{great weekend}

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}

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}

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...

...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...}

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}

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}

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!