62. August 7th, 2010 Picture.

August 7th was a crazy busy day.  My brother Eddie was having a BBQ that afternoon, starting at 4pm, but I had my friend Rachel's 30 Birthday Celebration down the cape too.  Ratty and I stopped off at Eddie's house early in the afternoon to get in some family time before continuing on to the cape for Rachel's carnival themed birthday.

Abby and Cassie were so cute, per usual, and it was so nice to see them!  My mom had come down on the early side too, so it was almost a party before the party.  I was so bummed that I couldn't stay, some of my cousins who were in town visiting were stopping by, and frankly I didn't feel like I'd gotten adequate time with them at Timmy's party.  I complained to Eddie about the 4pm start time, but realized it made perfect sense because he was having his chimney rebuilt that afternoon so random bricks came crashing into the yard sporadically.  That's why we pretty much stayed inside.

{Here is Abigail, wearing Cassie's first communion veil, pretending to get married.  We even sang 'Here Comes the Bride'.  How cute is she?!}

{Planning their dance routine.  They like to perform for us.}

{I was trying to get Abs to take a picture with me, but she was too engrossed in her Game Boy to even look at the camera.}

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Ratty and I had to leave around 2:30pm to head off to the cape for yet another party.  We said our goodbyes and hopped in the car, fingers crossed there was no traffic.  Once on the road we made pretty good time, but hit some congestion at the bridge, no surprise there.  We made it to the party around 4:30pm and were ready to have a good time!

{A welcome cheers!}

{Just some causal bouncing.  About half way through Mark thought it would be funny to turn off the air, so the whole moon bounce started to collapse around us.  He started it back up quickly but by then I had already fallen into the netting on the side and couldn't get out.  When Erin and Lana joined me on the side, we panicked, thinking the entire thing would tip.  Why are we so rational?!}

{I kept the video going the entire time.  I haven't watched it yet, but I am almost certain it will make me nauseous.}

{I was trying to get out of the bounce house, completely winded, and here is Ratty attempting to assist me.  He thought the best way to help me out was to pick up my arms, so I couldn't brace my fall.  Needless to say, it was awkward.}

{Another cheers!}

{A lemon poppy seed cake, with lemon curd and real frosting, made by Jamie.  It was amazing!  Also, the group of us thought that we needed to distract Rachel while the cake was coming out, so we peppered her with questions about her favorite flowers, watermelon gerber daisies, and asked where we could find them.  Obviously Rachel was extremely confused because she knew Jamie was getting the cake ready, so she just answered our questions slowly, as if there was something wrong with us.  We were under the impression that the party would have been completely ruined had Rachel turned around, so we took our responsibilities very seriously.  We consider this mission a success.}

{It's a nice shot, but I have no idea why it's so far away!}

{Mmm popcorn!  Rachel's boyfriend Cullum went all out with the carnival theme!}

{Some yummy fried dough.  Handmade by Cullum.  I stole this picture from Jamie.}

{AND cotton candy!}

{Mark, just being Mark.}

The party went well into the night, complete with a fire pit.  Everyone had brought tents or air mattresses and set up camp around the yard and inside the house.  Ratty and I claimed a guest bedroom that was completely empty and set up our 'camp' there.  Once the fire got going, Rachel brought out more food and glow necklaces for everyone.  She and Cullum were truly amazing hosts and we had so much fun, and were SO well fed!  I think we finally called it quits around 1am, and were some of the last few standing.  My friends had all set up tents on the side of the house, but kept getting woken up from a sensor light on the roof.  I was SO happy that we had a spot inside, otherwise I probably would have attempted to sleep in my car, like Dave.  That would have been awkward since it's a 2-door civic.

Another amazing and successful birthday party!

62. August 6th, 2010 Picture.

After work I headed to my moms house to hang out and eat some of her food, some things never ever change.  She wasn't home, but being completely self sufficient, minus my lack of food shopping skills, I started to look through the fridge for some dinner ideas.  I decided that I would make bacon and eggs.  How good does that sound?!  I love breakfast for dinner.  I grabbed the bacon and checked the date, but it said it expired in May, to which I immediately freaked out.  Turns out, my mom had just taken it out of the freezer, so it was totally fine, bummer.  I decided that I'd just make some scrambled eggs anyway, and went to take the cheese out of the bin.  I grabbed the bag at the top, by the little zipper part, and gave it a shake so I could see the expiration date.  I am big on dates.  Well, turns out that my mom had cut the bottom of the bag to open it, and I shook cheese ALL OVER the fridge.  It was ridiculous.  I had to empty the bin and pull the whole thing out so I could clean it.  Cheese was on the floor, in the door, everywhere.  Apparently, making dinner was naht going to be easy for me.

Once I cleaned up the mess I made, I got the eggs out without incident and started to scramble them.  I took what was left of the cheese and set up my little cooking station on the stove.  I seasoned my eggs with a little salt and attempted to add just a pinch of pepper.  Notice how I say attempted.  The second I picked up the shaker, pepper started POURING from the bottom.  I left a trail across the stove burners and a giagantic pile of it IN MY EGGS.  It took a few seconds to realize what was happened but before I could put my hand underneath the shaker, there was pepper everywhere.  I quickly rushed over to the sink and put the shaker on the counter.  What the hell just happened?!  I went to the stove to survey the damage, and of course, to take pictures.  I couldn't help but laugh at my cursed dinner attempt.  First the bacon, then the cheese, then the pepper.  I noticed that the stopper from the bottom the shaker was stuck to the counter, so it stayed put while I picked up the pepper.   I literally could not believe it.  I did my best to scoop the pepper out of my eggs, but there was so much.  I did manage to get enough out, and even added another egg to try and balance things out.  I decided to cook the eggs anyway, mainly because there were no eggs left and I was so irritated at this point I was determined to have eggs, no matter how spicy they were.  I cooked them up quickly, coughing up a storm because the pepper was tickling my throat, and ate them without issue.  They were actually pretty good.

When my mom got home I explained my issues to her and showed the pictures of the pepper damage.  She thought it was the funniest thing on the planet and burst into a fit of laughter that lasted 5 minutes.  It really was funny, I have to say that!

{The stopper stuck to the counter.}

{I was not joking when I said pepper went EVERYWHERE.  Those, are my eggs.  Seriously.}

{Last time I use that shaker!}

62. August 5th, 2010 Picture.

August 5th was a Thursday and I just so happened to be off that Friday.  I had been at my mom's house for dinner with my sister Kate, when Ronny and Sybil stopped by to say hi.  They were headed out to dinner at Chez Henri, a really nice restaurant in Cambridge, and extended the invite for me to join them for drinks and dessert after.  Cameron and Chloe were staying at their grandfathers house, so it was Ronny and Sybil's big night out.  I asked Sybil to text me when they were done with dinner and depending on the time I'd probably go out and join them.

Fast forward to 9:30pm and I headed to Harvard Square to meet them for a drink at Om, an Asian fusion restaurant/bar.  We had a drink there, before splitting a grilled banana split.  It just so happened to be one of the hottest and muggiest nights ever, and the bar apparently was trying to conserve energy because the air wasn't on, just open windows.  We decided to leave before the DJ started playing because it was only a matter of time before the entire bar turned into a sweat box.  We wanted to grab another drink and debated among the different places nearby, even walking over to Russell House Tavern, before deciding on the outdoor bar at Legal's at the Charles Hotel.  I think this is the 3rd time this particular spot has popped up on my blog,  but it really is that nice.  

We got seats right at the bar and ordered a round.  Here is where the epic debate began.  Ronny ordered a beer, and once the foam disappeared the beer wasn't completely full.  We launched into a heated conversation about when it was okay to ask the bartender to fill it up more.  Ronny thought it was perfectly acceptable to ask the bartender to top it off, but I said if he did that I'd have to go inside and die of pure mortification.  This series of photos documents where the level of beer would need to be for me to complain and also shows you just how full Ronny's beer was.

{Here is the beer in question.  I don't think it is dramatically empty.}

{Here is the level to which I would complain.  Ronny had obviously taste tested the beer before this photo.}

{And here is Ronny calling me crazy.}

{And calling me crazy, again.}

Ronny didn't say anything.  I don't know why I was so against it, I just thought it was such a small thing that it really shouldn't require a complaint.  It's not as if his iced coffee was dramatically empty, or his dinner was completely wrong. I could just picture Ronny asking for them to re-fill it, and then if we ordered another round, mine would get spat in.  This is how my mind works.  Completely rational.

62. August 4th, 2010 Picture.

Because of my financial plight i.e. passing out checks like I'm Puff Daddy, or P. Diddy, or Diddy or whatever name he is going by these days, my mom bought me a few new shirts at Old Navy.  Love her, isn't she the bestest?!  We had both seen my sister in law Christine wearing an adorable shirt, so we canvased the store to see if we could find it.  Of course we did and it was all mine to take home.  It's dark grey with these beaded appliqué circles on the lapel area.  I tried to do a little close up artsy shot of the beads, but because my camera is less than awesome, it didn't come out great.  You still get the idea though.

62. August 3rd, 2010 Picture.

So it took trying to buy this coffee, in the Borders Book Store 'Seattles Best' counter, to realize that my bank account was overdrawn.  Yep folks, that's right, while attempting to buy myself a little slice of latte heaven, my debit card was declined.  I made up a quick story about my card being lost and the bank must have frozen my account, and pulled out my credit card to pay for my $3 drink.  Lie, $4.50, gah busted.  I went flying out of the store to meet my mom, who was sitting on a bench waiting for me, and I immediately called my bank.


I was super confused, I had JUST mailed my rent check that morning (my roommates had mailed their checks without mine, or so I thought...) so I knew that I couldn't be overdrawn.  I had plenty of money in my account, I had no idea what was going on.  I was panicking that my account had been hacked, which happened a few months ago and a few hundred dollars of bogus charges were racked up against my checking account.  It took a few weeks to get it all settled, but it was definitely more of a hassle than anything else.  Paper work, police reports, trips to the bank, just annoying.  I finally got a hold of a live person, and had him walk me through my recent transactions.  Hm, that is weird, a rent check had cleared a few days before.  Did my landlord FORGET to cash my July rent and just deposited the check?  2 days before I sent him another one?!  Oh no, if that's the case then I blew a lot more money on Nantucket than I though, and by a lot I mean my entire rent, and I didn't even notice.  This...could be bad.


Panic and heat engulfed my body and suddenly I was sweating and my heart was racing.  Holding a hot cup of coffee was definitely naht helping.  Having my mother ask questions in one ear while I try to listen to the banker also had a negative effect on my wellbeing.  After walking through all my questions, I finally realized that I HAD mailed my rent check for August.  I must have written it before going to New Hampshire and completely forgotten!  So, when I kinda bitched out my roommate for mailing the rent checks without mine, while she swore up and down that she thought mine was in the envelope, she was right.  I sent my landlord TWO checks for the month of August.  Whoops!  


I called my landlord to let him know that I 'accidentally' sent him two rent checks, but I started to get nervous when I left a message and he never called me back.  I had one of my old landlords cash 2 checks in a row, even though one was dated for the next MONTH, and he overdrew my account by $1,500.  He was an idiot.  I definitely didn't want that to happen again, so I called the bank to stop payment on the check.  My landlord owns lots of other properties, so I was concerned that his assistant or wife would open the letter, not realizing it was my second August rent check, and just deposit it without a second thought.  Aren't bills a bitch?  Thank goodness for coffee though, otherwise my account would have sat negative for god knows how long!  What happened to those text alerts I signed up for?  So much for alerting me about my negative account balance, way to go.

Upadte: As of August 26th, my landlords wife could not find my August rent money.  The check cleared on August 2nd, but she doesn't know where the money went.  She asked if I could call my bank and see where it was cashed and who signed it, but there was no bank stamp on the back of my check.  It was signed by my landlord and they are mailing me a copy to give to the wife.  Gah, I know they cashed it, it wasn't stolen or anything, they are just rolling around in so much money from so many properties they can't keep track of the money.  I could only DREAM of having that problem.  This checking issue just won't go away!  And now it's time to send another check!  That shouldn't be confusing.

62. August 2nd, 2010 Picture.

We woke up on Monday morning and spent some time hanging out with Joe.  Like I said it yesterday's post, Joe was a fantastic host.  We were sitting around the living room, watching Shark Week, and he offered to run to Dunkin Donuts and get us all coffee.  I tried not to squeal in delight and then attempted to make my coffee order less high maintenance than normal.  Medium French Vanilla Iced with Milk and Sugar.  Kinda easy right?  MUCH better than my typical Medium French Vanilla with a Turbo Shot, Extra Skim Milk and 2 Splendas.   I think he probably would have reneged on the offer immediately if I tried to explain that one.  After grabbing us coffee he toasted up some homemade zucchini bread from zucchini's he grew in his garden.  I'm serious.  The guy who has guns on display over the cabinets in his kitchen was like a mini Martha Stewart. 

{The view from Joe's boat slip.}

{The teeny weeny bridge we were about to go under.}

{We cleared it!  Barely!}

{Rough Monday morning commute, huh?}

We gathered up our things and Joe drove his boat back to the marina where I'd parked my car.  Joe's house was down a small channel, so we had to go under the smallest bridge ever to get through to the main part of the lake.  The bridge is so narrow that only certain boats and fit, and we had to literally lay down on the seats in order not to be decapitated.  The lake looked so pretty during the day, and I made a point to ask 1 million questions about the towns.  I wanted to know if a lot of people lived up there year round, or if it was more of a summering kind of location.  He said that most houses were seasonal and he had one lone year round neighbor at his house.  Hm, something tells me that I would love the idea of that, but when it actually came down to living alone with no real neighbors, I would scare myself silly.


Since our drive up to New Hampshire, Ratty had been talking about Five Guys burgers and how we had to stop on our way home.  I'd heard a lot of good things about them, like that they are better than In and Out, so I was excited to try.  The ride to the place however, was a long one.  By the time we pulled into the parking lot I literally thought the hunger was going to overtake my body and my stomach was somehow going to eat itself. Yes, that hungry.  They are famous for having peanuts in big bins as you walk in, and you fill a little cardboard  box with some to snack on while you wait for food.  I obviously grabbed a bunch and walked to the register to order.  I got a Dr. Pepper, bacon cheeseburger with BBQ sauce and Ratty and I split fries.  Ratty got a double cheeseburger, but opted not to get chili on it, like he originally intended, which was the best move for the both of us, since I was in no mood to perform CPR.

{Five Guys is like, really really good.  Although I am glad there isn't one in Boston, I'd definitely eat it way too much.}

The restaurant was absolutely freezing, which probably makes sense because people are shoveling food in their face so fast they work up a sweat.  The burger was really awesome, along with the fries but the absolute best part about Five Guys, in my opinion, was the free refills on soda.  I love Dr. Pepper, but rarely drink it, so I was so happy I didn't have to ration my sips during my burger, I could drink as much as I wanted and still go back for more!  FYI I only refilled once, too much soda, sugar, calories and caffeine make me feel gross.  To walk off our full stomaches, we decided to go to the Mall of New Hampshire and see what kind of financial trouble we could get in.

Obviously, we spent an exorbitant amount of time in Yankee Candle so I could huff Storm Watch candles.  Ratty was mildly concerned and literally asked the employee if there was a Storm Watchers Anonymous meeting I could go to.  She laughed but admitted that she too was obsessed with Storm Watch and would buy cases and cases of it when she could.  SEE!  I am NOT a freak!  Obviously I needed to document the historic occasion of Storm Watch being back in the Yankee Candle regular line up.  I may or may not have written them a thank you note on their Facebook fan page.  A lot of people 'liked' it.

{A simply amazing sight.  I may or may not have a problem.}

62. August 1st, 2010 Picture.

The day after Timmy and Becky's party, Ratty and I attempted to get an early start to New Hampshire.  Ratty's aunt and uncle own a house on Rattlesnake Island on Lake Winnipesaukee and were hosting their annual lobster bake that afternoon.  Ratty and I had both taken Monday off so we could spend the night up in NH and just enjoy the party.  Obviously because of the awesome time the night before, we were slow moving that morning and didn't get on the road until noon.  The party started at 1pm, but according to the directions it was about an hour and a half away, so we'd be there soon after the party started.

Question, do you know how far away Rattlesnake Island is?  Well, the answer is REALLY FAR.  I kept driving and driving, asking Ratty how much longer, but no matter how far I drove, we never really got any closer to our destination.  It finally got close to 2pm, and having been under the impression that we should most definitely have been there already, I ask Ratty what the hold up was.  This is when he decided to inform me that the directions he had actually were from KEENE, NH to the house.  So literally this place was about 2.5 to 3 hours away from Boston.  Say what?!  I had at least another 45 minutes to go and my legs were cramping.  And I was hungry.  And I just really really really wanted to get there.  This party better be worth it!

We finally arrived at the marina where we were instructed to park and called over to the house to have someone pick us up.  Since Rattlesnake Island is indeed an island, we needed a boat ride.  Ratty's mom was thrilled to hear we arrived in one piece especially after a few frantic text messages from her on the ride up to make sure we were still alive and didn't try to swim directly to the house.  It took a while for someone to boat over and get us, I assume Joe was busy enjoying the party, but we eventually made it, to the delightful chants of the family telling us the party was over and we should go home.

While making my rounds, saying hellos and introducing myself, I see my friend Jeff, who grew up literally across the street from me in Cambridge.  The two of us were like, um hi, what are you doing here, while Jeff's wife kept repeating 'he always knows someone!'  Turns out, Jeff's wife's family owned the house next door, so she had been friends with Ratty's aunt and uncle for quite some time.  SUCH a small world!

Once we said our hellos we sat down and prepared to stuff our faces with food.  There were steak tips and lobsters and steamers and all the sides you could imagine.  I absolutely devoured the steak tips and sucked that lobster clean.  Legit.  I even sucked the meat out of the legs and those little flippers on the tail.  Waste nothing!  Poor Ratty ate so much mac and cheese, against his mothers advice, that he couldn't eat his lobster.  Should have listened to Michelle!  They were so yummy!

The whole afternoon was filled with wine, food and good company.  The house was right on the water, unfortunately I didn't take a picture, so we spent a good amount of time down on the dock enjoying the view.  I got to see pictures of what the house had originally looked like when the family bought it in the early 80s and it was barely recognizable.  They had completely transformed it into a beautiful vacation cottage, filled with wide plank pine floors and ceilings.  Since the house wass on an island, absolutely everything had to be brought over each and every time they visited.  There were no cars, no roads, nothing, just boats.  Ratty's aunt told me that in the winter they just drive their car across the lake and park it on the shore.  The whole idea of a lake freezing to 26" thick completely baffles me.  Regardless of how safe people would claim over and over, I don't think I'd be able to drive in a car across a lake.  I am terrified of bridges and roll my windows down every time I drive over one, just incase it collapses and I need to swim to safety.  No really, this thought keeps me up at night.  

Ratty and I made plans to stay at his cousin Joe's house, which was one town over right on the water as well.  Joe had picked us up in his boat earlier that day, so when the time came to head home, we just piled in the boat, beers in hand and parked in the slip behind his house.  How cool is that?  I could definitely get used to that kind of commute!

Unfortunately not everyone had taken the next day off, so Ratty's mom and aunt had to head out around 9pm and make their way home.  Since Ratty's mom lives right over the NH border in MA, it wasn't as long of a drive for her, but it was still a ways to go on a Sunday night.  The rest of us stayed for a while longer, talking and drinking and soaking up the nice cool air.  Joe's girlfriend also lived in MA and had to work the next morning, so her plan was to get up at 4:30am and drive home.  That, my friends, is determination.  I would have 1,000% called in sick.  4:30am?!  To go to work?!  Maybe to get a on plane to go on vacation or something, but DEFINITELY not to go to work!  We headed out around 10:30pm and made our way back to Joe's house, via boat.

Joe was pretty much the greatest host ever and grilled up a bunch of burgers for us once he got back to his place.  We sat outside on his porch and stuffed ourselves with cheeseburgers and chips.  I loved that his porch had 2 ceiling fans on it.  I felt like it was something that only existed on stately plantation homes down South.  You know, and New Hampshire.  We finally rolled into bed around 1:30am, and I felt so horrible for Joe's girlfriend, Melissa I think, who had to get up in 3 hours.  I kept saying over and over, she is probably going to wake up drunk and not be able to drive home.  Seriously at that point, is it even worth going to sleep?  Better yet, worth going to work?  The answer is always no.

62. July 31st, 2010 Picture.

I have to say, this weekend of blog posts is making me procrastinate.  I did a lot and I am just somewhat overwhelmed at writing the posts.  Right now, I've written about 10 or so blogs for later dates, but up until now just couldn't buckle down and write these.  Does that ever happen to people?  You're able to complete all these other littler tasks, but put off the big one?  That's what I was doing and I decided that I needed to bite the bullet and just write.  Right?

July 31st was a Saturday and it was the night of my cousin Tim's wedding reception.  He and his new wife Becky had gotten married in a small ceremony the weekend before, but then rented out a bar and threw a big party for their families.  It is understandable since I have about 35 cousins, most of whom are married, so when we are all together, we are all real excitable and take up lots of space.

They had rented out the downstairs of Johnnies on the Side, or West Side Johnnies, whatever it's going by these days, and they had a DJ and food.  The party went from 8-11pm, and then the downstairs would open to other people at the bar, but our partying could continue, which it obviously did.  Since Ratty lives about 30 seconds away from Johnnies I went over to his apartment to get ready.  We had been at Bianca's baby shower earlier that day so I definitely needed to regroup and freshen up.  Sidebar: Bianca is Ratty's friend Kevin's wife, so while I ohhh'd and ahhh's over cute little baby clothes Ratty and his friends were drinking at a bar down the street.  Apparently that's their version of a baby shower.  Wings and beer.

Back to the wedding recap!  Ratty and I had a few glasses of wine on his roof before making our way over to Johnnie's to party it up with my family.  I was pretty excited since a lot of my family who live out of state would be in town for the reception.  Most come home for a nice summer vacation sometime in July or August, so it was pretty perfect timing.  We got there right at 8pm but the room was already filling up.  My mom was there, complete with a glass of red wine in her hand.  Ratty and I grabbed a few drinks and made the rounds to say hi to everyone.  Timmy and Becky were so excited that we were all there and couldn't wait to dance.  The DJ was setting up and the drinks were flowing, so it was really only a matter of time before we took over the dance floor.

It seemed like we all blinked and suddenly it was 11pm, and a few people we didn't know started creeping into the room.  I had taken a total of ZERO pictures at that point, which was obviously unacceptable.  Once the music got loud and people filtered downstairs the Aunts and Uncles decided to call it a night.  I was bummed that my mom was leaving, but totally understood that she had to drive, and it was getting late.  I said some goodbyes, then me and my cousins headed upstairs where there was a cover band playing country music.  The bar was absolutely packed, but we grabbed an area of leather couches and chairs that became our home base for the night.  My sister Kate, who always works weekends but took this particular one off, demanded that we do a shot together.  Our mom had given us a speech before the party that she didn't want to see us doing any shots because then we would get out of control.  Who us?!  My sister is infamous for bringing a bottle of Patron to our Christmas Party a few years ago and getting everyone hammered, so yea, I guess there was reason for concern. But, you do know what happens when you tell someone not to do something, right?  It just makes them want to do it ever MORE!  I probably could have gone all night without even THINKING about a shot, but because mom told me not to do one, I needed one immediately.  Kate and I grabbed one, hopped into an oversized leather chair and toasted to mom.  She'd be proud!

The music was great and we eventually made our way to the dance floor.  My cousin Alison, who has 3 little adorable kids and doesn't make it out with us often, was dancing with me and was begging the band to play Journey.  Isn't it CRAZY that we are related?!  My family has told us over and over again that Alison and I are exactly alike.  We talk the same, laugh the same, joke the same and obviously have the same great taste in music.  My mom loves that Alison and I are so much alike, because Alison is the only daughter of my mom's only sister.  She gets choked up thinking that the daughters of sisters could be so similar, she loves it.

{Here's me and Alison.  I am sure that as soon as this picture was snapped she went back to the band and demanded even MORE Journey.  Love that.}

{Eddie didn't stay too long, but obviously Kate still had time to give him a little brother sister love.}

{To mom!}

{I started sliding off the chair mid-toast.}

{The Downey Clan!}

{Carolyn and Neil.}

{Me and Ratty.}

{Dave.  The crazy one, living up to his name.}

{Harry and Ratty getting nice and close.}

{Me and Kate.}

There were lots of other cousins running around the bar.  While a good group of us made it upstairs for the band, most of my guy cousins stayed downstairs with the DJ to hang out.  We'd check in on each other every now and then, but like most parties end up, we were all over the place!  It was an absolutely fabulous time and we all had a blast.  We genuinely love spending time together, it doesn't happen nearly enough!  Next wedding, my cousin Kara's on October 9th.  We are all staying on the Cape for Columbus Day weekend, so that should be straight up INSANE!  I cannot wait for that one!  Hope Dave plans on flying home again...

62. July 30th, 2010 Picture.

My cousin Dave had flown home from California for a week or so for our cousin Timmy's wedding reception that was taking place on Saturday the 31st.  Dave is known as the crazy cousin (I mean, with my family how do we choose just one?  We can't really, we're all crazy) and always makes a point to get together with the rest of us for a few drinks each time he is home.  Few drinks, lots of drinks, semantics really.  Dave had texted me that afternoon asking what I was up to and unfortunately had to inform him that I was at work.  Why is work always hindering the rest of my life from being mindblowingly awesome?  I need to hit the lottery stat so I can just live my life, work and stress free.  Anyway, I made plans to meet up with him and his girlfriend Savannah as soon as I could, and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the clock.

When it finally hit a socially acceptable time for me to leave work I hopped in my car and headed downtown.  Dave was there with his girlfriend and a couple of his 'home friends' and we got caught up over beers.  We didn't want to stay out too late, or have one too many beers that Friday, because we were all excited for Timmy's party the next night.  I'd only been talking about it for months and Dave flew home from California for it, so yea, we were excited.  Our cousin Richard stopped by quickly and legit pounded a beer, then was back on his bike to ride home to Melrose.  Unfortunately I missed taking a picture of him in his spandex gear, so the blackmail will have to wait for another occasion.

Technically this Friday was the very last day of Ratty's medication, but as you can see he hopped off the wagon a little early.  He wasn't on antibiotics, just lots of Ibuprofen, so worse case scenario he would sleep like a baby and wake up feeling great.  Sounds awful, huh?  I had told him earlier in the day that I was meeting up with Dave after work, and it was like pulling teeth to get him to agree to come out.  It was his last night on meds and he just wanted to relax and take it easy, says him.  Lame.  Fast forward to about 6pm and Ratty came bursting through the door and was all like, forget medication, I just really really want a beer right now.  Friday afternoons can do that to the best of us.

62. July 29th, 2010 Picture.

July 29th was a warm, sunny Thursday, and I was headed to the beautiful town of Malden, or is it Medford, right on the Somerville line?  Oh I don't know what town it technically falls in, but I ventured to the Margarita's at Station Landing for my friend Amy's birthday party.  Okay, Ratty believes its Medford but I really thought it was Malden.  Whatever.  Anyway, Amy had reserved a small room in the back of the restaurant for all of her closest friends to drink sangria and margaritas and hang out.  Ratty was still on meds from his bout with the bubonic plague, so I was left to sip my red wine sangria alone.  With 20 of 'other' Amy D's friends.

About an hour in I was starved and was about to eat my hand, so Ratty and I ordered some food for dinner.  It was pretty decent Mexican, I had tacos while Ratty ordered what I think was a heart attack sample platter with extra cheese and a side of refried beans.  Legit.  The party started winding down and Ratty and I went to settle up the check.  When the waitress brought our receipts to be signed, she also brought out some fortune cookies.  Hm, is there some sort of cultural overlap that I am somehow missing?  Like, when did Mexico start offering a side of fortune cookies with their rice?  Long story short, I was confused, but you can only imagine how much MORE confused I was when I looked at my cookie package.

So, I got 3 cookies total, and two were in the same package.  So weird, right?  

DISCLAIMER:  I know I am about a month behind on this blogging thing, and I promise to catch up, just a few more rainy days and I'll be back on track.  I mean, who doesn't want summer to last forever, and at least this way, we can relive the few weeks of summer while fall is setting in.  Sounds kinda perfect if you ask me.  Tangent aside, it's been so long that I had no idea what this picture actually was.  It looks like a Mexican restaurant, but there are mutant fortune cookies.  Where the heck was I?! I have a running list of all my pictures matched up with the dates, so that I don't get confused, but for some reason didn't have anything listed for the 29th.  I had to literally go through my debit card transactions to figure out exactly where I was that night.  And who says I'm not dedicated?

62. July 28th, 2010 Picture.

My friend Bianca is pregnant with a little girl and I put this together for her shower.  I picked out a sweet little fleece polka dot sleeper and filled the basket with diapers, wipes, baby lotion and other little necessities.  I liked the whole polka dot theme and bought this little basket to pack the gift in.  I like to wrap presents in boxes like this one because it can be useful even after the gift is open.  I always end up spending a ton of money on gift bags and tissue paper, but its somewhat of a waste.  I thought this little polka dot box would look cute in a babies room and could be used to hold diapers, clothes, bottles, whatever.  Let me tell you, it was a BIG hit.

62. July 27th, 2010 Picture.

As I was driving down Summer Street on my way downtown, I pulled up next to this van at a stoplight.  I know the spelling is a little different, but who cares?  Deveau isn't a common name at all, so I get excited when I see it!

62. July 26th, 2010 Picture.

If you are like me (up until last month) and haven't seen the Godfather, you may be confused about my post from yesterday and the oranges reference.  Let me break it down for you, every time you see an orange in the movie, you know something bad is going to happen.  I feel like there were varying degrees of oranges and danger in the first movie which could be broken down like this, 1) you see an orange, on a table or in a store, something bad is going to happen, run as fast as you can.  2) Someone is holding an orange, people will die.  3) wait you're buying oranges?!  You are going to get shot no less than 30 times.  So with that revolutionary ranking system, I all but broke out into hives whenever an orange entered the shot.  Legit.  Then I just got mad and started yelling 'why are you buying oranges, OBVIOUSLY nothing good happens when they're around!  You deserve to get shot!'  as if this would somehow alter the events in the movie.  I'm slowly starting to realize that I may be irritating while watching movies, at least ones that cause heart palpitations. 


While grabbing lunch that Monday, I went straight over to the produce section at Star Market and snapped a picture of oranges with my phone and sent it to all my friends.  Just to mess with them.  My friend Bill texted me back saying that when he got to work that morning someone was sitting at his desk holding an orange and he almost went home.  I am not the only one thrown into panic over this.  It's affecting everyone.  I took this picture with my regular camera, to keep the integrity of my blog at the highest level and quality possible.

62. July 25th, 2010 Picture.

Up until July 25th I had never seen The Godfather, parts 1, 2 or 3.  Now, some people may find this offensive {cough Bill and Ratty cough} but like, why would I have seen them?  At no point does anyone break into song and/or dance, Hugh Grant doesn't get the girl in the end and there is that whole pesky issue of intense violence and stress.  Hm, yea I don't know why I hadn't ever seen them either.


Apparently I am not alone, because my friend Bill and his wife Tara decided to host a Godfather viewing party for all my friends since it was unacceptable we hadn't seen them.  It started at 10am and went all day and well into the night.  We watched every.single.Godfather.movie back to back to back.  Let me tell you something, 9 straight hours of intense mafia violence and strategic 'hits' is emotionally draining.  I could barely handle the stress, I can't even watch award show acceptance speeches because they make me uncomfortable, can you imagine me and my stress during the first movie when I kept seeing oranges?!  Gah, it was borderline heart attack inducing.  I asked A LOT of questions during the movies, in rapid fire fashion.  'Is he gonna die right now?  Oh my God he is going to get shot.  Does he die?  Bill, does he die?  Tara, just tell me.  Do I need to leave the room?  I might leave.  Oh I'm leaving.  Is it over yet?!'  So yea, doing that for 9 hours almost killed me.


Thankfully there were a few stress free glimmers throughout the day, mostly revolving around food.  Tara is quite the hostess and made the most amazing spread for us.  For breakfast there were Belgian waffles, bacon and asparagus quiche (made by Mark), pastries and coffee.  For lunch there were chicken cutlets (made by Jamie via Mark), pasta, homemade 'gravy' and meatballs, pizzagain, homemade rice balls and so much more.  I was so well fed during that party, it was fantastic and slightly ridiculous.  We ate so much food that we struggled to stay awake during the 3rd Godfather, which is okay because it was the worst by far.  What's the deal with the whole incestuous relationship with the cousins?!  And Sofia Coppola was the absolute worst.  We disliked her so much that Mark actually CLAPPED when she died at the end.  Ya, she was that bad.  At one point Bill laid down on the floor, saying that he had food in his lungs and it hurt to breathe, then bolted straight up and asked for some bread and butter, to settle his stomach.  We were out of control.   I'm totally okay with it.


To make our Italian day even more authentic, we sipped on homemade wine from our friend Lina's father.  K, he is Portuguese but I'm willing to overlook that fact if you are.  

62. July 24th, 2010 Picture.

Saturday night I went out with my friend Jamie to celebrate her getting a new job.  Since graduation, Jamie has been living in Dorchester but splitting her time between there and the cape because she worked at a hospital.  How crazy is that?  Jamie worked the overnight shifts on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, so if you missed her on Tuesday, you wouldn't see her again until Saturday.  It really hindered both of our social lives.  I am happy that she got a 9-5er, or a 7-3er job so she will be around much more!  Plus she is moving in with me come October...yayyy!!


I went over to her apartment early in the night, where Mark was making us celebratory drinks. We stayed for a bit, before heading out to the Harp and Bard in Dot, then checking out The Ledge.  We made a pit stop at Hi-Fi pizza where we got into a slight altercation with a Cape Verdean woman because she thought Jamie was trying to see her boyfriend, who was in his 60s. I'm pretty sure your guy is safe, lady.  

{Doesn't MahkG look so skinny?  He took up running and is doing the couch to 5k program.  Let's snap for Mark!}

{Yay new jobs!  Me next please!}

62. July 23rd, 2010 Picture.

The 23rd was a Friday and Ratty was sick.  He'd been out all week with a chest infection and I went over to keep him company.  I stopped off at the store and got some stuff for us, cheese and crackers, some pizza and wine (for me), then headed to his apartment to hang out.  I snapped this picture because there was a lot going on.  We were watching last season of Mad Men, which I'd never watched before but totally got into after seeing the last 4 episodes, and reading an article about 'Inception'.  Ratty is kinda obsessed, and for good reason.  That movie was insane.  Anywho, I took this picture while watching TV and as you can see that Ratty was shunned to the other couch.  I didn't want to get sick!

{For the record, he is totally fine and alive now.}

62. July 22nd, 2010 Picture.

As I was sitting in awful city traffic, cursing under my breath at the miserable drivers around me, I saw this mural out of the corner of my eye.  I pulled out my phone quickly and snapped this picture.  I recognized the artwork, but needed to research it a little bit more before I knew the artists name.  After some Googling and Twitter searching, I found out it was by a graffiti artist named Banksy; Click his name to be taken to the wiki page.  It's not the greatest quality, I know, but I was really struck by its message.  Banksy is a popular, somewhat underground muralist and political activist whose true identity is not known.  His murals have become so popular that auction houses actually sell the murals 'as is' and the highest bidder is left with the issue of removing it from the building.  His works have been sold all over the world and pieces have been bought by celebrities like Kate Moss and Christina Aguilera for thousands of dollars.  It's kinda crazy.  With the way the economy is lately and how many people are out of work, I can understand how this message rings true for a lot of people in the country.  It's eerie and depressing when you think about it, but the fact of the matter, whether good or bad, it makes you think.