62. April 24th, 2011 Picture.

We went to my sister Kate's house for Easter dinner and she kept up with one of my most favoritest traditions ever!  Long before our family was the size of a small town in middle America, we actually used to sit at the dining room table for Thanksgiving and Christmas, along with almost every other family party.  My mom use to put a scratch ticket under all of our plates, I'm assuming in hopes that one of us would strike it rich and share with everyone.  We haven't done this in a few years so I was so happy to see Kate carrying it on.

Another tradition that I loved was that my mom would give each of us an ornament on Christmas.  Now that there are so many of us, that tradition has faded too, but every year I swear I'm going to be the one to bring it back.  Maybe this year's the year!

62. April 23rd, 2011 Picture.

This post is dedicated to miss Abigail's 5th birthday party!

Abby wearing her 'A' birthday crown!

Which she immediately passed around, obviously, because she is a good sharer like that.

Initially the party was supposed to be a BBQ outside, but unfortunately the weather was cold, rainy and gross.  That didn't stop us from grilling outside - there were a lot of people to feed, check out all the burgers!

Since all the kids couldn't run around outside, and I mean A LOT of kids, they all piled into the den to watch episodes of iCarly and Victorious.  

With Ratty of course.  He finds Victorious absolutely riveting.

Ready for cake!

Cute little cousins.

Happy Birthday Abby!

Once we were done singing, it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt.  Since it was the day before Easter, Christine came up with the great idea of having an egg hunt for all the kids - since there were so many!  Here they are, chomping at the bit to get outside.  For the record, we'd just finishing running around and hiding all the eggs, nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Since Christine is a teacher, she had the best idea to cut down on chaos.  She wrote the kids names on 8 eggs, meaning that everyone had to search for the ones with their names on it.  It kept the playing field even, making sure that everyone ended up with the same amount, even the little ones who were obviously a little bit slower than the big kids and needed some extra help.  PLUS it kept them busy for a long time, since they were all busy searching for their own eggs.  SO SMART!

There they all go!

The orange one must not have been hers.

Obviously I'm the one who hid a few on the wheels of cars.  Christine was just throwing them on the grass, right in the open, I needed to make sure that the kids had to actually search for some!

I TOLD you there were a lot of kids!

Now it's time for presents!  Opening her very special birthday gift for Nani!  AKA my mom.

She needed a little help from Grampa Bob, who obviously had a pocket knife.  Nani has a habit of making these amazing bows, which are absolutely impossible to unwrap.  It's cool, it's what she's known for.  You can always pick out a Nani present!

And it was a heart pillow!  My mom had made one for Cassie when she was little and she still sleeps with it every night.  Abigail had asked for one for her birthday - and here it is!

God, isn't she so cute?!

Now it's time for a present from Mimi!!  Okay, guys that's me!  Hence the double exclamation points.

Hello Kitty coloring book - check!

Birthday tiara - check!

Pink harmonica - check!

Feather boa - check!

That obviously needed to get passed around...

The ever cute Abby standing on the chair and saying thank you to everyone.  Seriously, where does she get this stuff - she did it totally unprompted!  She's so adorable.

Once the presents were all opened, we went back to relaxing and enjoying the party.  It was the perfect time to french braid Cassie's hair.  She LOVES when I braid her hair.  Not as much as when I paint her nails, but it's a least a close second.

And we closed the evening with a birthday photo shoot.

Work it giiiirl!

62. April 22nd, 2011 Picture.

April 22nd, apparently, according to Starbucks, is National Free Coffee day.  How did this day not pop up on my Top 10 Days of the Year list?  I'm not really sure, aside from not knowing that the day even existed, but I am uber glad I found out about it!  I needed to decompress from my day at work, sit in a relaxing space and just read my book, so I brought my reusable cup over to Starbucks to have them fill it with yummy coffee goodness - decaf of course.  Hey - even I have my limits!

It was totally perfect, I love D.E.A.R time!  Yes, I am quoting 3rd grade Amy - Drop Everything And Read [while drinking free coffee] time!

62. April 21st, 2011 Picture.

Doesn't it always seem like I'm writing about birthdays, parties and presents?  I'm not complaining in the slightest,but I guess I never realized how many times I'm going to various birthday parties and buying kick ass birthday presents for people.  It's already been established, the presents I buy are pretty awesome.

Obviously this time was no exception, as I was buying the perfect gift(s) for my little pumpkin Abigail's FIFTH birthday.  Can you believe it?!  FIVE!  That's crazy.  I remember the day she was born, I was wearing my brown hooded fur lined sweater from The Gap - it was a really awesome sweater.  Abby was born in the afternoon and I saw her within an hour of her being born PLUS I took the first photo of her, so obviously she was made to be a glamazon.  She didn't cry at all when I held her but she started to scream when my mom did.  Already picking favorites, smart girl.

Anyway, enough strolls down memory lane, this time around I bought her a whole mix of pink things I thought she'd like, a boa, tiara, earrings, harmonica [because seriously, aren't harmonicas just awesome?], coloring books and lip glosses - you know, all things a birthday girl needs!

Tune in to see some adorable pictures of Abby rocking the boa on the 23rd!

62. April 20th, 2011 Picture.

Two posts in as many days that revolve around TV shows, I'm cool with it if you are!

Has anyone seen the show 'Extreme Couponing'?  I honestly laughed at the idea of it when I first heard about it, but I have to say, after catching a few episodes recently, I think it's the coolest thing ever.  Granted, the women who cut these coupons and spend 5 days a week shopping for hours on end are naht the coolest people ever, I just mean the general idea is fascinating.  


The people featured on the show spend hours upon hours clipping and organizing coupons, stashing them in binders, filed by item, complete with list and layouts of their favorite stores.  They plan their outings, mapping out routes and enlisting family members, friends and spouses to help push their carts and load up multiple cars to bring their items home.  I watched a man fill NINE carts worth of items, plus a palate of 1,000 boxes of cereal, totaling over $5,000 and he paid...wait for it, $250.  No seriously, he got ever single box of cereal 15 cents each.  EACH!  Isn't that just insanity?  He ended up donating all 1,000 boxes to his local church, which just make me think he was crazy and uber nice at the same time.  I saw another woman by a little over $1,000 worth of items, like 80 containers of mustard [to which her husband went 'I don't even like mustard!'] and she paid $2 for everything!  One family, in the 2 years they've been extreme couponing, have saved over 40 grand towards their kids college funds.  People have paid off debt, cars, homes, second homes, just by clipping coupons - isn't that nuts?  How can I do all that without actually having to DO anything?


Now, I'm not going to go rifling through the trash to get extra coupons, no way Jose, but I might just start actually looking at the coupons I do get in the mail.  Like, if things I like are buy 1 get 1 free, I should buy a couple right?  I don't have the space to become a coupon clipping, toilet paper hoarder, nor the energy really, but I do like saving money.

With that in mind, I got the circular in the mail today, so I thumbed through to see what deals there were out there.  I don't need anything, so I didn't make a list or map out my shopping trip, rather just made a mental note to keep coupons in mind when I need things.  All my shampoos, face washes, body washes and deodorants were buy 1 get 1 free, so next time I need to stock up, I should advantage of the free one, obviously.  I am far from becoming a crazy coupon cutting lady [and yes, some woman on the show dubbed herself that, on purpose], but I can appreciate a bargain, and really, this is just smart shopping, right?

62. April 19th, 2011 Picture.

So, it's quite obvious that my love for the show 'The Killing' was uber strong to start, I mean, I took a picture of it, but my love dwindled throughout the season, considering they spent SIX episodes chasing a phantom terrorist who, obviously, wasn't a terrorist and had seriously NOTHING to do with the entire plot of the show.  I kept hoping that each episode was going to the be one that turned the season around, but sadly the pace only picked up with 2 episodes left.  Did I mention that the season ended with absolutely nothing being resolved, solved, OR explained?!  

Sigh, it's obviously still hits a cord months later.  The wound is still fresh.  Did anyone else watch The Killing?  I became obsessed with it to start, the first few episodes were fascinating, but I feel that the middle of the season got cloudy and lost it's stride.  I hate that they left us hanging for season 2, but I guess that guarantees that I'll be tuning it when it comes back - I need to know what happened!  So does my mom!

62. April 18th, 2011 Picture.

Happy Marathon Monday!  I seriously love Patriots Day, I mean hi, it's in my Top 10 Days of the year!  Ratty and I woke up bright and early and headed to Eastern Standard around 9am to grab a seat in the bar and to have some brunch.  So to answer the question from the last 'Picture A Day' post, YES we did make it out of the house on time!

We ended up getting their a few mere seconds before the rush started, though the restaurant was pretty full already.  We got a seat right at the high top tables in the bar area, facing both TVs [a MUST for the 11am Red Sox game!].  Did you know that the Patriots Day game is the only MLB game that's allowed to start before noon?  I guess the whole point of it is to get everyone into Fenway before the race starts, which makes a lot of sense, since Boston is typically chaotic.  OR it's because they want the game getting out right at the peak of the marathon, which is totally plausible too.  When all the fans descend into Kenmore it is usually when all the runners are coming through, which means there are about 9 million people everywhere. 

Ratty and I enjoyed some brunch and a few Grey Lady's while watching the Sox game and marathon coverage.  When the lead female and male runners started approaching Kenmore, about 2 miles or so out, Ratty and I made our way outside to watch them run by.  They stagger the starts, with wheelchairs going first, then women elite, followed by men elite and lastly everyone else.

It's almost eerie to see Comm Ave empty, there are typically hundreds of cars going in every direction.

1 mile to go!

Excellent IS made in Boston!  Does anyone else think that it should have read 'excellence'?  No, just me?  Okay, cool.

Eeeee here come the women!

Seriously these ladies were FLYING!  I cannot believe how fast they were running 25 MILES into the race!  They'd been keeping a blazing place through the whole thing, I cannot even fathom how people can run that fast.  Wait, I can hardly fathom why people run AT ALL, let alone that fast!

There they go, up Comm Ave and towards Copley to the finish line!

Here come the men, setting a ridiculous pace and passing us just shy of the 2 hour mark.  I think the world record is a 2 hour 4 minute marathon and this year the Boston Marathon winner beat it!  It doesn't officially count as a World Record though because the course of our marathon goes slightly downhill.  Basically the race needs to start and stop at the same level, otherwise it doesn't count.  Somehow they think that because the finish line is 2 inches lower than the start of the race the runners somehow have an advantage.  I highly doubt that!

The two mens' leaders.

Bye guys - good luck!

As soon as the runners past, we scooted back inside to watch them duke it out for first place.  The last leg of the marathon weaves in and out of the streets in the Back Bay, so it's always a fight to the finish, where people pass each other, fall behind and then surge ahead again.  It always makes for a pretty exciting ending!

We spent the whole afternoon hanging out at Eastern Standard and met up with Ratty's childhood friend Sully and his brother, who had been at the Sox game.  We had a great time - Happy Marathon Monday!

24. Brunch at Gargoyles

So, I learned today that this restaurant is closing after being in business for 15 years, which lit a fire in me to get these brunch blogs posted!  The head chef of Gargoyles is/was Jason Santos, who was the runner up on the TV show 'Hell's Kitchen'.  He actually just recently left Gargoyles to open Blue Inc., which is named after his infamous blue hair.  I guess Gargoyles had been planning on closing for a while, but the publicity from the show made them hold out for a little while longer.  Once Santos left, they decided it was time, apparently.


Ratty and I headed to Disco Brunch at Gargoyles on the Square in Davis to check off a new brunch place off my list but more importantly to sample their Red Velvet Pancakes.  I guess typically they serve gingerbread pancakes in the fall, but decided to switch it up for a two week stint that was featured in Daily Candy and various other Boston emails.  We got to the restaurant with about an hour left in their brunch and made a bee line for their coffee station.  We were [thankfully] seated in the front portion of the restaurant, somewhat cut off from the glowing disco ball and thumping music.  While I love a good theme, I was coffee starved and not up for a pulse pounding brunch.  The coffee station was covered with a glittery table cloth, feather boas and various other twinkly things that screamed 70s.

Ratty ordered the most ridiculous thing ever, which looked like a heart attack on a plate but tasted so so good.  It was a cast iron skillet full of eggs, waffle potatoes, cheese, bacon, more cheese, and lots of other things that are cardiac arrest inducing.  The moment is showed up to our table all the other guests around us started pointing and staring, even causing another diner to pull the waitress aside, ask what it was and request that he have that instead of his original order.  It was seriously a show stopper.

Now, onto the Red Velvet Pancakes.  They were super chocolatey, almost too chocolatey, covered in a cream cheese/sugar drizzle with chopped pecans.  I thought that they were good, but definitely WAY too sweet.  I personally liked just the pancake with the nuts and could have gone without the super sweet glaze all over them.  I kept having to steal a few waffle fries from Ratty's plate to try and break up the sweetness.  All in all, I am really glad I tried them, and I think that I'd really like to try and make them for myself.  I like playing around with ingredients and would like to try and figure out a way to make them yummy without sending people into diabetic shock.

Oh yea, and a side of bacon.  Always a side of bacon!

62. April 17th, 2011 Picture.

Patriots Day weekend always ends up being one of those crazy long weekends where there is LOTS of fun stuff going on.  I am totally not complaining, just sharing.  This year it was no exception, on Sunday afternoon Ratty and I headed to the Red Sox game!


One of my coworkers has partial season tickets, which means he gets to go to over 20 or so games a season [I was totally jealous until I realized how much money he must spend on food and beer, so no thank you!].  Inevitably there are dates that he can't make it, in which he offers the tickets up to friends and coworkers, which is a pretty awesome perk for me.  I took him up on the offer for 2 tickets on Sunday afternoon, and it turned out to be the PERFECT day for a game!

His seats are pretty great, right up from the bullpen in the bleachers.  He prepped me before the game, letting me know about all the other crazy characters that sit around him, like the guy who sits to close, or the group of people who all wear matching shirts.  Apparently there is a huge pocket of season ticket holders in this area and they've all being going to games for years.  Must be nice!

Birthday twinnnnn!

Obviously we needed to get multiple Fenway Franks, beers AND popcorn.  If I had my way there would have been peanuts, ice cream AND probably nachos involved too.  Or french fries.  Mmmm french fries.  ANYWHO, it's impossible not to stock up on Fenway essentials when you're at a game, no matter how expensive it might be.  And let me tell you, it's reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllll expensive.

Since the Red Sox are absolutely awesome, they won the game!  I love these jumbo screens [FYI they're brand new this season], and I love the new RED SOX WIN logo that was displayed through the stadium at the moment the game was over.  

We headed over to the baseball tavern for some drinks on their roof deck, hey you gotta soak up the nice weather while you got it!  We called it a night on the early side, the marathon was the next day and we had to get up BRIGHT AND EARLY and claim our spot along the route.  Wait, let me clarify, I mean a spot at a BAR on the route.  The plan was to be seated at Eastern Standard for brunch by 9am - let's see if we make it!

62. April 16th, 2011 Picture.

Saturday night Ratty and I headed to Kev & Bianca's house for a little dinner party for Kev's birthday.  Chad and Christine came down from New Hampshire, sans baby Emily, Billie and Brad and Jill and Pete came too.  We were ready for a night filled with lots of food and drink, since Kev is a beer AND food connoisseur.  No seriously, he knows everything to know about beers and even bought a whole sampling of craft beers for us to do our own taste test.  It started off with everyone ranking them and tallying up the totals, but  then it just turned into everyone drinking and discussing whether they liked it or not.  Then it turned into everyone just drinking.

Kevin and Bianca put on a huge spread, with multiple lasagnas [the alfredo one being my absolute favorite], along with appetizers, drinks, champagne cocktails [supplied by yours truly] and the most amazing coconut milk soup I've ever had.  It was seriously to die for.  It was coconut milk, peppers, peas, carrots cooked together, among other things I'm sure, with white rice on the side, allowing you to add as much or as little as you wanted.  I am seriously salivating just thinking about it.  Must.make.soon.  I made it a point to ask Kevin where he got the recipe and he told me just made it up - just like a true foodie should.  Thankfully, he did eventually share what he thought he put in it, which I immediately wrote down and saved.  If I make it soon, expect it on the blog!

Since Kevin is a wiz in the kitchen [and somehow I just sounded like my mom right there] AND obsessed with Top Chef, I mean who isn't?!  Bianca got Kev his own personal Top Chef chef's coat.  Seriously, this thing was sweet!

Photo Shoot!  A la Anthony Bourdain.

Chad, Christine, Billie and Brad were all sleeping over, meaning that the partying went until the wee hours of the morning.  We got hooked into a hard core game of Taboo, guys vs. girls, where I got accused of being a ringer because I was good at giving clues and guessing answers.  My word was 'earthquake' and I said 'Japan had one of these', and you'd seriously think that I made a Hail Mary pass to win the Super Bowl.  The guys were screaming 'WHAT!  THAT'S WAY TOO EASY, COME ON YOU GIRLS ARE CHEATING!'  I'm not even totally sure how one would even begin to cheat at Taboo, but I am pretty sure they were joking.  And if they weren't it was just some friendly beer fueled competitive chatter.

Ratty and I called it a night around 2am when everyone was blowing up their air mattresses.  I was really jealous that they could just lay right down and go to sleep, until I found out that little Miss Elliott woke up at 5am that morning which subsequently woke everyone else up.  Ah, I guess it pays to live close by!