Sushi and Love

For our anniversary I surprised my hubby with a reservation at Samarai Hibachi in Huntington. Here I decided to take my chances and try sushi rolls. Ok find they were crab and tempura salmon rolls so they were mostly cooked, but they were damn good. Then I had teriyaki shrimp. It was a unique and fun dinner. I look forward to many more anniversary dinners.

My dog is ridiculous. 

Maybe I should pursue a degree in retail therapy?

Here are some dishes I saw at Home Goods that I really wanted, but I found dishes I loved just as much there and so my Mom got me similar ones that I have to keep in my house because they are a Christmas present. I wish I could put them out now. Which brings me to my next home obsession...

I was just flipping through the online 2012 IKEA catalog and realized I could rearrange a bunch of things in my house, through some paint up, buy new doors and feel like I am in a new house. So now my brain is all in HGTV mode and I stop to think if this is all a way to avoid homework. My weekends are pretty much booked with paper writing and readings that are due, and when those are not happening, I am traveling. In two weeks I am off to New Orleans for the second time this year; this time for a NACAC conference with my coworkers. Two months after that, the hubby and I jet off with his family to sunny Florida for the second time in my life to go to Disney and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. With all this happening before Christmas, the classes and the trips, you would think I wouldn't want to add more to my plate... but I love change and usually that change happens in the Fall. So I want it.. nay, I need it. I just received a small promotion at my job and now I want some more change! It's addictive. I don't understand why people fear change. Embrace it! Love it! Make it work for you! (Do I sound like a cheesy motivational speaker? Oh well... )

Maybe this is all me trying to avoid homework and papers and reading. Every time I catch up, a new week begins and I need to get back on the discussion board for my online class or work on my term paper for my on campus class. It's a lot and this is just the start of my program. I have two more years of this to look forward to. Uh oh.. this post is getting to real and scary for me. So here are some pictures of my dog. :)

Photo tour of my trip to my Mom's upstate

I am going to give you a photo tour of my trip upstate. These things are usually reserved for text messages between me and Ms. Pistachiopants (aka Lynne) . However, I decided to share these special moments with you, my readers. So my husband, friends, and Lynne.

Our journey starts on the car trip up where we watched the sunset in the mountains as we listened to Salem's Lot by Stephen King and I was grateful we didn't get to any super scary parts.


Then we got there and slept. Friday we went on an adventure to find a waterfall with a name my Mom couldn't remember and nor did she remember what town it was in. Turns out she also had the road wrong, but we happened to find it none the less. It was about a half a mile walk down a mountain to get to it, but it was a very pretty walk.


You could see the Upper Falls from a platform at the beginning of the walk, but we wanted the Lower Falls. And in case we wanted to walk back to LI, NYC was only 275 miles away according to this rustic sign.


Once we got to the bottom it was a sign to see. Very enclosed with a calm pool of water at the end of the Falls. It was called the Minekill Falls in case you are ever aimlessly driving along Rt. 30 in Upstate New York. There was a family there who went swimming there, which I am pretty sure is not allowed even thought there are no signs. What gave it away was when we walked back up, a Mountain Sheriff Police Dude was walking down to, I assume, tell the family they couldn't swim there.

We took a picture before we headed to our next adventure.

Our next adventure was a train ride from Arkville to Roxbury and back. It was pretty and at Roxbury we got to have ice cream cones before going back. Was it worth $12 per person? I don't know, but it was something to do and I have always wanted to breathe in diesel smoke for 2 hours. (There may be a bit of sarcasm there.) I did get this cool picture though. (There are COWS!!)
Then we headed back to the rustic house on the mountain that my Mom lives in. Actually it's not so much rustic as a house with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths they had built for them that overlooks the side of a mountain, but it gets bears occasionally and here is a chipmunk on the deck!


That was Friday. Saturday we went to a country fair type thing where we had hot dogs and some knick knacks. Then it rained so we went back to the house for some wine and beer and what my mother kept referring to as "house party time". Sunday when we drove back we expected rain the whole time, but somehow I think we drove behind the storm the entire time and took some sun back with us. That was pretty pleasant. I had ice cream about 4 times on that trip, so I will fondly remember it as Upstate Ice Cream Weekend.

Grad Student City

I just remembered today that we have to figure out how we are going to pay for the Fall semester for grad class. It's a good thing Gordon's program is free or else I don't know what we would do. Loan city I suppose. Payment plan city, maybe. Pretend college is free and forget about it.... city, perhaps. Classes start at the end of the month. I am scared and excited and dreading all the work. I will miss free time. Maybe I will just play Sims 3 for the rest of the Summer.

I think Disney and Harry Potter Wizarding World in December will help get me through this dark time.

PS Spotify is awesome.
PPS Summer is going by too fast.

Gay Cowboy

I love Jake Gyllenhaal.... That is all.

Defining Gender and the End of an Era

Today the Husband and I had an interesting chat that was sparked by an ABC Good Morning America article that questioned how really against pink the new generations of boys are. I plan on raising my kids not to think that colors are gendered and neither are toys or dress up clothes for the most part. The only thing we really differed on was whether, if we had a boy, our kid wanted to wear a dress to school or play dress up. G said he would basically insist that the boy wear pants because skirts and dresses are not okay for boys. I can understand this mentality because he doesn't want out kids to be teased if it can be avoided. I feel like if the child is young enough and they very desperately want to wear it they can, and if they get teased I could explain to them why it is probably better to wear pants to school and out. As far as colors or toys like kitchen sets and dolls or trucks and comic book toys, I will not try to influence their interests and allow them to play and pick colors as they wish. I do not want to have our children picked on and I will try to do everything I can as a parent to try to prevent it, but as someone who was picked on for no good reason other than I didn't speak up and stand up to the bullies, I at least want my kids to be happy and play and dress as they please.

In other completely unrelated news, Borders Books & Music, where my husband and I met, is closing its doors.... all its doors. This is sad. It is at Borders where I met G, an adorable cafe seller who loved comic references and lean proteins and vegetables. I was an annoying college students whose crush could not have been more obvious. It was here that our friendship bloomed, later (much later... like 5 years later) we began our romance. I am sad to see it go. I don't go there as often as I would like, but I also met my best friend Lynne there. I forced her to be my friend by talking incessantly and making her drive around with me while eating flipz and drinking slurpees and listening to music. Man, we wasted a lot of gas, but there wasn't too much else to do on LI at 1am.

Sugar Crash

Harry Potter inspires amazing treats.

Grad class and Elizabeth

So my first grad class is going pretty well. It is definitely reaffirming my career choice. I really enjoy learning things that aren't purely academic, but that I can apply in my actual job. We'll see how I feel when I am taking two classes, recruiting, and working in the fall.

I have a new niece in my family. This makes 5 nieces and nephews, 3 born in June. Apparently September is fertile month. I'll keep that in mind when we are ready to start a family. I am definitely looking forward to adding to our family, there is plenty we would like to do first. Finish our graduate degrees. Travel. Make some updates to the house. Go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida. You know, important things.

Summer time....

Tomorrow I start my first grad class, but today is Memorial day, the unofficial start to summer and it's raining. I am quite excited for the barbecue because it may be one of my favorite food groups. What? You say that's not a food group? Screw you and your limited point of view. Meat, cheese, and bread. Yes!

Lately I have been very much in love with my house. When it is clean. And the yard is nice. There are a few projects we are hoping to get done this summer. The big ones include: Getting rid of the rocks and paving the driveway. Putting down weed matting. Paint the family room. Open the pool. I am hoping at least all of those things get done, if the smaller things on my list don't get done, I would be excited to have these complete.

I really should be cleaning up and getting ready for our barbecue, but I think I will look at the dresses on Modcloth instead.

Student Status

It's official, or I guess it was official before, but now it's student ID official. I am a grad student. I went down to Stony Brook with my husband to get my ID and find where the best parking for my summer class is. Turns out it is in the middle of campus in a faculty lot that is only effective 9am-4pm. And since my class doesn't begin until 5:30, that works out quite well for me. Parking is very important to me. The campus is huge and they are doing construction in a bunch of places. Now I have my ID (yea, SBU library! I'm looking at you!) and I know where my class is. I have my books, a notebook, and pens. And I have no idea what the program is going to be like since it doesn't even officially begin until the Fall. The past spring semester and this summer semester are kind of early preview semesters. Brand new program, mostly same old me. I am very interested to see how much of my mind I lose taking grad classes, working full time, and working on the house. I hope it will help that the hubby is working on his Masters as well. We can be study buddies... just studying different things. This fall I will be taking a course that's on campus and one online. This will be my first online class ever. I am a bit nervous as the reason why I'm usually a good student is my not taking ability and structure that the class gives me. I'd rather listen and take notes than read any day. I am interested and nervous to see how it goes. Maybe I will make Gordon read me the things I need to learn. He's got nothing going on, right? Oh crap, that' right, his Masters.. how selfish of him.

Happy new dryer day!

Happy new dryer day!

We got a new dryer today! Installed it ourselves and everything. I am very excited about the steam setting! No more ironing that I wasn't doing anyway! This was an awesome gift from my mom.

This is what excites me. Also the hope that the driveway will get paved this summer. A girl can dream.

Green Thumb

Today was week two of attempting a garden. This time we're hoping Benny doesn't dig everything up. We bought flowers, grass seed, we mowed, weeded (kind of, as least as much as I could before I got too pissed at the universe for even allowing weeds to exist), and planted flowers where there was once a really nasty pond. It feels like this is really our house this year. We have all our rooms filled with furniture and some of it we actually purchased! We are setting up desks and getting ready to really bunker down on our respective Masters. Today I got my college ruled notebook, so I am reeeeeally ready for grad school. It's yellow!

Damn it, Benny just started digging the backyard up again. Guess he's going into his crate again.

Not-a-Mother's Day

Wow it's been a month since I last posted??

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all the awesome and mediocre moms out there! I have been having a lot of dreams over the past few months that I have either been pregnant or had a child. It is very strange. I thought maybe I could be ready, but I really want to get through my Master's first if possible, before I break down and give into my maternal instincts, filling our rooms with babies. Just two. I would love girls because I grew up with four sisters, but I am sure a gay boy would be just fine too. Just kidding, I don't have any control over that... yet. One of my oddly favorite things to do is bother my husband with what we should name out baby we're not even trying to have yet. Usually it falls to girls names since he turns down every single boys name I like! And every once in a while we will agree on a girls name and then I will bring up the same name a couple weeks or months later and he decides he doesn't like it anymore. The one we have in mind now is keeping strong, but only time will tell.

I have a slight obsession with having a unique name for our kids since I grew up with a very very common name and there was always 1-2 other girls with the same name in my class since kindergarten. And they will have a rocking last name that is fairly hard to turn into the name of a female pain reliever, so that's a positive.

I have to say, I have some great people who know how to rear a child in my life to help me learn how I want to raise my kids. (ha ha... rear a child... ok I am so not ready for kids yet.) My sister Meghan and Gordon's sister Kateri do a great job and combine affection and discipline in a very respectable way. One of the things I worry about is going back to work full time. It seems like somehow more women I know are going the part time or stay at home route, rather than going back to work. I don't know what will happen in the next two years, but I have the "I can do it all" mentality that I can go back to work after having a baby. Yes, it will be expensive and I will have mental problems because I will be going through separation anxiety everyday, but I am getting my masters and trying to work my way up in higher ed that I want to give my family everything I can, do something I love, and still be there for the babies.

Now I am off to the in-laws for breakfast. And my renewed fears about future motherhood can keep my head spinning as I eat pancakes.

Grad Student

I am officially going back to school. Going to get my learn on! I start this summer. I'll be sitting in a class, buying text books, taking notes, studying. It's going to be very interesting. Taking classes in class and online. For a while, I thought I wasn't going to get in. Turns out they were having issues because of my name change.

I am now enrolled in 3 classes, and they are as follows:
Summer: Survey of Higher Education (in class)

Fall: College Student Development Theory (in class)

Leadership in Higher Education (online)

So far books don't look too expensive. I have not figured out parking yet. (Just checked out, now more confused than before.)

UPDATE: Just found out that parking is free after 4pm there! SCORE!

Today I ate lunch at a little place called Stanley in New Orleans. I was by myself so I was chatting with the counter server when a waitress comes over and tells him John Krasinski was sitting in the corner. So he finds him and we take a quick peek and sure enough, there was The Office's own Jim Halpert. So when I was done I went outside and sat in the square and when he and his friend came out I snapped a quick pick. For a second I considered running over and asking for a picture but my fear of being seen as annoying and stalker like paralyzed me. So I settled for a sighting instead of a meeting. He is very tall and had his baseball hat on. 

I will be posting more on the rest of my New Orleans trip later. G should be back soon and we're going on the Scandalous Cocktail Hour tour.

Things I learned from my mother...

There are a lot of things about my life, personality, looks that I can attribute to my mother. I'd like to take a moment to lay them out...

• Blue eyes and bad eyesight... which I can really thank both my parent for.
• A slight to moderate obsessive-controlling nature when it comes to cleaning
• A moderate to high controlling nature about most things in my life
• An undefined jawline that I am super paranoid about
• High cheekbones
• A tendency to read magazines backwards
• A love of folk music, good books, and liberal politics
• Not being able to deal with loud noises or loud kids that I do not personally have a relationship with and love
• Wanting my animal, dog or cat, to be super snuggley
• A fear of doctors and dentists
• Good budgeting and buying skills. Sounds like it should conflict itself, but so far we're doing well
• Hating projects that don't get finished
• Always making sure, no matter what mood I am in, that those I love are well aware of it

Happy Friday all!

A heart that burns

I know what you're thinking, two posts in two days? (Three if you count the weird one about Lynne that may be as fake as Benny's post.) But I wanted to share a picture from a very good meal I had last night that turned very evil later on. G and I went out to dinner with our $100 gift card in hand, prepared to make this meal awesome. We each had our own 3 course meal. I had mussels in a garlic and white wine sauce for my appetizer, shrimp oreganata over angel hair pasta for dinner, and their dessert special, zeppole (see picture).

Everything was so good, I didn't even have left overs. I had prepared that day by not eating too much. I had an egg sandwich, a chai, and a Special K bar (if you have not discovered the joys of Special K chocolatey pretzel bars, then you are missing out in life my friend). After the meal I did not feel my usual roll me home, I'm so over indulgent and fat self. I felt ok. We got home, went to bed and I was happy.

Until 2am rolls around and I get heartburn like I've never had before... literally. I've never had heartburn before. Heartburn and indigestion. Four tums, two swings of pepto, and an hour later I was finally able to get back to sleep. First of all, I am just grateful we even had those things in the house. And for the husband who woke up to go get them for me. And for Benny who slept on his doggie bed while I tossed and turned.

Is this what adulthood is like? Feeling like your heart and esophagus are fighting to break free by using a flame thrower to make their way out? Because if so, I'm ready to go back to the days of high school where I could eat whatever I wanted and my metabolism and young body took care of the rest. The good thing about adulthood though? Getting a giant bowl of zeppole (note that one zeppole is called zeppola! Thanks wikipedia!) for dessert and no one saying, haven't you had enough sugar? Except maybe my husband, with his eyes.

I wonder who wrote this post....

Sometimes I think to myself, “I wonder what it would be like to work in a museum.” Would it be a fun action filled Night at the Museum? Or like falling asleep in College to the soft dry lullaby of monotone American History lectures?

Early last week I visited Lynne in New Jersey and shadowed her as part of a month-long community outreach program that invites local school children, college students, and admission counselors from Long Island to realize their dream of going behind the scenes at a Museum.

We spent most of the day sitting at her desk talking to her friends on gchat, researching the origins of expressions like “mumbo jumbo”, and walking to the State House to get coffee.

One interesting part of the day was when she gave me a guided tour of the newest exhibit at the museum. The exhibit tells the story of child labor through the photographs of Lewis Hine. Here, in this photograph, you can see Lynne delivering a lecture on the process of researching and developing exhibition content and the aesthetics of exhibit layout.

Later she was called down to the lobby to greet a man dressed in black who was walking through the double doors of the main entrance holding a shovel with something curled up and furry on it. It turned out to be a dead fox. A man brought a dead fox to the museum to be stuffed and mounted for an upcoming exhibit on the indigenous creatures that have lived/currently live in New Jersey.

What an exciting day! I was given an opportunity to interview her to ask many pointed questions such as:

What made you interested in a museum career? Her answer? :: "the glory".

What role should an arts and cultural institution such as a museum play in the surrounding community? She didn’t give me a straight answer to this question. She just looked blankly at me, uncomfortably fidgeted with her cell phone, and then said “hey, remember that dead fox we saw before?”

When did the New Jersey State Museum open? Her answer?:: "In the early spring of 1653."

Tell me about your ideal job? Her answer? :: "In a perfect world I would get paid to travel across the United States stopping at thrift stores and flea markets collecting other people’s old crap. And then I’d write a book about it. Or wait, did you mean in the museum field?"

My Dumb Life

I know I don't post here very often because I don't think I have very interesting things going on in my life. For example, last week one of my highlights was getting the socks I ordered from Kohls.com and getting to wear socks that didn't have holes in them because my dog stole my sock from me one day. Should I probably not wear socks after my dog bit it enough to make a small hole in the bottom that is only getting bigger? Probably, because it's kind of gross and weird, but I have a slight obsession with knee high socks in the winter. So I bought more from Kohl's with my gift card, 20% off coupon, and points I received from MyPoints. And that's all I bought, trouser socks and knee high socks. I'm that awesome. It probably stems from my treks through the cold, mean streets of NYC. Back in the days of one hour commutes on subways, buses, and walking I would wear tights or leggings and knee high socks under my business pants with a tank top under my sweater under my sweatshirt under my jacket, and of course the gloves, scarf and hats to keep everything else warm. And I was still freezing. I do not miss that commute. Or frankly that company. I do not miss leaving my apartment at 7am to get to the office by 8am and working straight to 5 or 6 pm with no lunch. I do miss the C's (Casey, Caroline, and Carrie) and Astoria and being able to go back to an apartment after a concert or party instead of a long ass train ride back home. But the pros of my life quite outweigh the cons. Who wouldn't love a house, a husband I wouldn't give up for the world, a job where I can grow and incorporate what I love about social networking marketing, a driveway (oh how I love having secure parking right by my front door), and my dopey, adorable pup! How did I get from socks to this? No idea. Enjoy this picture of Benny!!

Things I have learned I have been missing all my life:

• DVR: Wow, thank you G for this amazing integration into my life, which now consists of sitting in the corner of our wonderful sectional and watching the Daily Show, Modern Family, HIMYM, and SNL in my downtime
• Netflix: Wow, as if DVR didn't keep me glued to the boob-tube during the cold days, this certainly does. All of LOST on whenever I want to watch? Yes please!
• HDTV: Yes, ok, I understand the first things I talk about revolve around tv, but I lived with no cable and a tv that had a vcr built into it for 3 years so all this seems amazing during the winter months when all I want to do is relax in front of a warm flat screen.
• King size bed: I don't think this needs further explanation. I love to stretch out and when you share a bed with a husband and a dog, it goes from a want to a necessity.
• Counter space: Ok, so I have only been missing this since I lived on my own, but you don't realize how wonderful it is to have more than 1 square foot until that is all you have.
• Heels: I could not walk to work and walk around the concrete flooring in my office in NYC in shoes with any kind of heel and flats would crumble into brown nothingness walking around, so when I started living on LI and driving to work I realized that I could be wearing cute shoes again! My husband can attest to how overboard I have gotten, but it brings me joy to hear those wonderful words: "I love your shoes!"
• Hugs: When he gets home, when I wake up, watching tv, I didn't know how hug deprived I was until I started getting them all the time. I am a full blown addict now. I have come to terms with this and I am ok with it.
  

I could continue, but I will try to post more about random things. Tonight the husband and I are going out to dinner. Maybe I will post about my food. And in two weeks we are heading to New Orleans and in a month and a half I am going on to visit my sisters in New Mexico and Washington. So stay tuned.

Benny the Blogger

This is Benny the Dog, guest blogging here. You may have heard some stories about me and I'm here to tell you they are simply not true. I am not the cute and cuddly pup that the humans would have you believe. I am in fact, a secret agent. I work undercover as the Snugger. This is the cover I use to find the infamous cat simply known as "The Stray". The Stray has been know to use my human's backyard as her own personal litter box and walk all over like she owns the place. I am here to capture and bring her in. She has elluded me so far however. I believe she has an accomplice. We call this one, The Cow. I am restricted by my alias life because the humans have fenced me in or leashed me. But I have seen and had brief contact with these two ellusive pussies. And you can make my words, I will take them down.

I have commandeered the lady human's machine to get this message out to all of you. If you see the Stray or the Cow, remember they are foe, not friends. Any help you can give me to helping me track these bitches down would be helpful. Oh, got to go, I think they said the word "treat"...

Couch and Pancakes

Yesterday, one year after we moved the couches into the house via the family room window, G's friends were back to help us move them out last night to make room for the new sectional we got today. Along with pizza and beer, we celebrated one year in our house by acting very similar to the first day in the house. Moving stuff around then eating.

But nooooow.... the NEW SECTIONAL IS HERE! They showed up at 7:40 to deliver the couch that was coming between 8:09am and 11:09am. Well better early than late.

Speaking of late, this weekend our Thank Yous WILL get out... new couch, lend me your powers!

Monday is pancake day. Not like National Pancake Day or anything stupid like that. No this is pancake day done right. My friends and I are driving from all over to Ridgewood, NJ to get basically the most awesome pancakes. Will they be able to fit all of us in a timely fashion? Will the pancakes be as good as we're building them up to be? Who knows, but we're driving an hour and a half to get there, so I am hoping for the best.

Here is the menu... enjoy being jealous.

Grown up purchases

Here is our first major furniture purchase since we moved in (technically we bought our bed before we moved in). It comes on the 19th. We tested it out at Bob's and it was a great couch for a great deal. Even the saleslady wasn't pushy. I didn't feel like they were following me around waiting to pounce.

In other purchasing news, I am up for an upgrade on my phone and in about 11 days I will be getting the Verizon iPhone. I am very excited. It does involve waking up at 3am on on the 3rd (G's birthday) to preorder it however, but ensuring I get it asap so I can get rid of my broken phone is well worth it. My love of gadgets and fun technology has been greatly increased by my husbands interest in them and I relish in it. I plan on getting him a very fun toy for his birthday, but it does not come out until April. So he will just have to wait til the Acer Android Tablet comes out.

Yay new adult toys... or toys for adults.... or something that doesn't sound like a sex toy! Being a grownup can be quite fun.

Snow, 2011, and Fidelity

I am so sick of snow, but definitely not hatin' on the snow days. Right now it is 3°F. 3! Unacceptable. I have to say, the best part of the cold is getting to cuddle close to my man. Yesterday we watched football and he made a chicken gumbo-esque dinner. He's a very talented man. I could write a whole post about why this man I married is just the right man for me, but I'll try to keep the gush to a minimum.

Things I am looking forward to this year:

• New Orleans with Gordon
• iPhone
• Not working every Saturday and going down to working one late day a week
• A lower heating bill (we got a new boiler, hot water heater, and insulation in our attics. Thank you Brookhaven Green Homes Project!!)
• Getting some home projects done... molding and lighting in the dining room, replacing the couches in the family room with a sectional, making the living room in the front of the house look like a living room instead of an empty room with a couch.
• The weather has to get warmer... right?
• I have a week off in April and no idea what I will be doing with it
• Hopefully starting grad school in the summer
• September will be 1 year of marriage. Right now it's been just over 4 months.
• Benny has to calm down.... right?

Speaking of marriage. I watch a lot of movies and tv and whenever people are in relationships and fight to the point of leaving the other person or cheat or think about cheating I wonder how. And how do we make sure this doesn't happen to us? People in the real world. Well, all I know for sure, right now, is I will do everything in my power to be someone Gordon can always be proud to call his wife. And I can't see how he could be anything other that someone I am proud to call my husband. So everyone, let's just all try to be happy and not look for reasons to ruin things or make each other miserable, because as the movie I'm watching right now tells me... the people you love have the power to make you miserable. Movies like this make me wish my husband was next to me so I can promise that I will always be his and he will always be mine.

Sorry... I'm taken.