Five on Friday

Happy Friday, everyone!! It has been a busy week and I am looking forward to the weekend so much!

This little lady turns ONE today!!! I can't wait to shower Vivian with gifts at her party on Saturday.

I only joined a gym a week ago and I already feel the need to say something about pool etiquette.  Somehow, I thought it was common knowledge that you're going to get splashed in a pool.  Darned if I didn't watch someone get all riled that they just had their hair done and didn't want it to get wet - all while she stood in water up to her shoulders BEFORE everyone in the pool started exercising.  Um, really?!  And two the two ladies who I watched put on perfume in the changing room before class, please don't.  Just, don't.  Mmmkay?!

I've decided that I am bringing back "Tuesdays at the Table", my weekly recipe link-up.  I loved hosting it and getting to try all those wonderful recipes!  I'm still working on a button.  Stay tuned for the button and more info soon!  I'm already getting excited to visit everyone and try some new recipes.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about getting another tattoo.  I already have two - a Celtic cross on the inside of my left ankle, and a heart on the inside of my right ankle.  Predictably, I really think I want a dachshund on me.  Obviously, I won't have anything inked on me until I find the perfect design, but here are a few of my favorite designs right now.

ICYMI:the knockout punch of SHIELDvsCARTER #SDCC15 #dubsmashwars #DontMakeMePutMyLipstickOn

A video posted by Clark Gregg (@clarkgregg) on Jul 12, 2015 at 5:08pm PDT

Little admission here...I am a total geek.  As in, "wow, I'd really like to make it Comic-Con someday" kind of geek.  As Comic-Con has gone on in San Diego this week, I've been entertained by the Marvel Agents of Shield vs. Agent Carter dub smash battle on Instagram.  If you don't want to scroll through a boat load of Instagram messages, you can see the progression of their battle HERE.

What's on your agenda this weekend?

Eight Photos of Happiness

I have been nominated for the ‘8 Photos of Happiness Tag’ by Bridget over at Expat BS.  I followed Bridget back when she was an Atlanta blogger.  Now she's "crossed the pond" and started a whole new blog.  :-)  I'm really enjoying reading as she and her hubby-to-be get settled into their new life!

Here are the guidelines for the tag:
1.Thank your nominator/s and link them in your post.
2. Link the creator Ariel's Little Corner of the Internet
3. Post your 8 photos of happiness
4. Pop in a brief description of the photo, why you chose it, or let the photos do the talking!
5. Spread the happiness and tag up to ten other bloggers!

This is my cousin Kristin and I at a wedding earlier this year. (The wedding story will be another post soon.)  She is one of my best friends and I'm so lucky to get to have her in my life. 

This little one is baby Vivie!  She's Kristin's little girl and will turn a year old just days after my birthday.  She has such a big, happy personality and I just adore her!

From my gram's 90th birthday party.  She was adamant that she get a big party when she turned 90 and so she that's what she got!  Gram was thrilled! This picture is bittersweet, as it's the last picture of gram with all four of her children.

It's not the best picture in the world, but I have such great memories of my first trip to the UK the summer I turned 16.  Here are my brother Josh and I getting chased by sheep...it was a recurring theme during that trip!  I can't wait to be in England again this fall.

As a little kid, my grandparent's had a summer home on the lake in New Hampshire.  So many awesome family summers!  Here's a picture of my dad and I when I was really little.

My herd.  They bring me such joy every single day.  So much personality, love, silliness and utter devotion in such TINY bodies!

These girls!  They are all absolutely beautiful inside and out.  We do a yearly group picture at Christmas and here's our 2014 picture.

Ok...so this isn't a picture of me, but it is a picture of the rag quilt I made for baby Vivie.  I love to craft and take such pleasure from it.  That counts, right?!

Now it's my turn to nominate some bloggers to take on this challenge. I'm still getting into the swing of blogging again so I don't have 10 bloggers to tag, but if you read this post and would like to join in  please do!

• Sara at Running from the Law - I've loved Sara's blog for years.  Even during my blog hiatus, I kept up with her and her adorable kiddos on Instagram.  :-)
• Karen at A Peek at Karen's World  - Another awesome blogger that I've followed for YEARS!  She just moved her blog from blogger to Wordpress on her own, which makes her my technology hero.
• Rachel from Countdowns and Cupcakes - I've only recently found Rachel.  Her blog is super cute and she's a fellow dachshund mom!
• Carolyn from Life, Love and Puppy Prints - Carolyn is another recent find.  I love her sense of humor.  She just might be one of blogville's cutest pregnant girls too.  :-)
• Jennifer from Crazy Shenanigans - Jen is another blogger that I've been following for quite a while.  Like Christmas or Elvis?  She's your girl!
• Dory and her mom at Dory's Backyard - Dory and her siblings are Lhasa Apsos and ShiTzus respectively.  They (with their mom's help) have lots of adventures and share life from a dog's perspective!
• Puddles and her mom at We 3 Doxies - Think dogs don't have a sense of humor?  You haven't met Puddles yet!  We know dachshunds are a huge part of my life - and Puddles (with her mom's help) shows all the personality in their little bodies!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!!!  With the heat and humidity, it has been a bit of a long week.  I can't wait to relax...  I had so much fun visiting everyone last week, that I'm linking up with April again this week.

I'm starting my list with a brag.  I am so proud of Kristin for making her dream of starting her own photography business a reality.  Kristin is not only my cousin, but one of my best friends and we work together!  (Yep, lots of quality time for us!)  She is immensely talented and can't wait to see her business grow.  You can follow her blog HERE, Instagram HERE or on Facebook HERE.

Fireworks in the towns surrounding me start tonight.  I love living in the greater Boston area and being surrounded by history & patriotism!  Everything culminates on the 4th with an amazing show courtesy of the Boston Pops, usually some celebrity guests, lots and lots of people crowding on the Hatch Shell...and of course, the fireworks!

Image courtesy of Boston Magazine

My birthday month is looming....July 11th, if your curious! I like to share the birthday love, so I have a few giveaways scheduled through July.  :-)  The first one starts on July 1st!

Image via Pinterest (can't find an origin, sorry!)

I am contemplating bringing back "Tuesdays at the Table", my weekly recipe link-up.  I love cooking, baking, bbq'ing... and trying recipes of all sorts.  Everyone always had something yummy and new to contribute.  What do you all think?  YAY or NAY?

If it comes back...a new button will go with it.  :-)

I'm ending my list with a combination of two of my favorite things - dachshunds and minions.  Enjoy!!

Kristin's Wedding

As some of you may remember, I was one of my cousin Kristin's bridesmaids when last we spoke of her upcoming nuptials!  (In case you don't remember...here's a link to the post I did on her bridal shower)

Fast forward almost two years and now I need to catch you all up on what you missed - including Kristin's wedding!

This pretty lady indeed got married on August 2nd, 2013 to the love of her life with their (then) almost 9 year old son quite excited (as were everyone else in the bridal party).

Here she is with her mom!

The wedding was lovely and the country club that hosted both the ceremony and reception was absolutely beautiful.  Now, you all know that I'm a klutz.  And Kristin's wedding was no exception to my rule about tripping over my own feet.  I was the first bridesmaid "out of the gate" so to speak...and unfortunately did NOT count on the aisle we were walking down to be lush green grass that was horribly uneven.  People, I fell!  Flat. on. my. face.  It was mortifying!  I still remember all the faces that were turned towards me going from smiles to looks of shock.  Not fun...  It got hurt and tried not to cry during the ceremony. My goal was to make it through the ceremony and reception without drawing any further attention to myself.  For once - mission accomplished!

Unfortunately, I did have a super fun trip to the ER to have my knee looked at at midnight. I have to thank the hospital staff for taking such good care of me and the mess that I was - still in my hot pink bridesmaid dress (um..yeah.).

Stay tuned for my next foray into being a bridesmaid....

Kristin's Bridal Shower

This Sunday was Kristin's bridal shower.  She wanted a surprise...and after wearing dresses to EVERYTHING for the past few weeks and being prepared for the shower to happen at any time, hopefully she's happy with how it turned out.  :-)



Kristin with her bridesmaids and flower girls.



Kristin and some of our work peeps.

 

 





The awesome cake that Jackie (Kristin's future SIL) made. 

 



I made tropical body scrub (coconut lemon/lime) as the shower favors.  As a group we then "beached it up" by putting the little containers in a cute plastic martini glass with a little umbrella.  Fun!

We had two REALLY funny moments at Kristin's shower.  The first one was before Kristin even got there!  It seems we should have been more clear with the restaurant hostess what Kristin and her fiancé look like.  The hostess tried to lead an adorable couple into our function room.  I've never seen a guy jump away from his girlfriend and emphatically shake his head "no" as fast as that guy did!

The second funny was courtesy of my mom.  As part of her gift, she gave a few Yankee Candles.  The "blueberry scone" candle smelled yummy!  However, the "mmm....bacon" candle; not so much.  It was so bad that it made it's way around the room for all to smell.  As a group we all decided that it smells like Kibbles n' Bits.  Lesson learned!  Always smell the candle before you buy it; even if the sales associate tells you that it's a best seller.

How To Look Like A Hero, In A Few Easy Steps...

Wait.  You didn't think I was going to let you in on my secrets, did you?! :-)

I joke about the "hero" thing because I had two different people label me that (jokingly, of course!) in the past few days.

Thursday night it started snowing. I know...it's New England; big deal.  By the time Friday morning rolled around, we had over a foot of snow on the ground instead of the 1-3 inches that were predicted.  And it kept snowing!

My fabulous cousin Kristin and I not only live near each other, but now work in the same office.  So, we chatted.  We debated a little.  We decided to suck it up; dig out and go to work. So I swung by and picked her (and her son) up.  We arrived just before noon to an almost empty office and looking like rock stars. By the time we departed a little after 4PM, I had to dig my car out again.  And, let me tell you - digging out a Chevy Tahoe is WORK!  When all was said and done, our little snowstorm netted us around two feet of unexpected snow.

The front of our office building.  For scale purposes - B is a fairly tall 9 year old!

Saturday morning, Kristin and I went to the florist so she could pick her wedding day flower arrangements.  Pink, pink, pink! 

 

Pretty, right?! :-)

 
About an hour after I dropped her off at home, she called to say that Penny (her Jeep) was making a horrible noise.  So I got in the car, met her at Target and called AAA.  In the hour and a half wait, we did a little shopping at Target (You want me to shop?!?!  TWIST MY ARM!!!!) and then I dropped her off at home again. 

All in a day's work!

Bridesmaid Dresses

Friday evening, Kristin (aka the bride!) and all her bridesmaids convened at David's Bridal to pick out dresses.

We started with a vision of her two matron of honors in begonia/fuschia and her three bridesmaids in a lighter pink.  I think Kristin originally was thinking a shorter dress too (but wouldn't swear to it).  After trying on lots of gowns and having the salesperson deem us "the happiest bridesmaids all week", we'll be wearing these gowns on August 2nd:

via David's Bridal website

 

The bride and Sandy (the lucky girl who WON'T need it hemmed like some of us shorties!)

What do you think? If you're nice, I'll model it for you AFTER it arrives in May and I get my alterations done.

A Dose of Random...Or, How I Spent My Weekend

Happy Monday!  My brain is a smidge fried, so I'll be employing bullet points to keep from completely boring you (hopefully). :-)

• Thank you all for the support that you've given me in changing careers.  Tuesday I'll be doing the final exam for the Home Health Aide portion of the class.  Any quick prayers that I don't have a brain freeze will be appreciated.
• The remainder of the week I have skills labs, where I'm going to get paired with the person either before me or after me alphabetically.  That means I either have someone who is afraid to touch people...or doesn't speak English.  I apologize in advance for any venting that may be sited here later in the week.
• Saturday I did my class project on Cancer.  It's fabulous people...believe me on that. :-)
• While that was happening, I had a plumber come and steal all my money!  Well...he did replace the faucets in my kitchen and downstairs bathroom, but it wasn't fun paying that bill!
• Then, I got to hang out with Kristin to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. 

Mixed berry Margaritas!

• Sunday Meadow & Beckett enjoyed sunbathing at my parent's.  They also spent some time scavenging the back yard for dandelion greens.  I think I might have miniature goats instead of dachshunds...
• If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that I'm a bit heart-broken.  I've learned that I either won't be getting a new puppy from the rescue I volunteer for, or it will take at least another two months.  I don't blame them at all...it's totally the state of MA.  They are making it very difficult for people here to adopt from out of state.  Never mind that "my" puppy is no more than 50 miles away from me! Just thinking about it still makes me teary.



Sunbathing puppers!

This week's 3 on Thursday question:

 Share three secret single behaviors (Remember the SATC episode? Things you do you wouldn't want a man to see you doing)!