62. August 26th, 2010 Picture.

I nabbed a screen shot of my favoritest show on summer TV, Big Brother.  I pretty much love this show, along with all my friends, and I love that it's on 3 nights a week in the summer, when the rest of the summer line up is shaky at best.  I have been a fan for years now, my dearest Erin Rowe got me addicted, and now I have passed that addiction onto my mom and Ratty.  I have been watching for years now, and completely speak a different language to my friends about it.  Backdooring, HoH, POV, Pandora's Box, ChenBot, these only make sense if you are a die hard fan like myself.  


I have to say that I am happy I passed my love of Big Brother onto two others, pay it forward, right?  Just as my mom caught up on how the game worked, the season ended.  She asked when it started back up again and I was like, 'um June?'.  I hate the big gaps between seasons, but I have plenty of television to keep me entertained until then.  Truthfully, I don't think my DVR can handle any more shows, it's on the verge of combustion as is, I don't want to push it.

Can we also acknowledge how creepy this picture is?  I didn't intend for it to haunt your dreams, but the opening sequence is short and I only had one shot to get it.  I apologize in advance if you have nightmares.

62. August 25th, 2010 Picture.

I actually ALMOST forgot to take a picture for the 25th.  Almost.  I was laying in bed, trying to drift into a peaceful slumber, when I shot out of bed in a cold panic because I hadn't take a picture for that day.  It was just shy of midnight (I'm a night owl with a deep rooted aspiration to be a morning person), so I knew I was okay in terms of staying true to my goal, but I needed to act quickly.  It was then that I remembered that I had JUST bought new hand soap for my bathroom.  Yes, I promise there is a point.  Promise.  Cross my heart.


Here's my typical routine for choosing any sort of shampoo, soap, detergent, etc.  I stand in the aisle at Target for 10 minutes, smelling every single thing.  I open ever top to every body wash and sniff each one, sometimes multiple times, until I find the perfect scent.  Hi, you've seen how protective and passionate I get about Yankee Candles, so let's just share that enthusiasm with all fabulously scented things.  Fast forward to my most recent Target shopping excursion, and I am smelling all of the Method liquid hand soaps.  I had Pink Grapefruit in my bathroom before, but wanted to mix it up a little bit.  Ratty has Sea Salt in his bathroom, mainly because of my obsession with the ocean and I am slowly taking over every inch of his life without him realizing, so I knew I liked that one, but want to test all the other ones just in case.  After sampling each one, I decided on Waterfall which smelled AMAZING.  I literally wanted to drink it, in a non-suicidal poison control center on speed dial kind of way.  


Because I am dedicated, and when I find something I like I completely go overboard, I went to the Method website to see what other products came in the Waterfall scent.  Maybe some laundry detergent, body wash, room spray.  Whatever they made, I wanted one of everything, maybe even two of everything, so I'd never run out.  Turns out, this scent that I fell head over heels in love with, was a limited edition.  That ended it's run the week before I bought my bottle.  So literally I will never ever see it again.  WHY do people make things in limited editions?!  It is so infuriating to me.  Just when I find something I love, I find out it's not available anymore.  It happened with Storm Watch, but due to my aggressive campaigning was brought back permanently, my favorite Italian Buttercream Coffeemate cream, GONE, Method Waterfall 'limited edition ONLY for Target' dunzo.  This is just one more reason why I should be in charge of everything.  This limited edition stuff would not be happening.

62. August 24th, 2010 Picture.

I believe that I have become allergic to work.  Yesterday I went out to grab lunch and when I came back I had EIGHT bites up and down my arm.  I barely noticed them until my arm started to swell and itch.  It's actually kind of gross, so I apologize, but this is what's going on in my life right now, so I feel the need to share.


Do you ever have an itch and then suddenly it seems like every single part of your body itches too?  Well now that my arm itches like the most insane case of Chicken Pox ever, I feel like it's spreading.  My head itches, my leg itches, my toes itch, my face itches, my back itches, I can't stop scratching!  It is so annoying.  Yesterday I covered my arms with Hydrocortisone cream to the point where it was comical.  I looked like one of those anal sunscreen appliers who lather on Zinc Oxide everywhere without rubbing it in.  Here's a shot of my arm, count 7 on that one, with  one more on my left arm.  If Benadryl didn't make me have psychotic dreams and cause me to hallucinate while awake, I'd be popping those babies like candy.  But seriously, what the heck?  I swear, work is making me sick.

62. August 23rd, 2010 Picture.

While shopping at Target, I decided that I needed an entire package of colored ultra fine tip Sharpies. These are the greatest pens on the planet.  I use them for almost everything, in lieu of regular pens.  They don't smudge since they are permanent markers, they write so smooth and come in so many cute colors!  I am somewhat obsessed with a good pen, I must get it from my mother.  Once I left a PMC pen at her house and she begged me for weeks to get her more because she loved the way they wrote.  So, for her birthday I gave her about 50, she thought it was the greatest gift ever.  I am also kind of crazy in the fact that I HATE blue pens.  Hate.  I just don't like the way anything looks when written in blue.  I know technically, according to Emily Post, you are supposed to write notes and cards in blue because it's a warmer color, but I just think black looks so much nicer.  Emily Post is currently rolling over in her grave, RIP Emily.  


Anyway, back to the Sharpies.  When shopping at Target, I tend to go overboard and buy stuff I don't normally need.  I can walk out of that store, having spent $100 and literally be like, I didn't buy anything.  I put a lot of stuff in my cart, but as my shopping trip continues, I put things back.  I finally bit the bullet and bought the pack of Sharpies for $9 because I needed them to survive.  I couldn't bring myself to buy the super pack of tropical colors because it was $16, and well, that is just ridiculous.  Right now at least, ask me during my next Target run.

62. August 22nd, 2010 Picture.

I had an absolute fantastic time at my friend Consuelo's wedding.  We ate, we danced, we drank, we ate some more, pretty much perfect if you ask me!  Everything was so great, except for the fact that I hurt my foot.  I didn't realize it that night, but when I woke up this morning my little baby toe was throbbing.  I looked down and my entire nail was purple.  Whoops!  I guess that's what I get for kicking off my heels and getting down on the dance floor.  I have no idea what happened, I am assuming I either stubbed it or someone stepped on it, but whatever happened, the nail is dunzo.  Buh bye.  You've been good to me little nail, but I guess your time has come.  

Here is my little pinky wrapped up good to protect it from the elements.  Even air hurts it.  Poor thing.  Is it wrong that my main concerns are how I am going to squeeze my foot into heels and how exactly I am supposed to get a pedicure?  Priorities, obvi.

62. August 21, 2010 Picture.

August 21st was the wedding day of my high school friend Consuelo and her fiance (now husband) Nick.  They got married at the Goddard Chapel on Tufts University campus, where her parents were married 32 years ago, and the chapel was packed with friends and family.  The ceremony was very sweet, mixing traditional and non-traditional aspects, all while involving their families as much as possible.  I think the best part of the ceremony was when they both stumbled over repeating something from the priest and Consuelo apologizes, but not before yelling out 'Sorry!  First timers up here!'

We stood for the entire ceremony and my feet were NAHT happy.  I think at one point, the priest asked us to stand but never mentioned sitting, so we awkwardly stood, no one wanted to be the first to sit.  Thankfully the ceremony wasn't too too long.  I may have taken my shoes off.  I hope God doesn't mind, but if he saw my shoes, he'd totally understand.

The reception was at the Seaport hotel, which is about 5 minutes down the street from my apartment.  It was actually pretty awesome.  I drove my my friend Kacie and her boyfriend Tom to my apartment from the ceremony, and then we all took a cab over to the hotel.  I love when wedding receptions are convenient.  No stressing about room blocks, or who is going to drive ESPECIALLY when it's open bar all night, or thinking the maid stole your awesome purple shoes when in fact you just left them at the reception site.  Not that I've done that, I mean, since my friend Jenn's wedding.

There was an hour in between the ceremony and the start of the reception, to allow enough time for people to get from one place to another.  Since I lived so close, we were at the hotel in record time, and stopped off at the hotel bar for a drink before the cocktail hour began.  We got 4 nice comfy chairs in the lounge area and settled in to chat it up.  I hadn't seen Kacie in months, she is in Law School at Cornell, and this was the first time I was meeting her boyfriend Tom.  He completely won me over during the cocktail hour where he sang the entire 'Open The Gates and Seize The Day' song from Newsies without even batting an eye or being embarrassed.  It was awesome.

I took a picture of our place card because my dearest friend Erin Rowe has been saving corks for years to do this exact same thing as her place card setting.  Loves.

The food at this wedding was absolutely insane.  This martini glass filled with lobster and shrimp came out before our salads.  We were SO well fed!  Since the dinner was 4 courses, we were at our table for a good chunk of time.  Thankfully it was all my high school friends, and we were RIGHT next to the bar.  It was the most utterly perfect placement ever, it's like Suelo planned it or something.

The group shot of all of us.  Ratty, Me, Tom, Kacie and Cicie.

My dinner was filet with 2 jumbo shrimp.  I was not joking when I said we were really well fed.  I never joke about food.

Kace and Tom on the dancefloor!

This picture cracks me up every time I look at it.  I might be the best.

This may be the only picture in existence where Ratty looks SO much taller than me.  Like, for reals.  Was I sitting?

Me and C.

Ready to party!

Me and Kacie.

Me on the dance floor with the bride and groom.

After the reception, we went back down to the hotel bar where the after party was.  Now when I hear after party, I assume that we are just going to take over the space, but oh no, not at this glam wedding.  Suelo actually rented out the back room at the bar, and had pizzas on every table when we walked in.  I know I had eaten a 4 course meal all of 3 hours before, but after the champagne, wine service, beers and cosmos, I was starving again!  The pizza was so good and the after party was SO much fun.  It kept the partying going until the wee hours and that's exactly how I like it!

I made Kacie and Tom sit through a ridiculous photo shoot at the after party.  This was the nicest one, mainly because it was after I rapid fired 15 other pictures, and they finally were given a second to look nice.

I can actually guess at what I was thinking in this picture.  'Um no, Ratty I don't think that's true, at all.'

Suelo and Nick's wedding was so beautiful and so much fun.  We all had the best time!

62. August 20th, 2010 Picture.

This one isn't terribly exciting, I apologize.  I was driving down the street, well more like sitting at a dead stop on the street because of traffic, when I saw a huge smoke tower.  Obviously, being completely irrational like I am, I immediately thought a car was on fire.  Then I thought, what if the fire is near the gas tank?!  Where is my closest escape route?!  I am probably going to have to abandon my car in the middle of the street, so let me make sure I have everything in my bag, okay check!  Man that car is REALLY going up in flames, why isn't anyone concerned?


Then, as I inched myself closer, fearing for my immediate safety should the light turn red, I realized it wasn't a car, electrical or gas fire in the middle of the street, it was an NStar truck doing work.  It was steam, no smoke or flames.  I felt kind of stupid, but at least I was being proactive about the idea that there could potentially be danger.  

62. August 19th, 2010 Picture.

So I got a small white package in the mail that was obviously addressed to me but had no return address.  In a movie, this is right about where you'd yell 'DON'T OPEN IT!  IT'S ANTHRAX!  A BOMB!  NO, DON'T OPEN IT!' and semi cover your eyes out of nervousness.  Despite not having a return address, it was postmarked in Southie, so I figured it had to be something legit.  Great reasoning Amy.

I opened it and found this adorable little orange clutch in it!  How very fall, huh?  There was no note or anything inside, but I assume it is from a store in Southie that I love, Ku De Ta.  I know I am on their email list, but I must have added my mailing address as well.  Except I moved about a year ago, did I put my old address or my new one on it?  Hm, this is actually turning into a bigger mystery than I initially thought.  Anyway, I know it is from someone in Southie for what I can only assume is my birthday.  It's gotta be that store, right?  

62. August 18th, 2010 Picture.

To continue the birthday celebrations, Ratty and I went to the Red Sox game on the 18th.  Ratty is an alumnus of Ithaca College, and they were having an Alumni event at the Sox game.  He had bought the tickets a few weeks prior and the seats were amazing.  Well, technically we didn't have seats, it was standing room, but the area of which we stood had amazing views.  Check it out.

We had a great time and the Sox won!  At that point in time, the win seemed important and we were excited to be moving up in the standings.  Obviously, if anyone pays attention to baseball, you'd know the Sox are dunzo, and we've all jumped ship and moved on to the Patriots.

62. August 17th, 2010 Picture.

MY BIRTHDAY MY BIRTHDAY MY BIRTHDAY!  YAYYYYYY!!!

Okay, enough shouting.  August 17th was my real birthday, where I turned 27 years young at 5:17am.  Since I love my birthday so so so much and I feel that I should spend the day doing things I love, I called in sick.  Because of all the things I love, work doesn't even break the top million.  Must have been some residual effects from the pepper spray incident. 

Let's give a step by step breakdown of my day, shall we?  I woke up, totally on my own without the aid (read: annoyance) of an alarm clock and made myself a nice birthday latte.  I had just settled in to watch Gilmore Girls, ABC Family Channel at 11am and 5pm every weekday, when I got a text from Ratty to check Facebook.  I went onto his page and saw a picture he had just taken with Stargazer lilies, a coffee and a gift bag on some brick stairs.  MY stairs.  I ran downstairs and opened the door and saw my little treat set up with Ratty standing next to it.  Confusion set in and I began to ask lots of questions.  Turns out, Ratty had taken my birthday week OFF from work, and decided to stop over to surprise me.  I was TOTALLY surprised and it was so sweet!  We grabbed the coffees and went to my room it watch Gilmore Girls and open my present.  After a few recent driving debacles where Ratty's directions were less than stellar, he decided it would be a good idea to get me  GPS.  I drive everywhere, and have about 100 random sets of MapQuest directions in my glove compartment, so this was awesome.  It's not something I'd probably ever buy for myself, but it's something that I definitely need and will use.  

After a successful morning full of surprises, coffee and Gilmore Girls, I packed myself up and went to sit at the beach with a good book.  It was a nice day, but I only stayed for about an hour because I wanted to go home and see my mom.  I hung out with her and my little pal Julian before heading back to my apartment to get ready to go out for my birthday dinner.

{Ratty and I started off with cocktails at Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons.  We love this place and more importantly, I love the snack mix they give you.  It's so yummy that they typically refill it about 3 times for me everytime I'm there.  We had a few pre-dinner drinks, before making our way to Pigalle for dinner.}

{I'd been dying to go to Pigalle for about 3 years.  I'd heard phenom things about it, including the chef was a James Beard Award Winner and if you've ever watched Top Chef, you know what a big deal that is!}

{My salad.  It had little pieces of fried goat cheese on it and I died.  The second I saw it on the menu I knew I had to have it.  It did not disappoint!}

{Ratty had made reservations about a week before, and made special arrangements for my birthday.  At one point, he got up to go the bathroom and the waiter brought out my creme brule with a candle.  The waiter apologized that he brought it out while Ratty gone, but he was concerned that the heat from the kitchen would melt his ice cream.  I waited for Ratty to come back before I blew out the candle.}

{Mainly because I wanted him to take a picture. Kidding!  Kind of.}

The dinner was fantastic, the food, the drinks, the company.  Everything about it was great!  After dinner I was so completely full that I asked if we could walk around before grabbing another drink someplace.  We walked all through Beacon Hill and over by MGH before deciding to call it a night.  The food and drinks completely did me in and I was so tired, which is so unlike me.  Man, maybe I am getting old!

62. August 16th, 2010 Picture.

Smack in the middle of my birthday week, I had to go to work, boo.  It was a bright, cheery Monday afternoon, okay not really, but part of my self awareness is trying to be more positive, so let's just roll with it, shall we?  I was casually minding my own business, typing away in my office, when my co-worker came in and told me to get out of the building.  I'm sorry, what?  She said that we needed to get out because apparently there were some fumes on the 3rd floor that were making people sick.  Cool, just another causal Monday evacuation because of toxic fumes, let me grab my bag.

The entire Brookline Fire Department showed up, or at least that is what I felt like, and we were stuck outside for about 20 minutes or so while they assessed the situation.  I think it was right about at this point where I thought, I should just go home.  Tomorrow is my birthday and I feel like I'm coming down with something, cough cough, I should go home, and stay there tomorrow AND Wednesday just to make sure.  I would hate to get anyone else sick with my fictional illness.

Unfortunately, there were no toxic fumes that would require the campus being cleared out for the rest of the week, oh no.  A guest of a student had 'accidentally' sprayed pepper spray in the Registrar's office, which caused the entire office and various other people in the hall to complain of shortness of breath and itchy eyes.  Seriously? PEPPER SPRAY?  I don't even think it's legal in Mass without a license.  Plus this kid wasn't even a student, he was a guest of someone.  This sounds like a whole bunch of wrong.

We were quickly let back into the building once the fumes had dissipated, much to my dismay.  What does it take to get the afternoon off around here?!

62. August 15th, 2010 Picture and 61. Invest in a New Digital Camera.

Sunday, August 15th, was the day of my family birthday party.  Yes, I am 27 and I still have a family birthday party - doesn't everyone?  It was a nice afternoon where we cracked open some Champagne (a rapidly growing trend at my mom's house, which I do not hate) and ate all of my favorite foods.  My mom is pretty much the greatest cook ever, so she made all my favorites, cucumber and onion, delmonico potatoes, carrots with basil and pot roast.  My mouth is watering as I type this.  My brother Eddie and his family were there, along with my brother Ronny, sister Kate and Ratty.

{A screen shot of my presents!  Some scratch tickets for my Nantucket fund (I won $20, which I am going to promptly cash in and buy more, hey you're not gonna win unless you play, right?).  My sister Kate gave me a Stormwatch candle, because she knows I'm straight up addicted.  Plus, a brand new digital camera, just like Ratty's mindblowingly awesome one.  Cross number 61 off that list!  Thanks mom.}

{They very first picture with my new camera!  I was obviously still learning about all the settings...}

{Abigail licked all the frosting off the mini brownies.  She must love cream cheese frosting as much as her Auntie!}

{SILLY BANDZ!  I'm apparently regressing to being 8.  It's cool.}

{Right before this picture, Abs ran as fast as she could into Ratty's arms and gave him a big hug, it was adorbs.  As soon as I tried to get a picture of the two of them though, they couldn't get far enough away from each other.  I think I even said, 'could you pretend that you like each other?'}

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE MY BIRTHDAY!  I definitely like re-living everything over again, it makes it last that much longer, you know, like a month.  That's the way it should be!

62. August 14th, 2010 Picture.

So that Saturday night I made plans with my friends to go out for drinks and celebrate my birthday.  I had everyone come over around 7pm, have a few beers, and then take cabs in town to meet MORE friends at Grand Canal.  Since it was pretty much a night full of Silly Bandz, beers and the band, I am just going to post the pictures with a few choice stories, okay more like one really good one.

{Such a cute photo huh?}

{And my first drink is bought for me!  LOVE when that happens!}

{Causal shot of everyone dancing.  I assume that before I snapped this I told everyone to act surprised.}

{A lil Gamma Phi toast happening, me Erin and Katie cheersing to my birthday, obviously.}

{Note the three beers.  I love my birthday for so many reasons, including that I didn't have to take out my debit card all night, every drink was bought for me.  WIN!}

{Me and Lana, I can only assume this was taken either right before or right after we sang 'Laid' at the top of our lungs in the most borderline obnoxious yet still really cool way.}

{A little birthday love from Mark, I think...}

{He really steals the show no matter what we are celebrating.  Even if we are celebrating other people.}

{My favorite and current Facebook default picture.  Mark snapped this with his phone.  Note the Silly Bandz.}

{I somehow got a tambourine.  I don't reallllllllly know if the band gave it to me or something more like, I picked it up off the floor and took over.  I'm gonna go with the latter to be on the safe side.  The band pretty much loved al of us that night.  Ratty told them it was my birthday and they bought me up to the stage and started asking me all these questions, like where I lived (they also lived in Southie and got just as excited as I did to learn of a connection).  They even sang happy birthday to me, which of course included the entire bar singing along.  After that, I was pretty much the most famous girl in the bar.}

{And scene.}

62. August 13th, 2010 Picture.

Friday, August 13th, Ratty and I decided to hit up trivia at The Reef, which is the seasonal outdoor bar at the Aquarium.  Our friend Will is a trivia host there and has literally been on our case for 4 years to come to one of his trivia nights.  Since there wasn't anything going on that Friday, and I was pretty much taking it easy before going out on Saturday for my birthday, Ratty and I thought it would be a perfect plan.


I'd never been to The Reef bar before, but it was pretty nice.  Right on the harbor, in front of the Aquarium, with bathrooms no where near where we were sitting.  It was pretty chilly for an August night, but since it's right near the water and in the shade, I should have been more prepared.  I was pretty pumped for trivia, it was something Ratty and I use to go to weekly, but haven't really had the time lately.  My life is just so hard.  And unfair.  Anyway, between the two of us, Ratty and I have the most useless facts stored up in our heads.  Seriously.  I wish I could pick one amazing fact I know, right now, just pluck it from my brain, but the problem with having so many facts rolling around my head, I can never think of one on command.  A blessing AND a curse.


There were a few other teams, but after the first round of questions, we realized that only a few were truly playing, we had a perfect score, obviously because we're awesome.  Thankfully, for the knowledge I lack, like politics and geography, Ratty shines.  Ask me anything about TV, fashion, celebrities, gossip and music, and I'll know the answer.  One question asked what reality TV show had the tag line Auf Wiedersehen.  Um, hello Project Runway, duh EVERYONE knows that!  Yea, Ratty had no idea.


We made it to the final question, 1 point in the lead.  The way the trivia game worked, was that on the final question you could wager anywhere between 1-10 points.  If you got it right, you got that many points, but if you got it wrong, you would lose half that many points to your final score.  It became real tricky at the end and we had to think it through very carefully.  You'd think we were curing cancer or something, but no, just playing trivia.  The question was this: what is the number one imported beer in the USA?  Well, I know it's not Bud, because we now have a Bud plant in the USA, same with Guinness, Miller and Coors.  Hm, what else could it be?  We finally decided on Heineken, because they had both regular and light, and it's pretty much everywhere.  We bet 10 points, because if the other team got it wrong, and they wagered 10, we'd still win by 1 point.  If they got it right, it wouldn't matter anyway.  Well my friends, the correct answer is CORONA!  Never even thought of it.  Whoops.  We came in second, the other team totally knew it, always a bridesmaid, never a bride, I guess!  We did win a $10 gift certificate for The Reef, so our bar tab was next to nothing, which was a win in and of itself.  Will came over after to hang out, grab some food and make fun of us for not knowing the final answer.  What a great friend.

62. August 12th, 2010 Picture.

I took this picture of my sandwich purely because the amount of pesto that was on it was absolutely ridiculous.  I opened it up and it went everywhere!  Like, I know it's a $7 sandwich, and you want to stuff it full of everything delicious, but this is slightly overkill, no?

62. August 11th, 2010 Picture.

This is a picture of one of my favoritest pictures ever.  This is of me and my brother Eddie and was taken in March of 1986 when I was just a wee girl at 2 years old and Eddie was just 20.  Look how young we both look!  Obviously I look young, you know, because I'm a baby and all.  This picture was in the same place in my moms house for most of my life, but got bumped to the kitchen when my mom created my shrine in our den.  All my sorority certificates, awards and plaques I garnered during my 4 years in college are brilliantly displayed above my picture with Tim Russert.  I'm serious, it's a legit shrine.


I'd be wanting my own copy of this picture for a while, so my mom and I went over to CVS to make some copies and buy a frame.  My mom had some older pictures she wanted copies of too, and she was amazed at how quickly we scanned and printed new ones.  Isn't technology amazing? 


The picture now sits on my bookcase for all to see.  My roommate was standing in my door chatting with me, when she saw the picture and asked who was in it.  Um, me?  When I said that to her, she burst out laughing and could not get over how chubby my cheeks were.  Hi, I liked my bottle.  Char is not the only one who didn't recognize me as a small child, the first time Ratty ever went to my moms house he took one look at my baby picture and ask my mom who it was.  WHO IS IT?  Like, are you for real?  You're at my house!  Who could it possibly be?!  He still tries to rationalize it, saying that he didn't know since my mom takes care of so many babies, he just assumed it was a day care kid.   There are very few pictures of day care babies at my mom's house, except for some select favorites, and I mean, YOU DATE ME.  You honestly had no idea that the multiple baby pictures, in my mom's house no less, were of ME?  Good thing I like you.