuccessfully. so i left feeling a little more frustrated than when i entered the convention center and it pretty much took me all day to recover. however, last night i did get the chance to spend time with some friends and that was much needed and very enjoyable. shawn and i went to dinner at nick's followed by drinks at fager's island with jessop and lauren, and carolyn who was here working the convention. we had a great time and it ran into the wee hours of the morning. lots of fun!

i am not sure what the day holds for us today, but i am sure it will be enjoyable and memorable. wish me luck for more blogging to come!

{boston}

2008-08-18T22:31:00.002-04:00

the first week of august i found myself in boston. shawn was attending a training for work and invited me to tag along with him. this was something i was extremely excited about as i have been wanting to visit boston for at least a few years. however, boston was not anything like i expected it to be. but there were some things i like about boston, so here they are...

1. harvard square - lots of nice shops (curious george store - a children's book store that i loved!) and (pinocchio's pizza - very good pizza!)

2. riding the ducks (boston ducks)this is always a treat in whatever city we visit and this was no different

3. the make way for ducklings statue in boston public garden - so cute!

4.riding the T (local name for the subway). this is such a treat for me, being married to sean who would never let me ride public transportation anywhere in case there was an emergency we would need to be able to get where we had to go, i have learned to love taking public transportation whenever i can! we don't have a subway in baltimore, or a very good public transportation system in general, but boston's was nicely designed and easy to use.

5. ned devines irish pub in fanueil hall marketplace. the best fish and chips and great irish company. we met a few friendly irish-folk from a touring dance/music troupe, very nice.

{cramer reunion}

2008-08-18T22:08:00.003-04:00

july 26-27: it may seem an unusual sight to see a group gathered so casually in a cemetery with children playing and men and women with drinks in hand, however, it is exactly as it seems. every year my maternal grandmother's family has a big family reunion in west virginia. the festivities usually include an old fashioned weenie roast at a family members house on saturday and the actual reunion at the park on sunday. this is the first year that i have gone to the reunion since i was a kid and i had a great time! the weenie roast was a lot of fun and a good chance to catch up with family i haven't seen in a few years. one of the highlights of the evening was the visit to the cramer cemetery. this is a family cemetery with one of the most gorgeous views i have ever seen. it sits high atop a hill nestled in the mountains with a breathtaking view of the sunset. we didn't get to see said sunset on this trip, it was too cloudy. the cemetery is one of the highlights for us all to visit while we are there and this trip was no exception.

the actual reunion was a lot of fun too! like all traditional family reunions there were games aplenty. we all took part in the balloon toss and some of us played in the egg toss, too messy for me! there was tons of good food and perhaps the most fun we had was during the auction. people brought gifts and wrapped them so no one knew exactly what they were getting. everyone had a great time bidding against one another. the money they raised from this little activity is going toward buying new picnic tables to donate to the park where the reunion is held.

the weekend was a lot of fun, we stayed at alpine lake, as usual. and our weekend included a lot of late nights drinking and talking. we played scat (a card game my dad's family plays often) and really just enjoyed each other's company.

i can't wait to go back next year!

{artscape 08}

2008-08-18T21:57:00.003-04:00

on sunday july 20th, shawn, amber, and i went to artscape in baltimore. this was my second year attending the art festival, last year i went with jay and jackie. this year was even bigger and better, but a little too big for as hot as it was, we never got to see everything. it is always such an inspiring day, chock full of art of all varieties and i always leave with so many ideas for projects and things i want to try. one of the highlights of our day was getting to see our friend evan perform. below are some photos from the day.

{ trying to catch up... }

2008-08-18T21:55:00.001-04:00

well, once again, i have fallen behind with my blogging. so starting here, i am going to try to backtrack and update on all of the things that i have been up to this month, which is a lot and do a post for each of the things i have neglected to post here. so please don't be overwhelmed, sorry for the massive posts at once, but what's a girl to do? enjoy!

{ new look }

2008-07-24T15:19:00.003-04:00

well, yes, i have yet another new look for my blog. it was time to lighten up a bit. the new header is something i put together using photoshop and a brush collection from here. please let me know what you think about the new look, i would love to hear what you have to say.

{jackie's visit}

2008-07-19T12:17:00.005-04:00

well jackie and jay were back in town last week for jay's grandmother's birthday party. it was very nice to have them home again for a little bit. i didn't get to see them as much as i had hoped, but of course they had a very busy schedule while they were here, trying to squeeze in visits with everyone. last sunday we had a family get together at mom's for them and it was nice to have everyone together. on tuesday jackie and jay setup a happy hour at claddagh's pub in canton. we had a great time together. now they are back in sunny san diego. here are some of the pictures from the evening...

{coney island}

2008-07-18T11:56:00.004-04:00

well the trip to coney island last weekend with shawn and leah was a ton of fun! while coney island is not necessarily the cleanest of places to visit, there were quite a few things that we found particularly enjoyable and interesting...

*union square - friday afternoon we embarked on the adventure of driving into the city so that shawn could meet and photography the saw lady for his shutter on the street project. while he did that, leah and i explored union square a little. there was a great little market going on in the park there and we had a nice time checking out all of the little booths there.

*burlesque - on friday night we attended the burlesque at the beach show. this was awesome!! it was a very small, intimate show with all sorts of variety acts. audience participation was encouraged and it was such a fun time. none of us had ever been to a burlesque show before, but i can guarantee it probably won't be the last. the acts included a juggler, a two-man band, a striptease, lots of singing, and sing alongs with the audience. lots of fun!

*marcus monroe - well, i think i would be lying a little if i said that leah and i didn't have a small crush on this very impressive man. he was the juggler / unicyclist in the burlesque show, and he was very entertaining. not only was he pretty easy on the eyes, but he could be the most amazing juggler i have seen to date. he was very talented and i am glad that we got to see his performance.

*fireworks on the beach - friday nights in coney island lend themselves to fireworks on the beach. we weer luck enough to have gotten to the beach a little early and had time to enjoy some cotton candy and watch an amazing fireworks show from the boardwalk. it was great, except for one random gentleman who insisted on screaming even more random things throughout half of the show..."thundercats are go!!"

*pay toilet - yes, you read that right, pay toilet. while we were wandering around friday night waiting for the show, we discovered the need to use the facilities, so we headed over to the first ones we found. well, (and i am not kidding) there was a fee to use the bathroom!! a whole quarter granted you entrance through the turnstyle to the unclean, crowded, and un-updated restrooms. i have no idea what kind of racket they were running with that situation, but it certainly is cool to say i have actually paid to use the bathroom. i wonder what they use that money for...

*the cylcone - one of the main reasons we went to coney island was to ride the cyclone roller coaster. being a huge fan of the old fashioned wooden coasters, this was a special treat for me. of course, i wasn't expecting to pay the $8 to ride the coaster, but whatever. it was totally worth it!

*sideshow - the main reason for our trip to coney island wast to see the circus sideshow and it was absolutely worth the trip. the acts included the human blockhead, a fire eater, a snake charmer, and a sword swallower. the show was incredibly entertaining and we all had a blast watching these very talented circus freaks.

*nyc subway - saturday night shawn's friend brandon and his wife dawn came out from their home in nyc to meet us and spend some time hanging out. after convincing them that the best thing to do in coney island was see the sideshow, we practically begged them to take us into the city on the subway and show us a good time. well it didn't take too much convincing before we were on the subway and headed to times square. i absolutely love times square at night, it is such a unique experience and it was a treat for leah who had never been in times square after dark. we had a great time getting to know brandon and dawn a little better and traipsing around nyc late at night.

*cheesecake - while in the city we were looking for a nice place to grab something to eat and have a drink. juniors was the place. we all enjoyed some of new york's best cheesecake and a few drinks. (the chocolate mousse cheesecake was to die for!) yum-o!

*i finally found out what this is:

this is something i have seen from the belt parkway everytime i have driven to new york for the last howevermany years. it is something that has plagued my mind everytime i've seen it. what is it? is it a ride? why is it never moving? is it art? is it old? is it new? what the heck is it for??? and now i know. after visiting the coney island museum (which was not very good by the way) i learned that this giant red tower actually used to be an attraction at coney island called the parachute jump. it was something that was built for the world's fair and then was moved to coney island. you can learn more about it here. i know it seems kinda silly to be so excited about something, but it was symbolic to me of all the times i have wondered about coney island and its offerings as a mere passerby and now i have fulfilled some of that wonder and intrigue.

all in all the trip was a blast. i think next time we would have opted to stay in the city and take the subway out to coney island for any of the following reasons: crappy neighborhood, sucky parking, expensive unregulated cab fares, nothing else to do in the immediate area, the city is just that much better! despite all of those thins we still managed to have a great time and we got to see everything we had wanted to see. here are some of the pictures from the weekend.

{trips, trips, & more trips}

2008-07-07T20:42:00.002-04:00

well it has been a busy summer already. as my last post alluded to, i spent a week in ohio, a few days at cedar point amusement park and a few days camping. i went along with shawn and his family and we had such a great time. we rode some of the world's best roller coasters and it was so much fun. the days that we were not at the park we spent at the campground hanging out and enjoying each others company. shawn, being the culinary fan that he is, made some amazing treats for us while we were camping which included yummy pancakes, fabulous pineapple upside-down cake, and unbelievable homemade ice cream! (so lucky he lives at my house!) it was a nice trip, great weather and great company.

after a few days at home, we headed off to ocean city for the 4th and shawn's birthday. we headed down late thursday night with our new friends evan and noelle, who shawn met through his latest photo project, and celebrated the whole weekend. friday morning shawn went out (semi)early and bought fractured prune donuts for breakfast...yum-o! we spent friday at the beach enjoying the sunshine and warm sea air. the friday night we headed over to seacrets where we met keefer and lindsey and enjoyed the fireworks on the bay. then it started storming, which was actually fine since the place was pretty empty. so we enjoyed a few drinks and headed home after the storm. saturday included delicious hot dutch apple crepes at bayside skillet, mini golf, and a few hours at the boardwalk at some of our favorite spots like thrashers for french fries and the kite loft for silly fun shopping. i got a great new pair of glasses to wear to honfest next year. saturday night we enjoyed all-u-can-eat crabs at higgins. after dinner we headed over to the tiki bar at harpoon hanna's for drinks. this is our favorite local place when we are at the beach as it is walking distance from the house and is lots of fun. after we closed the bar we headed back home and spent the whole night up talking and getting to know each other a little better. early in the morning we headed out for donuts and french fries which we enjoyed at the beach just before a big storm rolled in. after a few hours of sleep, we headed to layton's for breakfast and drove back home.

it was a great weekend. we had a lot of fun getting to know our new friends a little better and showing off all of our favorite things to do at the beach. it was a very different fourth of july for me, as it was the first in years that i was not in east hampton for a big party at the carabines and a bonfire on the beach. kinda bittersweet, but it was nice to be in a familiar place with a very good and understanding friend.

so that sums up the last few weeks. this weekend we are off to coney island, new york so that we can see the sideshows, it is rumored that this is the last year for this specialty, and so shawn can meet some new street performers for shutter on the street. so hopefully i will have more good stories and maybe some photos to post next week. and, (bonus!) jackie is coming home this week! can't wait to see her and catch up.

{fun}

2008-06-19T09:20:00.004-04:00

these are some of the fun things i have done this last week...

1. found out last week that i get to keep my position at cces as a kindergarten teacher, so i have packed my room up for the summer and am looking forward to returning in august.

2. realized my love for baseball (shhh!) at an O's game last friday. shawn's dad got us supernice tickets for the game, they were club level seats, and we had a great view of all the action. it was a good game, we came from behind to win, and there were fireworks at the end of the game! such a great way to start summer vacation. it was a great time with bert and leah, shawn, and chris.

3. had a great time with shawn and his family this weekend at kelsie's birthday party and a father's day shin-dig. the pool at his mom's was very inviting on saturday and it was lots of fun to dunk shawn in the dunk tank.

4. honfest. so much fun! we had a blast in hampden this past sunday at baltimore's honfest. we were even able to convince courtney to get a beehive while we were there. can't wait to go back next year, and we may have to dress up next year!

5. gearing up for our trip to cedar point. we are leaving on sunday and traveling to ohio with shawn's parents and cousins. we'll be camping and visiting the park which should be a blast! very excited about all the rollercoaster riding that will be taking place.

6. it is summer...officially!

{happy today}

2008-06-05T21:28:00.002-04:00

well our puppy dog friend mr bailey is visiting for the weekend...he is our friend matt's dog, and we are dog-sitting for the weekend. he is the sweetest little dog and we are very very happy that we finally get to puppy-sit again.

in other news, tomorrow is friday and day 176 of school, which means, after tomorrow, there are only 4 days left this year!!! woo hoo! i cannot wait! i love my little kiddos , but they have spent too much time together and are way too comfortable with one another, and that is very tiring!

well i guess that is all for now...not very exciting...but i am enjoying the relaxing evening and looking forward to the weekend with mr bailey! hope everyone has a great weekend!

things i love (today)

2008-06-03T20:53:00.002-04:00

well with 7 days (omg) left of school i am definitely needing to focus on some positive things today, so here is a short list of some things i am loving today...

1) jewel's latest cd, perfectly clear, which i bought at target tonight

2) brightly colored summer-weight tees

3) this website...all of her work is so inspiring to me...just be

4) my new car

5) lil bush on comedy central...my latest guilty pleasure

6) method concentrated laundry detergent...a little greening effort for today

7) getting ready for summer, thinking about all of the things i want to do around the house once my days are free

8) tomorrow we are halfway through the week!!

microblogging

2008-06-01T10:54:00.004-04:00

well in addition to trying to be better about keeping up with this blog, i have also begun microblogging. for this new adventure i am using twitter. it is so nice to just be able to let people know what i am up to quickly, plus i can update from my iphone. it's so sweet! thanks to mr. grimes for introducing me to the microblogging!

here is a link to my twitter account so you can check my updates.
my twitter

*ETA: you can also check out my updates on twitter right to the right of this post on the sidebar of my blog (just figured out how to do that!!)

proud owner

2008-05-31T10:29:00.002-04:00

well, it is official, i am the proud owner of a BRAND NEW CAR!!!

last night i waltzed back into carmax and signed all the paperwork for a 2008 mocha-colored nissan pathfinder, sporting only 18 miles! woo hoo!

very very exciting! i have never had a new car before and i love everything about it so far. it has a nice sunroof, a back up camera, xm ready, a dvd player, and (did i mention?) IT'S BRAND NEW!!!!

i will try to post some pictures later so everyone can see my fabulous new car!

in other news...the countdown continues...9 days of school left!!
yesterday was our school's field day and, boy, was that exhausting! but it was so much fun! my teammate josie and i beat the principal at the kangaroo hop relay race. that was a riot! and the kids loved every second of it! it was a gorgeous warm day and so much fun.

well i hope everyone has a nice weekend, looks like we are gonna have some rain here today, thank god for lazy saturdays!

woo hoo

2008-05-29T22:10:00.002-04:00

10 days left of school! woo hoo!

this morning we met the woman who is going to be the new principal at cces, she seems very nice and definitely on the ball. she has a lot of background in special ed and lots of experience with visually impaired students. this is a great fit for our school since we are in need of more support in our special ed dept and we are the center for the visually impaired students for our region. she definitely knows her stuff, i only hope i get to stick around for a while to get to know her better.

and even more exciting than that....

i went car shopping tonight! yes, the explorer has seen better days and without some serious cash and continual cash it won't be seeing better days anytime soon. so since i had been toying with the idea of something new anyway, i talked it over with andy and he thought that bidding farewell to the explorer would be a good idea. so shawn and i went to carmax tonight and i test drove a brand new nissan pathfinder (only 18 miles on it!) and a super fabulous yukon denali which was completely full of fancy options (including automatic folding seats in the back, which sounds cool until you are sitting in it and someone hits the button!) lots of fun and our guy was really great, very laidback. so we will see what happens!

memorial day favorites

2008-05-28T15:05:00.002-04:00

well in keeping with my love for lists, here is a list of my top five favorite things about my memorial day weekend...

1. fabulous warm weather at ocean city, md...gorgeous blue skies and face-kissing sunshine

2. thrashers boardwalk french fries...yum-o! god i could eat these things three meals a day!

3. drinks, good times, and lots of laughs at seacrets, harpoon hanna's, and macky's

4. so much entertainment riding "the drunk bus" at night when everyone is leaving the bars and clubs...never boring!

5. getting to spend lots of quality time with shawn and leah...good times!

shameful

2008-05-28T15:00:00.002-04:00

well it is indeed shameful that it has been a month since my last post here. but, such is life. i can't believe i never posted anything about our trip to AZ, maybe at some point i will get to go back and post some pictures or something about that fabulous adventure.

not sure if i posted last time about my work situation, but it is all still kind of officially up in the air. i have been told "unofficially" that i will be retaining my position in kindergarten at cces, but the official word is that i will be moving to halls cross roads es (closer to home) in first grade. who knows? hoping to find out something official this week or next.

other than that i have just been trying to wrap up the end of my first "official" year of teaching. tons of assessments, room cleaning, organizing and preparing for next year, oh my!

hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the nice warm weather!

off we go...

2008-04-29T21:03:00.002-04:00

well i know i haven't updated in quite a while, time has been scarce and i have been incredibly busy, especially this week as i prepare for our trip to arizona and our havasupai falls hike. i have a mix of emotions about this trip. i am really excited, as i have never hiked before and it has been years since i have been camping...and i've never actually camped like this before. i know many of you think i cannot do this and am not equipped for such outdoorsy experiences, but i am hoping to prove you all wrong! i am also a little nervous, for the same reasons as mentioned above. but i am very much looking forward to this trip. it is a hike that sean did at least once and so in preparation shawn and i have been going through his old pictures and getting excited about what is in store. sean always wanted to take a group of us on this hike, we even went as far as to go boot shopping one day for me. sadly, the trip never materialized, but i am so excited that i get to go now and think about what it would have been like with him there. this trip means a lot to me already, but saturday also would have been our 5th wedding anniversary. i will definitely be missing sean a lot this weekend, but i cannot think of a better way to spend that special day, and i think he would more than approve.

we leave tomorrow evening, so wish us luck, and i will be back on sunday with lots of pictures and stories to share.

happy earth day!

2008-04-22T20:15:00.002-04:00

well just wanted to take a minute and wish a happy earth day to everyone! remember to do something today, and everyday, to help the planet.

side note: trying to teach 14 five and six year olds about reduce reuse recycle is a tough job...even with the help of Little Critter, Michael Recycle, and Jack Johnson.

anyway...happy earth day!

one year

2008-04-17T22:08:00.001-04:00

sunday marked the one year anniversary of sean's passing. to memorialize the event, the carabines hosted a group of us at main beach in east hampton. this was the first time many of us had seen sean's memorial bench, which sits under the pavilion where sean and i were married on may 3, 2003 on the same beach where sean's ashes were spread at sea. it is a beautiful bench and reads "Sean Ferris Carabine...Live life or die trying..." an amazing tribute to an amazing man.

to christen the bench, shawn and i placed a disposable camera there and asked everyone to take pictures of themselves on the bench. the photos showed a lot of emotion, happy emotion, it was amazing to see such big smiles and so much joy. it was just as it should have been, friends and family celebrating sean's life. i think it was a day he would have loved...

check out the photos on my picasa page

wake up tomorrow...

2008-04-13T08:46:00.004-04:00

Wake Up Tomorrow
I've got to bite the bullet
Get out of second gear
Turn off this television
Grab the wheel and start to steer
It was a hazy day but it's beginning to clear
Cause it's take it or leave it baby,
Thats my story and I'm sticking to it
I've got to wake up tomorrow and
Do something that I've never done
Knowing full well that someone
Is watching over me
This brown wool carpet
It just won't leave my toes
But the money in my pocket
Well it always comes and it always goes
There are circumstances beyond my control
But you can bring them on baby
Cause I'm back to being built to take it
And there are no perfect words
That you can say to me now
For this is no perfect world
Without you
Life is short it's been said time and again
Well it's been a year of second chances
It's been a year of saying goodbye to some good friend
And I never saw that wrecking ball waiting to descend
But man it hit me, it split me and next time it may miss me
But it will surely swing again
So you've got to wake up tomorrow and
Do something that I've never done
Knowing full well that someone
Is watching over me
I'm gonna wake up tomorrow
and do something that I've never done
And I'm so glad your the one
who's watching over me.
(nancy atlas)

this should actually have been posted yesterday, but i ran out of time. as we were all driving to new york yesterday for sean's remembrance celebration, i was listening to nancy atlas while it was my turn to drive. nancy atlas is a local east hampton musician and sean was a big fan, as am i. we have seen nancy play a few times and i have been a fan for a few years. 'wake up tomorrow' is a song i have heard hundreds of times, however, as i was singing along yesterday, a few of the lines really had me thinking of sean, which was a first. so i played the song again, this time with a different frame of mind a different scope. it brought a huge smile to my face as i realized this fit perfectly with sean's motto of "live life or die tryin'" just the whole idea of waking up and embracing everyday, which was exactly what sean did and wanted everyone he knew to do. it was a perfect anthem for where i find myself in life right now.

so on this day...april 13, 2008...one year after sean passed away, i am thinking of him and his incredible zest for life and appreciation of all things, great and small, and the impact he had on every single person he met. my dad said last year, "you could have met sean one time, and he was your best friend." and it was so true.

today we will be gathering at main beach, in east hampton, to christen sean's memorial bench and "celebrate a life" as courtney would say. there is no doubt that this year i will be waking up and doing things i've never done before and i will definitely continue to look for the adventure in the everyday.

welcome home...

2008-04-10T21:36:00.002-04:00

well my brother, chris, came back home after a few months in fort leonardwood, missouri for basic training and technical school with the army. it was great to see him last night, looking all fit and a little older and wiser. we just had a little dinner at mom's for him and we had such a good time reminiscing about when we were kids and listening to some of chris' more entertaining stories about the military and life in general. man, it feels so good to laugh these days...

well it is hard to believe, but we are very near the one year anniversary of sean's death and today a strange thing happened on the way to work. as i got onto the short stretch of 95 i drive everyday, a pickup truck was behind me. he had his lights on and they caught my attention in the rear-view mirror. i looked up and realized it was a blue chevy pickup just like the one sean used to drive and thought to myself "oh, that's funny". for some reason i glanced back again and was surprised to see that the driver looked shockingly like a young carabine. i laughed out loud as i thought, "now my mind is just playing tricks on me!" so then, completely obsessed, i kept looking back to see if i could catch another glimpse of the driver. he did, indeed, look like a young sean, even from his side profile! i was surprised and completely delighted all at the same time. just a little reminder that he is everywhere we go, stopping by to say 'hi' in between his new adventures...

27 things

2008-04-08T19:45:00.003-04:00

well for me this time of year seems to be more a like a "new year" than anything else. i feel as though "this year" has consisted of the time from last april 13th until now, instead of starting in january. i was very inspired by this post on a blog (36 things) and decided that since my 28th birthday just passed, i would make a similar list. so here's my list of 27 things that snuck up on me this last year...

1. discovered the "art car" and much more at artscape

2. drank from a very big bowl with a very long straw at the tikibar in san diego

3. got my first tattoos

4. went snow tubing in deep creek

5. became a mac-lover :)

6. explored lots of new places with my camera in tow

7. welcomed the first great-grandchild into the emery family, sami nistico

8. had the best seats i've ever had at a hockey game

9. i slept all alone for the first time in my life...lived all by myself...

10. until i got a new housemate! i have been blessed with a priceless friendship

11. i took an online photography course and tried to hone my skills a little

12. got drunk and sang karaoke, yes, in public, thank you lauren!

13. bought a fancy hat at the fancy hat store

14. got over my gigantic fear of hospitals

15. tried a new very different hairdo

16. went roller skating for the first time in years...not quite like riding a bike

17. went to the md renaissance festival for the first time and rode an elephant

18. turned the camera on myself and started taking some self portraits

19. explored san diego...gotta love southern CA

20. watched the distance grow between my siblings and i...jackie went to cali and chris went to the army

21. spent time reminiscing with old friends in a familiar place...west river summer camp

22. made a real gingerbread house, from scratch...then left it intact until april :)

23. rode a duck (the boat, not a feathery creature) in philly

24. went to a real photography exhibit...annie liebovitz and ansel adams

25. i've found the joys and freedom of a healthy does of therapy

26. i have also found the joy and comfort of crocs, they may look weird, but man, it's like clouds of heaven for your feet!

27. last on the list, but certainly not least, i have learned the beauty and hardship of saying goodbye...

new look...

2008-04-08T19:42:00.001-04:00

well here's to hoping a new look will inspire me. let me know what you think.

march already...geesh

2008-03-03T19:34:00.004-05:00

I know it has been a while since I updated and I know that some of you have probably given up on me ever updating again :) however, I have not failed at this blogging thing quite yet.

February was a pretty good month. Of course the highlight was my trip with Shawn to sunny and warm San Diego. It was so great. We were there from the 14th to the 18th. The weather was fantastic and we had so much fun. I think that we ran Jay and Jackie a little ragged with all of our running around and sightseeing, but we couldn't resist. There is so much to see and do there! We went to the San Diego Zoo (fabulous by the way), La Jolla cove, Old Town, Sunset Cliffs, Cabrillo National Monument, Ocean Beach (a cool little beach town with a lot of great shops), and, well, I think that is it.

Jay and Jackie were fabulous hosts and their apartment is fantastic! They live in a nice area close to lots of good things. We also got to see Conlon and TracyAnn while we were there, first for dinner and margaritas in Old Town, then for breakfast at Jake's (this fantastic restaurant right on the beach). It was so great to see them and catch up a bit.

I am going to try to post some pictures on my picasa site when I get them all ready, but they are not quite there yet. So I will post a link to that when I get them uploaded.

In other news, our family was so excited to welcome Samantha Sue Nistico to the world on February 21st. She is such a small little wonder and absolutely gorgeous. Mom, Courtney, and I visited last week. She is such a little darling and we are so happy she is here.

Last Friday I visited the Howes' for dinner and some card making with Stacie. I loved getting to spend some time with Mr. Simon, he is so grown up now! The little guy is walking all over the place, happy as can be, and cute as a button. I can't believe how quickly he has grown. Here is was at dinner, showing me some straw tricks while we waited for our dinner. We are such good buds!

Well that is all for now. I really can't believe it is March already, this last year has gone by so quickly and I just can't believe it. Take care and love to you all!

Ahh February

2008-02-09T16:33:00.000-05:00

Well, as always, it has been busy around here! I cannot believe it is February already. When I think back to this time last year, boy was my life a lot different. Regardless, these last few weeks I have been feeling pretty peaceful and things have been going very well, so I can't complain about that.

So this week is quite exciting, as Shawn and I are getting ready to go to sunny, warm, San Diego on Thursday. I am totally looking forward to a little sunshine and color and fun. It will be nice to be away from work for a few days. Also can't wait to see Jackie and Jay and Conlon and TracyAnn.

Today I had my second class for CLS, which is a class I am taking through the county. It is such an interesting framework, but kind of overwhelming, really makes you evaluate what you do in your classroom and how you interact with your students. I have 5 more sessions, all on Thursday nights this spring.

Last Saturday night, Shawn, Bert, Leah, and I went to the Washington Capitals game. They lost by two points in the last few minutes of the game, but we had awesome seats in the third row and we had a great time. We took the Metro down and that was so nice, takes the stress out of driving in the city, and it was Leah's first time on the Metro, so that was nice. Plus, it's a little "green" of us, saving gas by using public transportation :) Of course, every time I ride the Metro, I think of how disappointed Sean would be that I am using public transportation and relying on someone else to get me where I need to be. He was never a big fan of the public transportation :) (But I love it...shhh)

This week I got a new hairdo, and I must say I love it! It is shorter than it was before, dark, and spiky :) I am having so much fun with it already! Check it out...

A few weeks ago, during Martin Luther King weekend, Shawn invited me to tag along with him to Deep Creek Lake to stay the weekend with Nick and Vicki. We had such a nice time. It was freezing cold, but it was nice to get away and experience a little bit of winter. That is one thing that I love about living in Maryland is that we have the beach just a few hours away and the mountains a few hours in the other direction. We did a little bit of snow tubing, which was lots of fun, but it was so cold that I only made two trips down the hill and watched everyone else's fun from the warm building.

I guess now I am just looking forward to the trip and getting prepared for that. Can't wait!

Reflecting on a Busy Week

2008-01-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

It has been a very busy week for me. Report card time is upon me and I have spent the whole week getting assessments finished and getting all my ducks in a row to be able to get my report cards completed on time. It has been a week of long nights at work and I was happy to see the weekend come.

Of course the weekend was not quite as relaxing as it could have been. On Saturday morning at 8:30 I had to be at school because I am taking a course through the county that started yesterday. This class is going to be so informational and helpful to me in creating a more harmonious classroom. It is a class on a system called Classroom Learning Systems and it is based on goal setting and giving the students more say in how things work in your classroom on a daily basis. It is really great because it gives a lot of responsibility to the kids, even at a young age like my little guys. Anyway, I am really excited about this class and what new things I am going to learn throughout the course of this class.

After spending the morning and afternoon in class, Shawn and I went to see a movie. We had gone to the movies a week ago to see Juno, but it was sold out when we got there so we ended up seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks instead (such a cute movie). So last night we headed out early to try and catch Juno and we were successful. Such a smart and funny movie. The dialogue was great and the whole story was just entertaining.

Then today I slept in a little and then Shawn and I decided that we would go to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. We took Courtney with us and we all had such a great time. It is such an interesting place, there was tons of great, unique artwork. Their current exhibit was all about faith and religions and so it was interesting to see how that was interpreted by the different artists. I enjoyed it because it was a lot of local artists and not the same type of art you would see in a regular art museum. They had a second building that was full of very unique things. There was a giant Divine statue, dedicated to the local actress who played a huge role in many of John Waters' films, which was so cool to see. There was also an exhibit dedicated to the painted screens found in Baltimore in the row homes in the city, so cool. Overall, it was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go back again when the exhibits change. After the museum we had dinner at Johnny Rockets, which Courtney was excited about and then ColdStone for dessert.

This week promises to be just as busy, but there are only 2.5 school days for the kids this week, with 2 days of professional development at the end of the week. So the workload should be a little lighter this week with the only focus being getting my report cards finished. Then a nice long weekend!

Here are a few pictures from today, the three of us playing in the sculpture garden at the museum:

Back to Scrappin'

2008-01-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a very, very long time since I have done any scrapbooking. However, after about 10 months, I finally got some pages done. I am about a year behind on scrapping, not to mention the California album from 2005 I have yet to finish, or the Alaska album I have barely started. But I am hopeful that I will be able to catch up in no time.

I joined the Calendar Girls again this year on 2Peas for the fourth year. This is a group of women who conduct a monthly scrapbooking challenge based on the Designing With...Page a Day calendar, which has a different layout for scrapping inspiration for every day of the year. So I am hoping that this will give me some motivation to get all caught up one of my favorite hobbies.

So here are the two pages I worked on last night...Enjoy!

Courtney Turns 13!

2008-01-06T23:20:00.000-05:00

Courtney celebrated her 13th birthday (which was Friday) with her friends on Saturday at Bounce Party. Bounce Party is this big warehouse filled with moon bounce activities. There was a boxing ring, a barrel of monkeys moon bounce, a few obstacle courses, and a giant slide (like at the carnival). Everyone seemed like they had a great time. It really was a lot of fun for all ages. Shawn and I were invited to the party and he took a lot of great photos that can be seen here...Courtney's Party

So to Miss Courtney...Happy Birthday and welcome to your teenage years!

Photo Goal for 2008

2008-01-05T10:53:00.000-05:00

This year instead of making New Years Resolutions that I would not follow through with, I have decided that I would like to make a list of Things to Do in 2008. On this list one of my goals, is related to my photography. After taking the photo class this fall and learning a lot, I have realized upon picking my camera up after a brief hiatus from taking pictures, I had lost a lot of what I had learned and do not want this to continue.

So after doing a little bit of research and finding a little inspiration, I have decided that my photo goal for the year will be to take a photo every single day this year. Being a scrapbooker, this will be helpful in that arena also (where I also have some major goals for the year). So in the interest of trying to get this jumpstarted, I am going to go back and post a few pics I have taken this month already with the official count starting today.

I will post my photos on my Photo Blog, at least once a week if not more often, and will also post them in my Picasa Photo Gallery
and my Flickr Gallery

So I hope that you will check out some of photos from the year and maybe be inspired to set a similar goal for yourself. Happy 2008!

Welcome 2008!

2008-01-03T19:37:00.000-05:00

Well I can hardly believe 2007 is already gone, so very bittersweet. This year for New Years Eve, we had Courtney's 13th birthday party (omg!) and welcomed the new year with family at my house. It was a great time. First we celebrated Courtney's birthday with a house full of people, mostly family and the Eichners and Bounds'. Then after the party died down a little, we played the Wii and welcomed the New Year! Not terribly exciting, but it was a nice evening. Not much else to say...Happy New Year to everyone! May 2008 bring you love, happiness, health, and good fortune.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-30T18:07:00.000-05:00

Well another Christmas has now come and gone. This one really snuck up on me and then passed right before my eyes. Here are the highlights of the Christmas festivities...

1. Chris arrived home the Thursday before Christmas from Basic Training in Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. It has been so nice to have him home and we were all so excited to hear all of his stories and catch up with him.

2. For me, Christmas really began on Saturday the 22nd when Mom, Courtney, Courtney's friend Kasey, and I drove to Warwick, NY to visit the Aabs and Carabines for the Aabs' annual Christmas party. It was a wonderful trip, too short of course, but wonderful. The kids were such a treat to see and I was happy to see Pru and Brian, Brigid and Alex, and their close friends. I am so glad that I had some company for the drive, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make the trip alone, and it wouldn't have felt like Christmas without a trip to New York or without seeing my NY family.

3. Jackie and Jay arrived home from San Diego on Sunday and spent their four day Christmas vacation here at my house. Again, great to have everyone home for Christmas.

4. Monday was Christmas Eve, and of course, not drama free. Shawn, my house buddy, had been fighting a cold for a few days and woke up Monday morning with no voice and a fever, so it was off to Patient First. Now, at this point, I was thinking "I am really tired of spending holidays at Patient First" after spending New Year's Day last year there with Sean's pink eye. So Mr. Grimes found out he had strep throat, ugh, and spent the rest of the day resting.

5. Of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Christmas Eve dinner at Mom Mom's. It was a wonderful evening. Not surprisingly, much of the focus was on the youngest little Emery, Nicholas, and he did not disappoint! He was so enthusiastic about everything that was going on. He helped Courtney give out presents, opened his own presents and helped everyone else open theirs, and was just utterly adorable.

6. Christmas Day proved very successful and enjoyable. The Parto clan spent the day at my house. Mom cooked a great dinner of ham and all the trimmings. We had so much fun opening our gifts and spending time together. The evening ended with some games, first a nice round of Cranium Pop 5, then some friendly competition on the Wii. Dad boxing was by far one of the highlights of the day :)

Overall, Christmas was very nice. But not a day goes by that I don't miss Sean and think of him, and these last few days have made that even more true. One of the most special things for me this Christmas was giving the gift of Sean to many of my family members and friends. With my fabulous Mac and the iPhoto program, I was able to easily create photo books with collections of photos of Sean to give away as gifts. It was such a great way to have him with us at Christmas this year.

I hope that all of you were able to enjoy your family and friends over the Christmas season and are now ready to celebrate what will hopefully be a fabulous, happy, and lucky New Year. Love to all of you!

Fun at Skateland

2007-12-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

Well this picture is going back a few weeks, but in the interest of trying to get all caught up on this blog and keeping everyone up to date, I am going to post it anyway. Shawn G. invited Mom, Courtney, and I out to Skateland a few weeks ago to enjoy an evening of roller skating with his boy scout troop. We had so much fun! But it had been a long time since I went roller skating and it was a little trickier than I remember, despite the fact that it was my favorite pastime as a kid. Anyway, this was one of the pictures from the evening and it is clear that we had a great time.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

2007-11-26T18:40:00.001-05:00

Well it has been quite a while since I updated this blasted thing! But it has been a very busy month for me, apparently. First things first, I wanted to send a few belated Happy Thanksgiving wishes to everyone. Thanksgiving was definitely different for me this year. I decided that I was going to celebrate an un-Thanksgiving this year, so I enjoyed fried chicken for dinner and a movie in the afternoon. Boy it was nice to not have to cook! It was weird to have an empty house though, I missed the sounds of cooking in the kitchen, turkeys frying in the driveway, and kids running around the house :) It was definitely quiet around the house this year.

Friday was our Annual Black Friday outing with the girls. So a small group of us gallivanted around Columbia all day shopping and eating :) It was nice to hang out with friends and get some Christmas shopping done. It helped to get me into the holiday spirit, which was something I was afraid I would be lacking this year.

As always, Saturday was our family candy making day, a day that I love! The house definitely seemed a little more empty this year with Jackie on the West Coast and Chris in Missouri, but we made all of the usual goodies and got to enjoy each other's company. It is always so nice to spend time together, since we don't all get to see each other too often.

I got a phone call from Chris on Thursday. He is doing well in boot camp. He seems lonely and definitely ready to come home for Christmas, but he is doing well. He will be coming home on December 20th for two weeks and then back out to Missouri for job training. We are all so excited to see him. It also sounds like Jackie and Jay will be coming back this way for Christmas, definitely excited to have everyone home for Christmas. I guess you take for granted having everyone close, until they all move away and you realize that it really is a rarity for families to be as close as we all have been.

Well I hope to be updating this more often, but still want to wish everyone a happy holiday season!

Busy Weekend

2007-10-14T20:34:00.001-04:00

Well it was another busy weekend for me (what's new?) Friday evening the family got together at Mom's to bid Chris a farewell before he goes off to Fort Leonardwood for boot camp. Saturday The Howes' and I went to the outlets in Hagerstown for our bi-annual outlet shopping spree. It was a nice trip, the weather was great and we got a lot of great deals. Today was another photo day, off galavanting around town enjoying the fall weather and getting some good shots. Today's locations included Fort Armistead (thanks Uncle Jamey!) to take pics of the Key Bridge, Rocks State Park, and Falling Branch which has a nice waterfall. Finished the day up with some delicious fried chicken and ice cream at a great little place called Hickory Dicks.

Please check out my new photo blog, there are some pictures there from today.

Steph's Photo Blog

here we go again...

2007-10-10T09:18:00.001-04:00

Well I have been unable to maintain my old-new blog, so I am giving this another try...thinking that maybe a fresh start will help.

Life has been incredibly busy over the past two months. I will try to back-update to fill everyone in on what I have been up to the last few weeks. For now I am just happy to have this thing up and running.