Christmas Recap

Christmas this year was quite hectic, but very enjoyable. On Christmas Eve morning Russ, Sam, and I went to our good friends' and neighbors' Matt, Maria, and Lili's house for brunch. Lili and Sam had a blast playing outside, and opening their presents for each other, and the adults had a blast drinking Mimosas and enjoying Maria's delicious and expansive brunch items. After that we were off to Steph and John's house, Russ' sister and brother in law, where there was more eating, drinking and opening of presents and then after that we were off to Russ' mom's house where my mom met us. There were just under one million presents in total I think, and we spent what seemed like hours opening great presents. Everyone had a great time and it was a wonderful evening. PHEW! And the day was done...marathon family and friend visitation was over. Christmas morning was relaxing with Russ, my mom and I opening presents at our house. I find the below picture humorous.

It's not easy staging an intervention of a PC user but someone has to do it. This is Russ giving my mom a tutorial on her new Macbook that we gave her for Christmas. Luckily she was ready to make the switch and was excited to be a new Mac user. I love how she has her hand on her head like she's giving up...very funny.


This is a picture of a Santa riding a motorcycle on 795 near my house. Not something you see everyday. I can't beleive I got such a good shot while I was driving. In front of him where 12 reindeer bikers. Very cute.


And finally, for my funny pictures I have a blurry picture of a truck that Russ and I saw as we were entering Towson Town Center for Christmas shopping. The license plate was OMG WTF. I'm so upset that I didn't get a clear picture...it's the best license plate ever...and one of my favorite statements to boot!

Five Things You Don't Know About Me....

Ok, another tag by Charissa. I knew it was coming..let's see if I can come up with 5 funny or interesting facts that I can actually post on here. Charissa's were hilarious. I don't know how to make a link to her blog so check it out by typing in her address charissacosta.blogspot.com.

I'm Ambidextrous.
For the most part...I'm most comfortable writing with my right hand but I can write with my left if I need to and I do almost everything else with my left hand.


My Guilty Pleasure is Celebrity Gossip.
I probably inherited this from Lauren who is/was an aspiring actor. The funny thing is that I barely watch TV- if I do I watch travel, or discovery channel, I'm not really into movies and I barely know celebrities names, however when I'm bored I love to go on eonline and catch up on celebrity news, and when I'm travelling I fiendishly read People and feel like I'm in heaven.

I Can Out Eat and Drink Most Men
In high school, my friends and I would go to "wing night" every Tuesday at a local pub. The wings were ten cents and we ordered them in quantities. My friend Mike challenged me to an eat off and I beat him by 5 wings coming in at 45 total. The whole school was talking about it the next day. I've also participated in many beer chugging contests with cocky men (mature, I know...) I've won every time.

I Once Saved a Dog's Life Using the Heimlich Maneuver
When I lived in the city, Max and I used to go to the park everyday so he could play with all the neighbor dogs. One day I noticed a Beagle struggling with something in his mouth, and then he stopped breathing. I got his mom's attention and her and all the women standing around looked at him and screamed. No one knew what to do. I had read up on pet first aid and remembered how to do the heimlich to a dog. I ran over and got on the ground with him and put his back to my belly and thrust below his rib cage twice, as hard as I could. A stick came out and he was breathing again. Everyone was amazed and asked if I was a vet. I was REALLY proud of how calmly I responded during an emergency situation and every time I saw the Beagle at the park after that I was thrilled.

Russ and I like to Match Sometimes
Guarantee he would deny this to his death if asked, but we like to match occassionally...we have matching watches- he has the man's version and I have the women's...and recently when we were on our way to the Jeep dealership we realized we were both wearing brown polo shirts, jeans, and brown sneakers and decided not to change b/c it was funny.

Picture Catch Up Time.....

Here are a bunch of pictures I've finally gotten my hands on that I've wanted to post. Consider it a picture medley!

FLASHBACK SHOT:

Jess can you believe i found this picture!!! Three Jess's in one place!

THANKSGIVING DAY:

Penelope playing with a mechanical dog that Russ' sister, Jessie brought.



Russ and his brother-in-law John cooking the turkey in a smoker. You may wonder why they are cooking it out front when we have a deck and backyard...yeah I wondered too...



My mom and I cooking in my kitchen...you can see the smoked turkey.


CAMPFIRE:

Russ and Sam by the fire at Matt and Maria's house.


JESS & SAM NIGHT:

Sam posing on our bed with a mask he made. He loves masks!!



Sam and I taking a picture in our closet mirror. He loves this shot...says it looks like I have superpowers and light is coming from my hand.


Same night as the picture above. Sam and I went to IHOP for balloon man night...as you can see, Sam walked away a happy customer!



PENELOPE'S BIG NIGHT OUT:

On the way to drop Penny off at my Mom's house for vacation babysitting, Russ and I stopped by Claddagh's to say goodbye to Wes and Drew. Penny couldn't stay in the car so I smuggled her in my bag. She sat in a bag, on a chair and happily watched them play all night...at one point while Wes was singing he looked at her and laughed.

So much to Catch Up On....

Since I've returned from vacation work and life have been crazy busy. I finally have a free moment to catch up on my blog...yay.

I bought a new car...actually a truck..LOVE IT!
Jeep Commander, got it in a deep red/burgundy. It's got a third row of seats that lays flat or can flip up. Sam loves sitting in the way back..he said he felt like he was riding in his daycare van. Here's a picture I got online.



Last night I went to volunteer at a party my mom helped organize for the kids in her neighborhood through the Sharp Leadenhall Youth Group. My mom took donations for food and toys and went to the store to help buy 200 presents. Each child got a present from Santa and they were great gifts! My mom is a fabulous shopper...but more importantly she is a wonderful person. She did an excellent job and everyone had a great time. Here are a few pictures from last night.


My mom having a great time with the kids.


A happy gift recipient.


Spring and Solnet Holiday Party
Russ and I held our companies' holiday party on Sunday night at our favorite restaurant, Harryman House. We had about 27 people and it was a blast. We had a room reserved for our party and Wes and Drew provided entertainment. The food and service was awesome and we had so much fun that we stayed until close, 2:30am. Here are some pictures from the night. I'm only able to post pictures of people I've asked...



Wes and Drew.


Angie and Charissa trying to reach the microphones...



Very cute picture of Kelli, Matt, and I. Unfortunately I had to cut Matt out of the shot b/c he needs to remain anonymous for a personal situation he's dealing with...

Charissa's blog says I've been tagged...I guess I have to fill out this little survey

A - Available or single: Neither.
B - Best friend: Can't single out one person- too many special people in my life
C - Cake or pie: Chocolate cake
D - Drink of choice: Dirty Martini, or Champagne and Chambord
E - Essential item you use everyday: My watch.
F - Favorite color: Purple.
G - Gummy bears or worms: Bears.
H - Hometown: Westwood, NJ.
I - Indulgence: Shopping.
J - January or February: Eh, both stink.
K - Kids & names: No kids...but fav names: Isabella, Wesley, Drew, Nathaniel.
L - Life is incomplete without? Love.
M - Marriage date: May, 22, 2004- next marriage date TBA ; )
N - Number of siblings: 0
O - Oranges or apples: Apples.
P - Phobias or fears: Closed spaces, sharks, CRICKETS!!!!
Q - Fave quote: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" Eleanor Roosevelt
R - Reasons to smile: My girlfriends, Penelope, Russ, my mom (cutest mom ever!) my job (I LOVE it)
S - Season: SPRING.
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: I don't know any bloggers who haven't been tagged.
U - Unknown fact about me: I run everywhere when I'm alone ie: from parking lot to shops- from driveway to house, etc. I'm always in a huge hurry for some reason....
V- Vegetable you don't like: Peas.
W - Worst habit: Picking my lips.
X - Xrays: Ankle.
Y - Your fave food: TUNA- in EVERY form!
Z- Zodiac sign: Cancer.

St. Lucia Pics

Ok, we're back and busy as usual. With Christmas being here we have tons of work holiday parties to go to...yay- so our whole weekend is booked. Anyway- St. Lucia was awesome. We had a blast being alone for 8 days withtout interruption- well, other than the annoying, unhappily married and clingy (to us) couple that we couldn't seem to shake. We did a lot of eating, drinking, sunning, swimming and water sports. I took a few pictures with my camera, so I will post a few..but Russ has the most, and the best shots were taken by the Sandals photographer which we had printed and bought and are in our house...so you will all need to come over soon to see them. Russ water skiied- which I don't do, he also tried wind surfing, and the two of us jet skiied, snorkelled and sailed a small catamaran which we managed to flip in the middle of deep water. I have a large fear of sharks and hate deep water b/c of this. I was truly freaking when I was thrown into the ocean and had my feet dangling where I could not see what was around me. Luckily we were rescued by a Sandals rescue boat who made a half-hearted attempt and got our catamaran back upright. A good time was had by all!

This is a cute one of our legs overlooking the quiet pool. It was away from the main pool- and we would escape here when we didn't want to be surrounded by people, and loud blasting reggae music from the bar.

Russ by the main pool- and some dude in the background . Behind him you can see the swim up bar.

Here's a picture of horses on the beach- they were there every afternoon.


Ok- this one just cracks me up so I had to post it. I took this on our way to snorkeling. When we saw it we just busted out laughing....

This is a cute shot of Russ.

We're home!

We're home and its almost 2am. We had a blast but were ready to come home and get back into the grind. We do really love what we do and missed the thrill of working. Yes we're dweebs. Anyway, will post pictures and specific info tomorrow. First on my list of discussion points...Russ and I flipping a small catamaran in deep water and being "rescued" by the Sandals rescue boat (a stoned guy sitting in a boat calmly watching me scream "get me in your boat...get me in your boat!!"

It's 6am

It's actually 5:45 and I can't sleep. Russ woke up at 5 to go deal with a pesky server...I feel so bad for him. We are not morning people. Possible other reasons I can't sleep..Tomorrow we are leaving for St. Lucia at about 4am in the morning. We haven't done an ounce of packing..which isn't that big of a deal so I refuse to stress over it, but I am excited so I think that's why I can't sleep. Here's a picture of where we're headed. It still doesn't feel like we're really going to be there tomorrow.

Second reason I can't sleep....I want to cook myself some breakfast sausages and we are out of propane so the stove won't work. I NEVER wake up wanting breakfast sausage on the weekdays, but today I do....b/c I CAN'T have it! I'm contemplating microwaving them. More on that later....
Ok I just went and microwaved them...pretty nasty but I'm happily eating them. I think I will make another attempt at sleeping and I will try not to think about the day ahead of me: Full day of work, Sam visiting tonight...we're going to IHOP for dinner b/c Tuesdays they have a clown who makes balloons, somewhere in there we need to find time to pack, then head to my moms to sleep until 3:30am when we will wake up and have her drive us to the airport.
Have a good week everyone...will post pictures when I return!

Spring has Sprung

Company plug: Our bread and butter work is k-12 production...meaning we design and make the textbooks for publishers like Edison Learning, McGraw Hill, etc. It keeps us crazy busy...but during down time, like right now, around the holidays... we enjoy designing and building websites. If you know anyone who needs a website, please send them our way. Spring Design 410-878-2429. Soon to come is Wes McDonough Band's new website. I will post the address when we've completed it.

My New 'Do and The Weekend in Review

During a routine spa treatment I decided it was time to cut my hair. It was getting long and unruly...hair everywhere and all I ever did was pull it back in a sloppy pony tail. Russ loves my hair short too, so I figured I would surprise him. The spa happened to have an appointment available so I took it....here is my new 'do...

Here I am posing with a lighter that someone gave us for free at J. Paul's saturday night...it shows my flippy layers well...

Saturday we went to J. Pauls in the Inner Harbor...Wes and Drew played from 6-10pm. It was a great location from them becaus the Harbor was packed with people watching the boats with Christmas Lights. Here are some pics from our evening. Russ, Charissa and I went for dinner, which was horrible...and Donna and Angie walked in as we were finishing and we all had a blast hanging out as always.
This is a little girl asking Wes for his number. You can see his shocked response. Her mom had to literally drag her from the restaurant. We saw them outside walking away and she was throwing a hissy fit. We got a good chuckly out of it.



Angie, Charissa, and I...Angie is looking like she had too much to drink ; )
That's Wes' lovely middle finger. Thanks, Wes!

Sunday my mom and I went to the studio of one of our favorite local artists, her name is Sue Eyet. Her studio is a converted church that she has put a lot of time and money into. It is an amazing space and my mom and I love to go there. She is having a holiday open house and she sells all kinds of quirky things that she makes: jewlery, signs (we have a "pure joy" sign of hers in our kitchen) and prints. I wish I had taken a picture of the space to post but I didn't. HGTV will be doing a show on her space, its a new series called "Look What I Did". I will post the time of the airing when she finds out. She is also going to be starting a class series in the Spring and she's looking for instructors. I told her I would be happy to hold some classes in her space. Since I don't think most people are interested in learning about Graphic Design or offset printing so I will probably do a kids' class similar to what I do on Wednesday nights. If you're interested in visiting Sue's studio for some holiday shopping...send me an email and I'll give you directions. There is also a great restaurant a few doors down...makes for a nice day trip.