oaring.

Since it was the last day before we all leave for our respective vacations, I took the girls canoeing on the charles river. It was perfect. Both the girls and the weather cooperated, and we had a great time. I thought I had it all figured out. We'd start going against the current so that we'd have it easier on the way back. In theory, this should have worked, however, I didn't take the wind into account. The wind was to my back on our way out, and it was trying to push us backwards on our return. I already has a big blister which ripped on my hand (it's a tad trickier paddling with three kids who have zero upper body strength) and everytime I paddled on one side of the canoe, the wind would try to turn the whole thing sideways. If I wasn't a decently strong canoer, we'd still be out there. Speaking of paddling, l kept calling the paddles oars, and would mention that she was the only kid who never stopped oaring. She must have said this five times, and we kept correcting her, but she couldn't seem to remember it. I thought it was funny.

happy.birthday.gram.

Today would have been my grandmother's 100th birthday if she'd held out for another 2.5 years. It would have been the day she made it onto the smuckers section of the today show. Luckily, we're still having a family reunion on the cape to celebrate. A whole week off work, on the beach at my aunt's house, with nothing to do but hang out, read, and listen to my ipod. It really can't get much better than that.

will.

I have a new summer show. Traveler gives me something to look forward to when the rest of the world is watching repeats.

hot.

It was so hot today that even with central air, my makeup remover and facewash (that I keep in the medicine cabinet) were strangely warm. Wiping my eye makeup off with a cotton pad, I couldn't help but think about how similar it felt to having a kid pee on you. One minute you're sitting there all cool and dry with a little kid on your lap, and the next thing you know you're feeling this slow seeping warmth as your jeans soak up what the kid's bladder has just let go. Fabulous.

you.are.beautiful!

I first saw this sometime last week. It's spelt out with cups in a fence on the way to tennis camp. It makes me really happy everytime I see it, and now the girls point it out everytime we drive by. The first time I read it, e said, "you are beautiful stephie!" in a completely honest, non-sarcastic, innocent tone. There's nothing like a five year old to make you love yourself!

thanks.guys!

I finally made it to masona grille for dinner tonight. My two super friends andrea and nora took me for my birthday dinner, and it was fabulous! I had a cucumber soup with mango puree and creme fraiche for starters, and the costa rican fresh water talapia with haricots vert and yucca fritters. Oh, and a mango mojito. Mmm, mmm.

it.was.good.to.see.julie.but..

..it was even better to see those bags! (Not really though...) Julie came home from her month long visit to london today. We picked her up at the airport (she got off the plane, picked up her bags, got through customs, and was at the curb in 30 minutes- a record in my book) and I was greeted with my new orla kiely bags! It was so exciting. I love the bigger one with the tree print- it's going to be perfect for toting around all my crap.

almost.

Ohhhhh...the apartment's so close I can taste it! Jen and ben came to see it tonight and really liked it. We've even decided on which rooms we'll have! We haven't looked at any other apartments (in real life- I've seen a ton on craigslist) but this one just seems too good to let get away. Jen's going to e-mail about one more apartment posting tomorrow, but unless it's a palace, it won't be worth the extra $200/month in rent. Not only is the place great, and the rent cheap, but the owner's really cool. He seems more interested in having good tenants than in making money (since he could easily ask for $300 more per month) and is super flexible in what we can do to it. I'm already picking out paint colors and arranging the furniture in my head. Once we sign the lease and put down our deposit, I'm going in to measure the whole place. Then I'll make a to-scale graph paper layout so I can figure out how everything will fit. We even have a little porch where we'll throw a grill and some planters with herbs and stuff! I'm about ready to start running in circles like a dog chasing his tail.

four.down.two.to.go.

P and I are the two left in our house who're still flu free. We're taking bids on when we'll get it, and who'll get it first. I say it's him. Today e went to the hospital for i.v. fluids. She didn't have to stay over since they got her there earlier than l, and she hadn't dried out as much. She'd lost three pounds though, and since her starting weight was only 32 pounds, that's about 10% of her body weight. L lost six pounds- from 52 to 46, or about 12%. It's crazy to think of like that- for someone's who's 150lbs, they could lose around 15-18lbs if they were sticking with the 10-12% of body weight. Maybe this flu would be a good way to drop a few extra pounds. Although then you'd have to put up with several days of violent vomiting and dehydration.

preacher.

Today was ben's graduation party. It was fun. There were a bunch of people, a bunch of food, and a bunch of wine. What could be better? I stopped at my parents' house to grab something, and realized that (as usual) I didn't have a card. My mom's pretty good at stocking up, so I searched through her stash and came up empty-handed. I didn't have time to go to cvs, so I settled on a "you're a special preacher" card. I thought it would be funny enough to be cool. Let me preface this by saying that while my mom's religious, she's not the type of person who would normally buy a thank you card for a priest. Especially because she doesn't even really like their current priest. So I was pretty sure that it was free for the taking. Really, I think I was the most surprised that someone actually took the time to make a thank-you card for a preacher. Didn't they have something better to do? While at their house, I also stole a big pretty bow that was hanging on a chair. I tied it to the bottle of champagne I got for ben, and then someone else attached it to a bowl like you do at a wedding shower. That's jen up there holding the bowl and anna in the background making her laugh!

hospital.stay.

So L just got over the flu. She ended up being admitted to the hospital because her glucose and blood volume were super low. They pumped her full with three bags of fluids and kept her overnight to make sure her numbers moved up. When she came home in the morning, she was 100% better- back to her usual self. My guess is that the flu bug was gone by wednesday, but since she hadn't kept anything down for almost 72 hours, she was so dehydrated that she was almost hungover. Who can think about eating or drinking anything when they're hungover? Except mcdonalds perhaps, but even so, that's a while after the worst of the nausea passes. If only we all had access to i.v. fluids after a rough night!

new.place?

I may have just found my new apartment. It's beautiful. Second floor, about 1/2 mile from my place now, three beds, big living and dining rooms, updated kitchen (with a dishwasher too!!), an extra room for the computers (but it could also fit a twin size bed and night table if we want a guest room!), and the best? It has a washer and dryer in the unit. It can't get much better than that!

so.close.

I got an e-mail from netflix the other day asking if I'd be willing to take part in an hour long research panel. If I "passed" the entrance survey and completed the hour, I'd get six months of netflix free. My answers to the online survey qualified me for the panel, but today I got an e-mail thanking me for my interest but informing me that due to overwhelming interest, all the sessions were full. Bummer. I would have made out with about $120 worth of free movies!

While I'm on the subject of netflix, I have two coupons for a month free. They expire on june 30th, so if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll send you the code.

sick.

Poor l's been catching up on sleep recently. She's super sick, as in violent vomiting, temps of 102 and headaches for two days now, and can't even keep water down. The poor thing just sleeps like a rock for close to twenty hours a day, and the four that she's awake are spent whimpering on the couch with glassy eyes, or being carried from the house to the car and back. It's so sad when kids are sick. Especially in the summer when they don't even get to miss school. L's the third of us six to get the bug, and definitely is the worst off. Hopefully if the other three of us get it, we'll get the milder version. Maybe I'll get lucky and miss out all together.

yesterday.

I had a great birthday yesterday. It started off with breakfast in bed. The girls brought me scrambled eggs, an english muffin, some strawberries, and orange juice. Three hours later Andrea took me to brunch which was delicious. I got the challah french toast with almond butter and a mimosa. Then it was out to acton for dinner. The four of us got my dad a creative zen plus mp3 player since he started taking the commuter rail into work. He was really excited, and went to install the software right away so he could get it charged up. He'd told us that the library had audio books that you could "borrow" for two weeks and listen to on certain mp3's (not ipod's) with some sort of password. When I left last night, he was downloading something to listen to on his way to work today. I made out well in the present department too. The b's got me this kitchenaid mixer since I'm moving in september and use it more than anyone else. I'm psyched! My parents had a similar idea and are taking me shopping to get something for the apartment. I'll have to think about what I need/want the most. So exciting...

it's.my.birthday!

Send me presents! I love my birthday. I already got two happy birthday texts- the first being my brother brian at 2:11am. That's impressive in itself because he's not known as the best at remembering birthdays. In fact, he forgot his own birthday this year, and only realized it when people started texting him saying happy birthday. Apparently, when he got the first text, he thought it was a joke until he realized that it was march 3rd. The second text was from nora. She's so cute. She got married yesterday, and said happy birthday eve several times last night. Andrea's taking me to birthday brunch at the fireplace today, and nora kept saying that she'd try to meet up with us if we did something later in the day. We said no. It's your wedding weekend nora, and even though birthday's are fun, wedding's are way more important! Plus, this way I get to extend my birthday for another week when we grab dinner at masona grille. I've been wanting to go here forever, but have been saving it for my birthday. My sister julie called during nora's wedding yesterday (but I had my phone off) to say happy birthday too. She's staying in london with my friends for the month of june, and went to italy yesterday for a side trip. So she called before she left since she won't have her phone with her anymore. Since it's father's day too (I used to hate when my birthday was the same as father's day when I was a kid), I'm having dinner at my parent's house. We got my dad a really good gift though, so I'm really excited to give it to him. I guess my mom was right when she told us how sometimes it's nicer to give gifts than receive them. Huh.

happy.wedding.nora!!

Today was nora's highly anticipated wedding. It was aboard the odyssey (a big yacht) in boston harbor, and for once, the weather cooperated! It was in the eighties, sunny, and the nice ocean breeze kept things coolish. After the ceremony on the top deck, we sailed around the harbor while enjoying our fabulous dinner in the dining room. It was neat to see boston from a different viewpoint. After the reception, we all went to the black rose for drinks, where we took the above picture. Me, nora and andrea. I love you nora!

i.really.liked.this.picture...

..of nora (and darlene) peeking through the window of the black rose. If you click on it and look close, you can see the reflection of et#1 and andrea from the outside looking in. So artsy!

pagerank.

Wow. I just checked my pagerank for this site and it made it up to a 4! The last time I checked it had just moved from a 2 to a 3, and I wasn't expecting it to go much higher. I only checked because I was curious what our other blog was at (didn't even register as anything- don't you guys like to read about reading??) and stuck here.to.here in there for fun. Keep coming back...maybe one day I can make it to a 5!

new.boots.

I got new hiking boots the other day. My old ones were really old. I think that the inside part of the sole was breaking down because the balls of my feet and my big toes were always a little sore after hiking. After monadnock, I had a big blister on the outside of my big toe. Bummer. I hadn't planned on getting new ones just yet, but I stopped at rei to pick up some new mantles and a propane tank for my lantern, and they just happened to have my size boots (a rare occurrence) in the past season sale section. They were a very nice price, and I was shocked with how comfortable they were compared to my old ones. So now I just have to go out on another hike to try them out!

summer.concerts.

I've been hearing ads for wbos's summer concert series at copley for a few weeks, and finally looked up the schedule. Here it is:

July 12th - Brandi Carlile with The Dennis Brennan Band
July 19th - Martin Sexton with Chad Perrone
July 26th - The Cat Empire with Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the Trueloves
August 2nd - DeSol & Ryan Shaw
August 9th - Fountains of Wayne with Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles
August 16th - Matt Nathanson & Jonatha Brooke

I'm definitely going to brandi carlile on the 12th, and the cat empire on the 26th. I'll probably go to jonatha brooke as well. Let me know who's going to keep me company.

i.hate.slugs.

Ever since I saw the movie stand by me at age eight, I've hated slugs. I suppose they were actually leeches in the movie, but the theory's the same. Slimy and gross, both of them. Over the past few days, I've had more run ins with slugs than I care to mention. It actually became a joke between ben and me. It started during our hike of monadnock. The trail is very steep and rocky, definitely a hard climb and descent, so I sometimes grabbed trees to help steady or lower myself. After one such point, I felt something wet on my left hand. I thought it was just wet from the rain, but then I looked at it and saw a slug hanging out in my palm. I freaked out. There's really no other way to describe it. I'm pretty sure I screamed "get off" as I violently shook my hand and eventually had to rub it off on a rock. Ben just laughed his a** off at me. Nice friend, huh? I felt nauseous and desperately wanted my hand sanitizer. Since I didn't have that with me, I had to make do with rinsing my hands in a stream. Gross. The trip went on, uneventfully thank heavens. Since it had rained during the night, our tents were wet and muddy, so instead of rolling and packing them up in their bags, we shoved them in my trunk so we could hose them down once we were back at home. Later on sunday, ben sent me this email:
"...I helped my mom weed the garden in the backyard and as I was pulling wet stems out of the ground, I felt something slimy in between my fingers and discovered it to be a crushed slug. My reaction very much resembled your recent slug encounter...and then I could hear my own laughter turn into yours. I guess I had it coming."
Darn right he did! It gets better. I'd rinsed my tent off and dried it partially when we stopped at his parents house, but didn't have time for it to dry out completely. So yesterday, I set it up in the backyard so it wouldn't get moldy. After it had dried completely, I opened my trunk to get the storage bag, only to find a big, fat slug sitting by himself in the middle of my empty trunk. He even left a slimy little trail on the rug. Disgusting.

hotty.

While driving home on a fairly main road, I saw a 40ish year old lady wearing a strapless turquoise bathing suit. That wasn't all. She was also sporting a medical style face mask. Instead of lounging on a beach chair in her front lawn as you'd expect, she was raking imaginary leaves from the road right in front. I didn't get a good look, but I believe she was also wearing hiking boots and ankle socks. Sweet.

mount.monadnock.

I went camping this weekend with ben. We went to mt. monadnock state park in jaffrey, nh. The last time I did this hike was about five years ago. Mandy and I had gone up there for an overnight, and had hiked up to within 30 mins of the top when it started raining. We tried to wait it out in hopes of continuing up, but people started coming down and telling us how slippery it was. We hung our heads in defeat, and went back to the campground where we realized we couldn't cook without a fire, so had to go to friendly's. It was a sad time in my life. This weekend I knew would be better, and it was. Despite starting out with a bunch of rain, we managed to set up our tents, and set off for the top of monadnock. A minute later, I saw the scale hanging behind me. I weighed my pack, and it weighed ten pounds. Climbing was rough. No matter how well I do on the challenging blue hills route, this was ten times harder. I was sweating like a bullet by the time we finished. While there was no rain, it was super humid and foggy, as evidenced by the great view we have down there at the top. The temperature dropped at least 20 degrees, as soon as we left the timber line, and the wind picked up to hurricane speed. We ate some snacks, and let my pants dry out a little. We got back to camp, made the foil packets (hamburger, onion, carrots, and potato wrapped in tin foil and cooked under coals) and were eating them when it started to rain again. Since we hadn't eaten our s'mores yet, we covered ourselves with a tarp, and finished them off. After some lively games of cards, we went our separate ways, and slept like rocks. Another benefit of hiking!

inappropriate.package.

Today I took the girls to a playground in watertown. They like it because it has both a regular park area and a water spray area as well. I like it because it's close to target, so I can make a quick shopping trip before or after the park. Today I picked up a tarp and bungee cords for camping. We got to the park right as the water was at lunch (it's turned off from 1-2pm everyday- to save money? Who knows.) so they played on the swings and climbing things first. Right at 2pm, we went back to the water area, and had a full three minutes of peaceful playtime before about thirty fourth graders came racing in, running through the sprayers in their jeans, socks, tie died t-shirts and fresh mouths. It was crazy to say the least. There were three "teachers" supervising, and I gave them dirty looks as some kids knocked over a cute little 18mth old girl. That's when I noticed that the lone male teacher was sporting a blue terry cloth bathrobe. That was odd enough, but a minute later, he removed said bathrobe to reveal the tiniest tiny bathing suit- the closest thing to a speedo without actually being a speedo. I threw-up a little in my mouth. He ran through the sprayers for about five minutes before returning to his bathrobe. It was really quite creepy. He really should have stopped at target and picked up a pair of bermuda short trunks.

stranger.danger.

A recent discussion with *e* regarding strangers (as recorded on my phone for ease of reproduction):
"If you don't know if they're a stranger, then peak inside their pocket. If they have...if those things that they put around your mouth are peaking out (ie- an ether soaked handkerchief or something), then you know that they're a stranger. And if they look different and you don't know if they're strangers, run away, and tell your mom, but if they look bad, and they look scary, run away and tell your mom. "
Now you all know what to do. Just take a peak inside the person's pocket.

help!

My computer's running slower than molasses. It's driving me crazy! Can this be fixed or do I need a new one with a bigger hard drive and more memory? I might just throw it out the window at this rate.

i.want.another.one.

My lord. I just had one of the best cupcakes of my life. It rivals party favors, which had previously been the only contender, and I really can't choose which one is better! While party favors has delicious icing, this new one, from rosie's bakery, has better cake by far. I'm not usually a chocolate cake fan, but the cake of these cupcakes was similar to a brownie, yet not as dense, nor overly sweet. Even the icing complemented the cake part well. It was much lighter than party favors, almost liked whipped cream, and had a milder taste. Kind of buttery. In fact, as I'm writing this and remembering the exquisite flavor and textures, I have to pick rosie's over party favors. For sure. In fact, while I'd previously considered forgoing the cake at my wedding (which isn't happening anytime soon- not until I find someone to marry in any case), I'm now reconsidering it. Maybe I'll just get several hundred cupcakes instead of a whole cake.

race.results.

I did it. I finished the 5K without dying. I was lucky to have andrea and et#1 to push me along, or my time would have been even worse! Thanks guys! In the end, my place was 1394, and time was 35.54, so 11.35/mile (or 5.2 mph- my normal treadmill speed). It was a good thing that both andrea and et#1 ran as bandits (ie- didn't register or pay) because they kept me company. Otherwise I would have been left in their dust! My summer goal is to keep a more consistent pace, and try to get my time down to 30 mins or so. Then I'll find a 5K in the fall to run, and eventually, a half marathon. The interesting thing is that the numbers went up to 2073, yet only 1570 have their time listed. Were there really 500 people who either didn't show up, or didn't finish? How does this work?

chicken.burgers.

I had a chicken burger for the first time today. I've had veggie burgers before, and I've used ground chicken to make tacos, but I'd never had the chicken burger until today. It was quite good, actually. I can see it becoming a new summer dinner option since the only real burgers I like significantly more are patrick's, but his are more gourmet with rosemary and other stuff added in. Other than those, the chicken wins out since the healthy factor outweighs the fatty flavor factor. I had this chicken burger at tatiana's house. We all met up for a bbq since we haven't hung out in a while. It was a great time (not surprisingly) and now I'm planning a cookout at my place in july. Evite's go out soon. Tatiana has a new boyfriend who, although I've yet to meet him, I like. He's a do-it-himselfer. Apparently he's really tall, and kept bumping his head on his garage door, so he designed and built new ones that stay out of the way. I once told alison how I'm definitely marrying someone who can fix/build/design stuff himself instead of lacking imagination and paying someone else to do it. She said this wouldn't work. Her reasoning? That I wouldn't be able to fix/build/design stuff if my husband did it all. I'm not sure why we couldn't both be creative.

names.

After a year of using initials encased in asterisks, I've decided to switch over to names. Partly because it's just getting annoying, but also because my grandma reads this, and has mentioned, on several occasions, that she can't keep track of who I'm talking about. She doesn't know most of my friends, so unlike many of you who can infer who I'm talking about, she can't. If you're likely to be named in this blog, and don't want to, let me know. I'll keep you as initial only. Et#1- don't worry. Your name will be kept in the vault.

a.shelf.full.of.books.

I have a bit of a problem purchasing books. I like the brookline booksmith, and it just so happens that they have a table with good books that they sell for anywhere from $2.99 to $5.99. Everytime I go in there, I leave with at least two books, which then join the other books that I have on shelves at home. In fact, I once bought the same book twice- about two months apart- since the first purchase was still sitting, unread, on my shelf at home. I try to keep up, really I do, but with our monthly bookclub book and my busy social life (ha!) it's hard to make much headway. During a recent organizing frenzy, I decided to make a spreadsheet of all the books I own, but have yet to read. It topped out at 41. I knew that I needed some motivation to catch up, and when I mentioned this to *ac*, I found she was in a similar situation. So, as a way to keep on top of reading, we've started a new blog called a shelf full of books. We each have a list of the books we need to read, a column where we move them once they're read, and will post our thoughts about them along the way. Since we're just starting out, we won't be reading enough to post everyday (you'll have to stay with this site for that), but hopefully we'll average at least one post per week. Anyone else who's interested is welcome to be a guest poster- especially if you've read a particularly good (or bad) book recently. The link's also on the right, under my favorite blogs, so check it out often, and feel free to comment. Happy reading!