Weekend

This past weekend was pretty mellow which was a nice change. Friday night we went through Scott's boxes of files & childhood memorabilia and got those all put away. We had brought home about 5 boxes full from our trip to Buffalo a few weeks ago but haven't had the chance to go through them since well we have been busy.

Saturday we woke up and Scott went for a haircut so I started on breakfast. The mission was to make the Captain Crunch French Toast like we had had at Blue Moon in Baltimore that I posted about here . Tell me what you think in resemblance?












My customers in the house thought it was damn good so I guess that was what I was looking for.





After breakfast was over we set out to run a few errands before we needed to head up to Westchester County for a friends wedding. We arrived at the reception hall on a beautiful HOT afternoon and the reception hall is on the long island sound so was nice to look out on to the water. It was great getting to catch-up with college friends at the wedding and needless to say we were spent by the time we got home after midnight.








Sunday we slept in till 10:30!!!! We then went to my parents and picked up an extra car since I needed to get my car looked at for a few things. We have been delaying a project, our basement, since we moved in but the time has come and we are in full gear today. We spent the afternoon with an nail air gun in the basement putting up a frame for a workout room (1st room we will finish). We got the three bottom bases in and 2 uppers (need Ryan's help for the 3rd). The goal is to have all of the framing done by Monday and then the studs nailed in by Thursday this week. Wish us luck!

P.S.- yes I did get my hair cut (well chopped) this is it!

Good News Friday!

I am sure most of my avid readers have known that since moving back from the UK the company I was working with over there laid me off once we made the decision to come back home. Nice.

Leaving that all behind, I was made an offer to join up with my old CFO of that company and the former Controller of that company (they both moved on also). I accepted the offer and became a contractor for them. Over the past 7 months, I have been working for them and truly love being back with them. They are fantastic bosses and you learn a great deal from them. We have been in the discussion the whole time since working here about my FT employment opportunity, but needed to wait until an announcement was made. That announcement was that they were moving from the furthest northeastern tip of NJ to Princeton, NJ. That is about a 2 hour drive and for most of the employees they all live north of the current office in NY counties. The announcement was made and everyone has until August 17th to give their decision, but on Wed. this week I received my FT offer letter!!!!! A little negotiating back and forth and I am officially back as a FT employee as on Monday August 3rd!

This has been a bit of a headache for Scott and I since he was offered benefits, etc. at his job for us in February but we declined them since we were covered until the end of March with my old company and also was supposed to go FT with the new company April 1st. That all didn't pan out due to the announcement, but thankfully Scott and I didn't need to go to the doctor's in that time. With smiles on our faces now that we can go to the doctor, dentist and optrician, if need be, we can knowing that we only have a co-pay and not a full bill to pay out of our pocket!

Happy Friday!!!

Blue is the color, football is the game...

This past Friday we loaded up my car with 5 adults and luggage and made the 3 hour trip to Baltimore to watch Chelsea take on AC Milan (unfortunately Beckham is not playing for them as much as I would have liked to see him though).

We started off the weekend with lunch at an Irish Pub which was full of Chelsea fans, Scott was in heaven, and a few buckets of beer! After our 6th comrade joined us (he drove down from Rochester) we headed back to the hotel to get prepped for the game. We decided there was no better way to go that at least slightly drunk...I mean the English are almost always drunk at games so why shouldn't we be??? 45 beers later I think we were well on our way.

A few pictures from the pre-game

Bill drinking from his Crunk cup (or bowl).

Brendan and Alex trying to investigate what the specimen stain is on the lounge chair.

We made our way to M&T bank Stadium (home of the Baltimore Ravens) and were not allowed in the Stadium yet so we had a few more beers (8).

Here is Bill with his loyal Man U fan that we found!!!!!!

Once inside we lined up for more beer (6) and then headed into our seats.

After the Chelsea win 2-1 vs. AC Milan, we went back to the Irish Pub and had yet another beer. I think our total after the end of the night was at least 72 beers between 6 of us. Needless to say, we really didn't need another beer after the game.

Saturday morning we were up (some of us) and headed out to look for a breakfast place. They are very hard to come by to say the least. If you live in Baltimore and would like to make a killing, open up a breakfast joint. You will make a killing doing it. We asked for some suggestions and got, Johnny Rockets (um no they do burgers), Panera (can get that any time so no thank you), Cheesecake Factory (they open at 11:30am and we are STARVING), restaurants with buffets (no thanks not what we were looking for) and the final suggestion Blue Moon Cafe. Sounds like a winner! We got the directions and were told it would be about 5 blocks from there......3 extra sets of directions and about 20 blocks later we were on the 1 hour wait list.

We all needed something to help the tummies after lots of drinking and so a few of us went to Whole Foods (we passed it along the way) and got some juice and coffee. On the way back the two sleepy heads met us and within 10 minutes of getting back we were seated.



The inside of the place:

Our waitress came over and told us the specials, Captain Crunch french toast, crab, spinach, feta omelet and a herb omelet. What was that first one again? Oh that is our special that we were on the Food Network for.....say that again. We will take one of those to start! Would you like a Cinnamon Roll? Why wouldn't we!

Captain Crunch French Toast. As seen on Diners/Drive-ins/Dives on the Food Network.

It was to DIE FOR!

Above is my Crab, Spinach and Feta Omelet with has browns!

This was Bill's Mexican eggs with Chorizo, tortilla and hash browns. The other dishes were just as yummy and I would highly recommend that if you are in Baltimore you check out the Blue Moon Cafe!

We all needed to get wheeled out of here since we were stuffed, but decided that it was best to take a slow walk back to the hotel, even though a taxi sounded great.

After a few stops along the way, we went to the hotel pool then played about 3 hours of tennis on the rooftop deck. Alex and I were victorious vs. Ryan and Bill.....after some very long matches.

We went to the Rusty Scupper for dinner, after we all joked about the name during the previous day and that morning. The food was fantastic, the wait staff could have been better, but the company was the best!

Sunday we headed back to NJ and went to bed early! It was a wonderful weekend with good food, good company, good soccer match and great entertainment (yellow dress girl)!

Who says we are in a recession?

I know people are feeling the wrath of the economy and are number crunching trying to save pennies, but on the other side of the world there are people who are not feeling the effects of the economy at all.

I saw this photo yesterday and was thinking to myself, you have got to be kidding me. People actually spend loads of money to get their pet to look like this. This is like a new accessory for people. Instead of the fashionable handbag and shoes you now have a fashionable pet.

You can get your pet's hair dyed in a variety of rainbow colors (below). Can't you just picture Bailey as a Hot Pink Labrador?? Yeah Right.

Pet Hair Dye is the new thing??? It started in Japan and now is starting to take off more and more. While your pooch is at the salon getting a hair dye (it is pet friendly) they can get their nails done too. OPI has a Pawlish nail line out there for pet friendly nail polish. It comes is 6 colors (listed below).

OK, enough said. I had to post this though because I just couldn't believe my eyes.

Exhausted

My best friend Katie and I headed to Las Vegas for a long weekend. Just a time to get away and have some R&R! It was a blazing 113 everyday!!!! Now that isn't bad considering it is dry desert heat right.....wrong. It was humid and hot which with that combination was UGLY.

We arrived on Wed morning bright and early and got checked in to Caeser's hotel. We didn't do too much but walk around, play some slots and lay by the pool. We were a bit tired.

Paris Paris Hotel

Bellagio on the left and Caeser's in the background.



The new Hard Rock Cafe is coming to the strip. The hotel is off the strip for the Hard Rock but I guess they figure that they can make more money with having another restaurant on the strip. I think the guitar on the outside looks pretty cool!





On Thursday we spent the day at the pool and then headed over to the New York New York. We went to the dualing piano bar and sat down for a few hours and a few Miller Lites and Lienenkugels! After a few hours of singing and drinking we were a bit on the tipsy side. What better way to get rid of that than to go eat at P.F. Changs!




On Friday we hung out at the pool all day and then headed up to the room to get ready to go see LOVE (a Cirque du Soleil show). It is based on The Beatles and was FANTASTIC! It is a must see and I would go again!!!! The choreography was wonderful and a wonderful show.

After the show we went to Joe's for a wonderful dinner and a fantastic Banana Cream Pie with candied walnuts and fosters sauce (my mouth is watering thinking about it)!

Saturday was another day at the pool and a lot of drinks. It was blazing hot that you couldn't even sit outside the pool for more than 5 minutes. We had quite a few drinks there that by the time we left I think we had had enough drinks for the whole night too. We went back down to the NY NY for the dualing pianos and some Mexican food.

A few night shots of the strip.

Sunday was up early for our flight back.

Katie won some, I lost some but all in all it was a great trip. Got a bit of color (not so pasty white as my brother used to call me while living in England) and now I need to catch up on some sleep!

Viva Las Vegas

We have been busy (well not that busy) but went to Buffalo this weekend to surprise my in-laws and now I am off to Las Vegas with my best friend for a little R&R! Looking forward to warm weather and some days away from work! Wish me luck winning some money.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!

The Joys of Being a Home Owner

I remember vividly the days when I was looking forward to buying my first place. The excitement of decorating it and fixing it to my style and liking. After living in London for 3 years in a rental where you can't really do to much except sit and stair at plain white walls in EVERY room we were excited to move home to color.



This morning I woke up and made breakfast, took a shower and went to the basement to throw a load of laundry on. When I opened up the basement door I quickly realized one of the downfalls to home ownership, we had a flooded basement. Yes I know some of you are saying, hold on you just re-did your whole house. Yes we did and there were no issues with that. The issue was the damn sump pump. It was being slightly caught up on its cover (code for the town so people can't fall in it) and therefore wasn't going on. After I starred for 5 seconds at the water, I said to Scott, "We have a flood". We walked downstairs to 4 inches of water. Lukily we don't have much in the basement since we are going to finish the basement and lukily the workshop didn't get any water in it, but I was not looking forward to the next few hours since I was just going to put a load of laundry in and then head out to the Short Hills mall. I guess that will have to wait for another day now.



Oh the joys of home ownership! I am sure there is something good that I can blog about another day, but today I hate owning a house.