anne taintor.

i discovered anne taintor designs when i was shopping for bridesmaids gifts. her modern, vintage humor is RIGHT up my alley. i scooped up some flasks & luggage tags for the travel themed occasion and have since, thoroughly enjoyed sending her cards to deserving recipients who will appreciate the humor.


i've decided that the next opportunity i get to have a ladies night cocktail hour, these beverage napkins NEED to come with me. you can shop for them here. AND since i'm not a stickler for rules, cocktail hour can be achieved by one or more persons attending.

buffalo chicken wing dip.

remember this recipe?! well it came out just for the superbowl tonight. my husband is really spoiling me! YUUMMMMMMY.

happy bday hubby.

my hubby has a birthday today!! i wanted to make him a special bday dinner however he got roped into working a night shift. (boo) so we scooted out to a late lunch in between meetings @ the Gate House Cafe in Village Gate.


i've been there a few times for lunch. they have really YUMMY wood fired pizzas and gourmet burgers. it was no surprise (to me atleast) the birthday boy picked a burger with bacon and blue cheese. topped with pesto mayo... YUM. i got a pizza and will be enjoying the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. double YUM.



happy birthday mcallister!!

dougie's 60th.

If you see the GOOSE buy him a beer because he's 60 today!!

Happy Birthday DOUGIE :)

fun labels.

i found super-cute party theme ideas when looking for bridal *stuff* on this website. it is a wedding style website that framed all the themes around bridal showers which got my mind racing for upcoming friends who might tie the knot in the next few years.

then i got to thinking and several of them could so be a non-bridal shower. they're good fro any ole regular party, get together, birthday, or special occasion! i even used the super cute book club labels for a recent birthday occasion.


sondra turned a FABULOUS age last week and we got her some light reading material. one from me, one from the boy, and one from lucy. i downloaded these labels for the to/from tags and these labels for the 'this book is perfect for you because....' part and VOILA. add fun wrapping paper and we've got ourselves some composition notebook style gifts. perfect for the teacher in ur lives ;-)

poolside.

we're back from vacation.

as usual, i'm drowning in hundreds of photos of all the FUN we had. here are just a few pics of how we spent our 4th.... POOLSIDE!


that hat got around quite a bit!

happy canada day.

to all my canadian friends, family and readers,

HAPPY CANADA DAY.

lucy in stripes.

lucy got all dolled up in her *newest* shirt to go visit Murel for his 6th bday party. she had quite a good time and even got to share (aka: steal) most of his bday gifts.


*i should clarify that this is her ONLY shirt. lucy and i think she looks CUTE all dressed up however someone else in our house would beg to differ.

birthday boy.

someone in our house has a big, ROUND, birthday today! this pic is hanging in our hallway and has caught my eye many times this week in anticipation of his big day. hard to believe he is turning 30 when that baby face hasn't gone anywhere!

since lucy and i LOVE birthdays so much, we both wore hats this morning to celebrate and baked him a cake.

so maybe Lucy doesn't like wearing hats. she would hardly wear it long enough for me to turn my camera on. boo. it took 4 attempts and 3 broken hats to get this 10 sec video of her. sadly it's the best i can do....

it's official!

No last minute snags or hiccups, the kids made it across the stage! What a nice weekend for everyone!

I had so much fun hanging out with the family in Albany and getting to meet Lisa's family. What a sweet bunch! Looking forward to the next celebration already.

Pics are in and online. Trying to find a tool to so that everyone can upload to the same album. That way we can see who has better photos and order prints if we want. Stay tuned!

Albany Pump Station.

The Albany Pump Station draws its name from its location. It's a warehouse-sized building that was formerly used to draw water out of the Hudson River and pump it into Bleecker Reservoir. In 1927, the pump station moved over 7 BILLION gallons of water. It's a brew PUB today, with a bunch of its own varieties of beer on tap. The distilling vats are up above the bar, visible from all areas of the restaurant. There are also the huge CRANES that were originally part of the water works, which I found out have been restored and are now used on occasion to lift the fermenting vats.

Saturday night, we went there for some great food and beer. We were celebrating the college graduation of my little brother Jon and his girlfriend Lisa. There was about 15 or so of us, and we were in GREAT company. I had the popular 'Pump Station Burger', accompanied with a nutty, brown Ale called 'Kick-ass BROWN'. All in all, it was FUN. A great alternative to all the popular CHAIN restaurants that are always within arms reach.

graduation weekend.

It's finally here! Graduation weekend (University @ Albany) for my little bro Jon (aka: birdman) and his girlfriend Lisa. Hard to believe that those 2 faces will be awarded a college degree in just a few days....

We're off to Albany, NY tonight for lots of weekend festivities. A little rain isn't going to stop this party. Hat's off to the graduates!

luau.

Last weekend, we celebrated Justine's 20th bday with a luau-style party! It was filled with SUNSHINE, family, friends, water balloons, a pinata, some grass skirts, great food and good times.

Pics can be found here!

Happy 50th Anniversary!

My BLOG turned 50 today….

Having a relatively new entrance into the BLOGGING world, I baked myself CUPCAKES today to celebrate my 50^th POST.

Cheers to 50 MORE!

christmas in Feb!

Two weekends ago, I celebrated christmas with Jon and Lisa because we didn't cross paths at the holidays. (BOO to Jon getting sick)

They know how much I HEART presents. And they were truly creative with the BEVERAGE BASKET gift. I'd never seen one before!!


It came filled with beverage goodies!! Starbuck's coffee, various teas, hot cocoa mix, sugar cubes, marshmallows, mexican beer, Starbucks frappucino, powerade, bloody mary mix, a teapot, and SO MUCH MORE.

Thank you Jon and Lisa so much for our FUN filled gift. I can't wait to consume it ALL!!