7.20.2010
New Jersey July 2010
We took a trip to New Jersey a few weeks ago to visit my mom and a bunch of family who were also gathering there. The official reason for the trip was to celebrate my grandfather's 80.5 birthday, since his 80th was in January and we didn't get a chance to celebrate as a family then. His 80.5 was on July 4, which meant we were also gathered for Kent's birthday on July 3, plus the holiday festivities and fireworks.
We got there on a Thursday, settling in and hanging out with my grandparents who also arrived that day. The flight was pretty bumpy on the way down, and Kent ended up being sick right when we landed and he was thrown forward. I cleaned him off and changed his clothes without too much trouble, and Jack and I wondered why in the heck we can't seem to have a trip to visit my mom without Kent throwing up.
On Friday, we borrowed a car and drove down to Philly to visit our friends Lauren and Steve. Lauren (and Jeannette) had told me about a fabulous little play cafe in Chestnut Hill called The Little Treehouse, a sweet super-fun place that's almost just like the kid-friendly coffee shop I've been dreaming about.
I didn't remember to take any pictures of the actual play space, which took up about half the interior, or our amazing wood-fired pizza or coffee drinks... but the place was amazing. Here's just one aspect of the amazingness. Toys on the wall of the bathroom for the kids to play with while Mom goes to the potty. I have a difficult time keeping Kent in the bathroom with me sometimes, since he goes right away and then wants to leave before I'm done. Example: when I took my pregnancy test at Target last year and found out I was pregnant with Dean, Kent busted out of the handicapped stall before I had my pants up. I'll never forget that. So having something to keep him occupied was pretty ingenious.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling with Lauren and Steve, who gave Kent a card that we could turn into a cardboard airplane. There was much revelry throwing the airplane around their apartment. We also introduced Kent to a couple of different video games on the Nintendo Wii. He couldn't quite understand that his movements while holding the Wii remote were controlling what happened on the screen, but he thought bowling with 100 pins was pretty spectacular. Several of my friends in town, who have kids just a little older than Kent, have Wiis, and I've thought seriously about getting one sometime soon so that we can play games as a family. Perhaps it's in our future.
We also did a lot of Dean-gazing, because he's fun and very giggly.
We made a stop by the side of the road on the way back to NJ that evening, because Dean needed a break from the carseat. I snapped this picture of our reflection in the car's window.
Saturday was Kent's birthday, with a party and cake planned for the evening. My stepbrother Chris and his wife Cat had arrived from NC, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff and two of their kids, Dave and Dan, had flown in from Colorado, and my stepsister Morgan, her husband Brian, and their baby daughter Blythe drove up from Baltimore on Saturday, so we had a pretty large crew. During the day, Mom and Bill took my little branch of the family to a carnival in town that Bill had some experience with as a Kiwanian. Mom, Kent, and I rode on the ferris wheel, which Kent always loves doing, and then Kent got to ride kiddie rides for the first time. He had a blast. He just kept grinning and smirking and then running around excitedly, telling us which thing he wanted to do next.
It was dang hot, so Dean and I bought a bottle of water and chilled in the shade where we could still see Kent.
Here's Kent getting a fun shoulder ride from Bill.
After Kent's nap, the birthday festivities got going, which included swimming, grilling out, and Kent's birthday cake, which I decorated earlier in the day to his specifications. He had told me he wanted a space shuttle on his cake, so I ran with it, and this is what I ended up with:
Several people have been confused by the numbers at the bottom, thinking that perhaps Kent was turning 32, but it says "3 2 1!" for anyone who can't read frosting.
On Sunday, we had a sort of lazy morning at Mom's house, while Mom, Bill, and my grandparents went to church. Ordinarily, we would go with them, but we knew that between Kent being in an unfamiliar church (and consequently not wanting to go to the nursery), and the up-and-down dance we usually do with Dean at our own church, we wouldn't get much out of the service, so we sat it out this time and hoped for a day in the future when it'll be easier to tag along. After church, we all went to a diner for brunch/lunch, and I got a Greek-style chicken wrap with tzatziki sauce, something I'd been craving. It was perfect. I don't quite remember what anyone else ate because I was so happy eating my own food. I think Kent had part of a meatball and some spaghetti, plus the chocolate pudding that came with his meal. It's funny, I read a quote recently about having realistic expectations while on vacation, and the example the author cited was that if your child is a picky eater at home, s/he is going to be a picky eater on vacation. Um, yes.
After the meal, Jack and Brian found themselves swaying side by side with their respective babies, so everyone turned to look and smile, and then Dave and Dan decided they ought to get in on the swaying, so Dan jumped into Dave's arms and gave us all a good laugh.
Back at home, Morgan and I took about 100 pictures of Blythe and Dean together in their Fourth of July outfits. What a couple of cuties. They're a month and a half apart, destined to be great friends as they get older. Dean hadn't quite developed all his sitting up muscles yet, so he kept falling over and we kept propping him back up next to her.
Brian caught a snooze later with Blythe and Mom and Bill's cat, Barnaby.
And my favorite part of Sunday was a little personal tribute to my grandfather: homemade pretzels. He and I made these all the time when I was a kid (though admittedly I didn't drink beer with them back then... I didn't know what I was missing). I have so many memories revolving around those pretzels. There was greasing the pan with Crisco, then having to wash it off my hands while my grandfather turned up the water temperature and I complained repeatedly that it was too hot. There were all the times I tried to make letters for everyone in my family instead of the classic pretzel shape, and my grandfather was a terrific sport and tried to keep Ms, Es, and Js together in the water bath and on the pan so that the letters would stay intact. And there was the time that we couldn't find the recipe (in the days before looking things up on the internet), and we tried to recreate the recipe from memory. I think my grandfather looked at it as a teachable moment, but I was too young to be much help.
Here's Kent munching on his pretzel by the pool. One of my favorite things about having kids is passing on traditions to them that have already brought me so much joy.
Here are some more pool pictures from throughout the weekend:
On Monday, Dave and Dan did a lot of crazy diving where they attempted to dive under each other, do high-fives on the way into the water, etc. I took a lot of pictures and a couple of short movies, and I thought I was going to be calling the collection "How Dave and Dan Ended Up in the Emergency Room." But somehow they managed not to injure each other, except one time that I heard Dave say, "You poked me in the eye!" Those two are hilarious. I wish we all lived closer.
All the diving board action seems to have inspired Kent to finally jump into our arms in the pool, and he dazzled us with his newfound adventurous spirit in the water.
Mom read a lot of books with Kent. I just love watching my mom bond with my kiddo.
At some point in the weekend, Chris and Cat posed for me to take a quick picture in Mom and Bill's kitchen. I was terrible about taking lots of pictures of everyone, so when I realized I didn't have any of them, I had to fix it.
Mom has lived in NJ for (almost?) three years now, and in that short time, I have developed a favorite tradition: walking to the little farm stand on the main road, shopping for produce, and then eating a cider doughnut and petting the goats. Here are Jack and Kent sharing a doughnut in the sun. Not much beats a doughnut enjoyed with the people you love most.
Inevitably, we had to go home. It was one of the few trips I've taken where I really didn't feel ready to leave. However, the temperatures in NJ were topping 100 that Tuesday, and when we got back to New Orleans, it was a pleasant 80 degrees. Talk about a schema breaking.
As we boarded the plane, the very eager flight attendant offered to let Kent go into the cockpit, and the pilots were all over him and had a great time with him while I went to grab the camera.
The pilot insisted on posing Mike the Tiger Kitty as well, and I was cracking up at all of them. I've said many times that I wish I could always fly Southwest because the staff is so great, but Continental gave them a run for their money this time.
And here's our wide-eyed baby enjoying the flight home.
The web of family was tightened a bit over this weekend, strengthening our bond across the vast country where we've been scattered. Thank goodness for the internet, and air travel.
We got there on a Thursday, settling in and hanging out with my grandparents who also arrived that day. The flight was pretty bumpy on the way down, and Kent ended up being sick right when we landed and he was thrown forward. I cleaned him off and changed his clothes without too much trouble, and Jack and I wondered why in the heck we can't seem to have a trip to visit my mom without Kent throwing up.
On Friday, we borrowed a car and drove down to Philly to visit our friends Lauren and Steve. Lauren (and Jeannette) had told me about a fabulous little play cafe in Chestnut Hill called The Little Treehouse, a sweet super-fun place that's almost just like the kid-friendly coffee shop I've been dreaming about.
I didn't remember to take any pictures of the actual play space, which took up about half the interior, or our amazing wood-fired pizza or coffee drinks... but the place was amazing. Here's just one aspect of the amazingness. Toys on the wall of the bathroom for the kids to play with while Mom goes to the potty. I have a difficult time keeping Kent in the bathroom with me sometimes, since he goes right away and then wants to leave before I'm done. Example: when I took my pregnancy test at Target last year and found out I was pregnant with Dean, Kent busted out of the handicapped stall before I had my pants up. I'll never forget that. So having something to keep him occupied was pretty ingenious.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling with Lauren and Steve, who gave Kent a card that we could turn into a cardboard airplane. There was much revelry throwing the airplane around their apartment. We also introduced Kent to a couple of different video games on the Nintendo Wii. He couldn't quite understand that his movements while holding the Wii remote were controlling what happened on the screen, but he thought bowling with 100 pins was pretty spectacular. Several of my friends in town, who have kids just a little older than Kent, have Wiis, and I've thought seriously about getting one sometime soon so that we can play games as a family. Perhaps it's in our future.
We also did a lot of Dean-gazing, because he's fun and very giggly.
We made a stop by the side of the road on the way back to NJ that evening, because Dean needed a break from the carseat. I snapped this picture of our reflection in the car's window.
Saturday was Kent's birthday, with a party and cake planned for the evening. My stepbrother Chris and his wife Cat had arrived from NC, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff and two of their kids, Dave and Dan, had flown in from Colorado, and my stepsister Morgan, her husband Brian, and their baby daughter Blythe drove up from Baltimore on Saturday, so we had a pretty large crew. During the day, Mom and Bill took my little branch of the family to a carnival in town that Bill had some experience with as a Kiwanian. Mom, Kent, and I rode on the ferris wheel, which Kent always loves doing, and then Kent got to ride kiddie rides for the first time. He had a blast. He just kept grinning and smirking and then running around excitedly, telling us which thing he wanted to do next.
It was dang hot, so Dean and I bought a bottle of water and chilled in the shade where we could still see Kent.
Here's Kent getting a fun shoulder ride from Bill.
After Kent's nap, the birthday festivities got going, which included swimming, grilling out, and Kent's birthday cake, which I decorated earlier in the day to his specifications. He had told me he wanted a space shuttle on his cake, so I ran with it, and this is what I ended up with:
Several people have been confused by the numbers at the bottom, thinking that perhaps Kent was turning 32, but it says "3 2 1!" for anyone who can't read frosting.
On Sunday, we had a sort of lazy morning at Mom's house, while Mom, Bill, and my grandparents went to church. Ordinarily, we would go with them, but we knew that between Kent being in an unfamiliar church (and consequently not wanting to go to the nursery), and the up-and-down dance we usually do with Dean at our own church, we wouldn't get much out of the service, so we sat it out this time and hoped for a day in the future when it'll be easier to tag along. After church, we all went to a diner for brunch/lunch, and I got a Greek-style chicken wrap with tzatziki sauce, something I'd been craving. It was perfect. I don't quite remember what anyone else ate because I was so happy eating my own food. I think Kent had part of a meatball and some spaghetti, plus the chocolate pudding that came with his meal. It's funny, I read a quote recently about having realistic expectations while on vacation, and the example the author cited was that if your child is a picky eater at home, s/he is going to be a picky eater on vacation. Um, yes.
After the meal, Jack and Brian found themselves swaying side by side with their respective babies, so everyone turned to look and smile, and then Dave and Dan decided they ought to get in on the swaying, so Dan jumped into Dave's arms and gave us all a good laugh.
Back at home, Morgan and I took about 100 pictures of Blythe and Dean together in their Fourth of July outfits. What a couple of cuties. They're a month and a half apart, destined to be great friends as they get older. Dean hadn't quite developed all his sitting up muscles yet, so he kept falling over and we kept propping him back up next to her.
Brian caught a snooze later with Blythe and Mom and Bill's cat, Barnaby.
And my favorite part of Sunday was a little personal tribute to my grandfather: homemade pretzels. He and I made these all the time when I was a kid (though admittedly I didn't drink beer with them back then... I didn't know what I was missing). I have so many memories revolving around those pretzels. There was greasing the pan with Crisco, then having to wash it off my hands while my grandfather turned up the water temperature and I complained repeatedly that it was too hot. There were all the times I tried to make letters for everyone in my family instead of the classic pretzel shape, and my grandfather was a terrific sport and tried to keep Ms, Es, and Js together in the water bath and on the pan so that the letters would stay intact. And there was the time that we couldn't find the recipe (in the days before looking things up on the internet), and we tried to recreate the recipe from memory. I think my grandfather looked at it as a teachable moment, but I was too young to be much help.
Here's Kent munching on his pretzel by the pool. One of my favorite things about having kids is passing on traditions to them that have already brought me so much joy.
Here are some more pool pictures from throughout the weekend:
On Monday, Dave and Dan did a lot of crazy diving where they attempted to dive under each other, do high-fives on the way into the water, etc. I took a lot of pictures and a couple of short movies, and I thought I was going to be calling the collection "How Dave and Dan Ended Up in the Emergency Room." But somehow they managed not to injure each other, except one time that I heard Dave say, "You poked me in the eye!" Those two are hilarious. I wish we all lived closer.
All the diving board action seems to have inspired Kent to finally jump into our arms in the pool, and he dazzled us with his newfound adventurous spirit in the water.
Mom read a lot of books with Kent. I just love watching my mom bond with my kiddo.
At some point in the weekend, Chris and Cat posed for me to take a quick picture in Mom and Bill's kitchen. I was terrible about taking lots of pictures of everyone, so when I realized I didn't have any of them, I had to fix it.
Mom has lived in NJ for (almost?) three years now, and in that short time, I have developed a favorite tradition: walking to the little farm stand on the main road, shopping for produce, and then eating a cider doughnut and petting the goats. Here are Jack and Kent sharing a doughnut in the sun. Not much beats a doughnut enjoyed with the people you love most.
Inevitably, we had to go home. It was one of the few trips I've taken where I really didn't feel ready to leave. However, the temperatures in NJ were topping 100 that Tuesday, and when we got back to New Orleans, it was a pleasant 80 degrees. Talk about a schema breaking.
As we boarded the plane, the very eager flight attendant offered to let Kent go into the cockpit, and the pilots were all over him and had a great time with him while I went to grab the camera.
The pilot insisted on posing Mike the Tiger Kitty as well, and I was cracking up at all of them. I've said many times that I wish I could always fly Southwest because the staff is so great, but Continental gave them a run for their money this time.
And here's our wide-eyed baby enjoying the flight home.
The web of family was tightened a bit over this weekend, strengthening our bond across the vast country where we've been scattered. Thank goodness for the internet, and air travel.
Labels: Dean, family, Freude, holidays, Kent, kitchen adventures, Philly, photography, travel
- posted by erica 7/20/2010 01:29:00 PM
- 1 comments
4.30.2003
We had a fun day today. =) Jack came with me to Temple, and after I got out of my one class, we had Philadelphia day. Yes, we live here, but we haven't spent much time at all visiting the actual sights in the city, and we decided there were some things we wanted to do before we moved. We were going to see the Philadelphia Art Museum (picture Rocky running up the steps out front), the Franklin Institute (mostly a science museum with lots of hands-on things), and Independence Hall. Unfortunately, because of timing, we only got to go to the museum, but it was really cool, and we didn't even see half of it. We decided against seeing the Degas exhibit that was there, since it was twice as much money to be admitted to both and our time there was finite, but we saw several of the other collections, and it is a neato place. We were both imagining it being full of just paintings, but they have all these sculptures and furniture and glasswork from back in the day, and they even have pieces of ceilings and rooms from Asia and Europe. We're going to go back and see the rest of it sometime before we leave. If you're in Philadelphia any time, you should definitely take half a day to see it if you're at all interested in history and pretty stuff from other places. =)
We walked back toward City Hall, which was a hike, and we decided to run inside the Verizon store before they closed for Jack to get a replacement antenna on his phone. He's broken it off twice now in his pocket, and lots of people I've seen with the same phone have had the same problem... luckily, Verizon will fix it for free. So then we sat in Starbucks for a while and had frappuccinos, since we had been walking a long way and were very tired from lugging around our museum purchases and my bookbag (with Jack's REALLY HUGE BOOK inside it too... he wanted something to read while I was in class, so he picked the largest book we own besides our dictionary). After the lovely Starbucks experience, we walked the last few blocks to the City Hall station where we had to pick up the trolley, and we went in some shops. (Chestnut Street is a huge shopping district with a wide range of quality... swanky banks next to the Dollar Tree, etc.) Jack finally found some new sneakers, which is VERY exciting... see, the ones he's had for a few years have a squeak that cannot be exorcised, so everyone who spends time around him comes to associate the squeak with him. It has been very helpful, as it has been impossible for him to sneak up on me... but now those days are over, because he found some new ones in a shoe store that was going out of business. =) We also went in a piano store, but the salesman was such a jerk that we left pretty quickly. He obviously didn't take us seriously, even though I told him I was looking to buy a piano within a year or so... whatever. Some people who work in sales need to get into their heads that people with bookbags who look young aren't automatically irresponsible or whatever it is they think we are. I get annoyed with that, even though it doesn't happen to me as much anymore. This guy was basically daring us to explain why we were even in a music store in the first place. Ugh. Anyway, we finally got back on the trolley and came home, just in time for me to make quiche and for us to enjoy a rousing new episode of The West Wing in which the Vice President resigned... SUCH a good show.
On the brighter (and darker) side, I'll be 23 tomorrow! I usually don't advertise my own birthday, but it's been an important year and I'm about to see a lot of changes in my life. Yay, getting old!
We walked back toward City Hall, which was a hike, and we decided to run inside the Verizon store before they closed for Jack to get a replacement antenna on his phone. He's broken it off twice now in his pocket, and lots of people I've seen with the same phone have had the same problem... luckily, Verizon will fix it for free. So then we sat in Starbucks for a while and had frappuccinos, since we had been walking a long way and were very tired from lugging around our museum purchases and my bookbag (with Jack's REALLY HUGE BOOK inside it too... he wanted something to read while I was in class, so he picked the largest book we own besides our dictionary). After the lovely Starbucks experience, we walked the last few blocks to the City Hall station where we had to pick up the trolley, and we went in some shops. (Chestnut Street is a huge shopping district with a wide range of quality... swanky banks next to the Dollar Tree, etc.) Jack finally found some new sneakers, which is VERY exciting... see, the ones he's had for a few years have a squeak that cannot be exorcised, so everyone who spends time around him comes to associate the squeak with him. It has been very helpful, as it has been impossible for him to sneak up on me... but now those days are over, because he found some new ones in a shoe store that was going out of business. =) We also went in a piano store, but the salesman was such a jerk that we left pretty quickly. He obviously didn't take us seriously, even though I told him I was looking to buy a piano within a year or so... whatever. Some people who work in sales need to get into their heads that people with bookbags who look young aren't automatically irresponsible or whatever it is they think we are. I get annoyed with that, even though it doesn't happen to me as much anymore. This guy was basically daring us to explain why we were even in a music store in the first place. Ugh. Anyway, we finally got back on the trolley and came home, just in time for me to make quiche and for us to enjoy a rousing new episode of The West Wing in which the Vice President resigned... SUCH a good show.
On the brighter (and darker) side, I'll be 23 tomorrow! I usually don't advertise my own birthday, but it's been an important year and I'm about to see a lot of changes in my life. Yay, getting old!
Labels: coffee, husband things, Philly
- posted by erica 4/30/2003 11:12:00 PM
- 0 comments
12.05.2002
I'm sure everyone reading this has had snow in the last 24 hours... we sure did, even though it didn't start until the middle of the night last night. That was such a nice way to wake up, though... Jack rolled over, both of us half-asleep, and muttered, "Hey, look out the window." =) Anyway, I took the trolley into the city for class this morning, and 5 out of the 8 people in my class were there! I was surprised that only 3 people didn't come, since we had about 6 inches on the ground and it kept falling into early evening. Anyway, I got home from class just before 2, and Jack and I went and played in the snow with our camera. We even took a couple of pictures with our cat outside, just to be mean (or at least that's what she thought). She wasn't happy, so I took her back inside real quick. Our new digital camera is a bunch of fun, and hopefully tomorrow, on Jack's second day off, he'll put some of our pictures on the site. Hint: Snow angels were made.
Grad school applications and things are creeping along... I'm working on my Rhapsody in Blue paper, and it's a huge assignment, so I feel quite overwhelmed since it's due next Wednesday. I'm also trying to write my own little paper about a Chopin prelude to send to grad schools (a suggestion from one of my Temple profs), so I'm busy. Thankfully, I finished all my work for my other class, and our last meeting is next Tuesday to talk about the exam, which I'm not too apprehensive about. It's just this paper for the other class... but it'll get done. There are just so many books and sources for me to consider! Yipes! However, I'm getting a great sense of what my work load in grad school will be like, so it's good.
Borders is sort of the same, though business has definitely picked up in the last week. Supposedly, in the next two weeks, the store will be so packed that we won't be able to move (this is what we hear from our co-workers), so that should be an adventure. We're already sort of understaffed and we have a lot of new people who aren't comfortable doing everything yet, so at least the time will go quickly while I'm there. =)
Thanks to everyone who's sent a reply card to my mom... if you haven't sent yours in, please do so that we know a number! I think I'm preaching to the choir here, but if you know someone who hasn't sent it in because they have a question or because they've forgotten, please remind them. That's about all I have to say regarding the wedding... I'm looking forward to it, of course, and I'm REALLY looking forward to the vacation Jack and I get to have afterward. It will be needed, I can assure you. Must go... too much computer for one day. ~E
Grad school applications and things are creeping along... I'm working on my Rhapsody in Blue paper, and it's a huge assignment, so I feel quite overwhelmed since it's due next Wednesday. I'm also trying to write my own little paper about a Chopin prelude to send to grad schools (a suggestion from one of my Temple profs), so I'm busy. Thankfully, I finished all my work for my other class, and our last meeting is next Tuesday to talk about the exam, which I'm not too apprehensive about. It's just this paper for the other class... but it'll get done. There are just so many books and sources for me to consider! Yipes! However, I'm getting a great sense of what my work load in grad school will be like, so it's good.
Borders is sort of the same, though business has definitely picked up in the last week. Supposedly, in the next two weeks, the store will be so packed that we won't be able to move (this is what we hear from our co-workers), so that should be an adventure. We're already sort of understaffed and we have a lot of new people who aren't comfortable doing everything yet, so at least the time will go quickly while I'm there. =)
Thanks to everyone who's sent a reply card to my mom... if you haven't sent yours in, please do so that we know a number! I think I'm preaching to the choir here, but if you know someone who hasn't sent it in because they have a question or because they've forgotten, please remind them. That's about all I have to say regarding the wedding... I'm looking forward to it, of course, and I'm REALLY looking forward to the vacation Jack and I get to have afterward. It will be needed, I can assure you. Must go... too much computer for one day. ~E
Labels: bookstore life, Philly, school, tying the knot
- posted by erica 12/05/2002 11:23:00 PM
- 0 comments
8.27.2002
I'm currently pulling songs off lots of CDs of Jack's and mine to play at our reception, so I'm surrounded by stacks of CD cases and have a million windows open on the computer! It's lots of fun, though... we're trying to come up with a good mix of songs without having anything too horribly generic. We can't do generic at our reception. =) Tonight, I had a very pleasant encounter with the kids who live in our complex. As Jack has said before, we have the BEST kids living here. They play outside all the time, and they talk to each other out of their windows and stuff when one is inside. Anyway, I finally got around to repotting the daisy plant we have, since it had long outgrown its pot and the dirt was too high for us to water it without spilling. I took all the stuff downstairs and sat on the front stoop to do it, and first, a woman came across the courtyard for advice on her jade plant, which I just happen to have experience with. She had it in one of those big insulated coffee mugs and wanted to know if she should repot it. It was healthier than the jade plant I once managed to kill, and it was definitely time for a transplant. =) After she walked back across the courtyard and told her friend/relative what advice I had given her, this little girl, probably 6 years old, came up to me and asked what I was doing. I explained that the plant was too big for its pot so I was putting it into a bigger one. She watched me for a little while, and then a few of her friends came over. One of them asked me why the dirt stuck to the plant after I pulled it out of the first pot, so I told her that the roots grabbed on to the dirt and held it in place. The first little girl, who then introduced herself as Chloe (one of my favorite names, and the name of my new car!), asked me if I did this for a living. I chuckled and said no, I just had a few plants, thinking to myself that she wouldn't have asked that if she knew how many plants I had killed at college. Some professional. =) Her friend told me her name, and then they started pointing at all their other friends and telling me their names too, because the friends had now gathered in our little patch of yard and were running around and dancing. One of the parents was cooking on a little grill outside, so some of them were eating dinner, and it was just a really neat thing to be a part of. You don't think you can have encounters like this when you move to a big city, but it still happens, and it was very refreshing, not to mention highly amusing. My first college roommate, Bev, said that for some reason, she had always wanted to have black children, because she thought they were so awesome and adorable. I can totally understand that now, though our long-term plans for children don't include adoption at the moment. =)
Work has been good still, and I have some semblance of a schedule for the fall. Of course, it all hinges on the supposed classes I may or may not be taking, but I should know that by next Wednesday, and then I'll have a whole semester planned out! I won't know what to do with all the structure. =) I'm planning on taking the bus to class, even though it'll take about an hour, because that way I can read or do homework, and I won't have to pay parking or battle traffic to get into Center City. I'm hoping this works out and that I can get familiar enough with the bus system to use it a lot, because it certainly makes more sense than spending all that money and effort on driving there myself. Jack and I are going to Lancaster, probably Thursday afternoon, since we both have TWO days off in a row!! Incredible!! Anyway, we're hoping to get some actual work done on addressing our invitations with Mom. We might even work on our not-yet-assembled dining room chairs again... those are being handled in very small installments, since they involve a lot of sanding and waiting for stain to dry, etc.
I'm going to go cuddle with my worn-out fiancé for a little bit... this week, our hours are a little off, so I got home 3 hours before him tonight, and he goes in 3 hours before I do tomorrow. This means he gets much less relaxation time today, but I had to get up and go in at 9 every day last week. =) It evens out. That's all for now.
Work has been good still, and I have some semblance of a schedule for the fall. Of course, it all hinges on the supposed classes I may or may not be taking, but I should know that by next Wednesday, and then I'll have a whole semester planned out! I won't know what to do with all the structure. =) I'm planning on taking the bus to class, even though it'll take about an hour, because that way I can read or do homework, and I won't have to pay parking or battle traffic to get into Center City. I'm hoping this works out and that I can get familiar enough with the bus system to use it a lot, because it certainly makes more sense than spending all that money and effort on driving there myself. Jack and I are going to Lancaster, probably Thursday afternoon, since we both have TWO days off in a row!! Incredible!! Anyway, we're hoping to get some actual work done on addressing our invitations with Mom. We might even work on our not-yet-assembled dining room chairs again... those are being handled in very small installments, since they involve a lot of sanding and waiting for stain to dry, etc.
I'm going to go cuddle with my worn-out fiancé for a little bit... this week, our hours are a little off, so I got home 3 hours before him tonight, and he goes in 3 hours before I do tomorrow. This means he gets much less relaxation time today, but I had to get up and go in at 9 every day last week. =) It evens out. That's all for now.
Labels: observations, Philly, tying the knot
- posted by erica 8/27/2002 09:53:00 PM
- 0 comments
