All About CMF

For those who don't know, CMF = Chelsea Monroe Favry

Sunday evening, while Kristin and I were getting ready for bed, we happened to catch a glimpse of Chelsea sucking on her "thumb," i.e. paw. Chelsea does this from time to time, usually when she is depressed about something. We find it very strange because it is like a child sucking on his or her thumb when they need comforting. I managed to get a picture of her doing this....take a look:




Pretty cute, huh? This only reinforces Chelsea humanistic qualities, which are like no other pet I have seen before.

As I mentioned on a previous blog, Chelsea seems to developing a love for Starbucks like her daddy. It first started off with her infatuation with the smell of Starbucks coffee brewing. Then it developed to her jumping at the counter to snif and watch me make Starbucks coffee. Today, Chelsea officially crossed over in becoming a Starbucks snob. As you can see from the pictures below, not only did she position herself right next to my Starbucks coffee, she licked the cup and straw, fell asleep next to the cup, followed me around the house as I carried the coffee and finally, stuck her head in the cup, licking/drinking away. So, next time you see her and you offer her a (do I dare even say Dunkin Donut) munchkin, don't let her kid you that she actually likes Dunkin Donuts!






Anywho....it was a pretty crappy day today. It was rainy and cool much of the day. The sun came out a couple of hours ago, just in time for it to set. Tomorrow is suppose to be an O.K. day, but rain is in the forecast again.

While I was at work Monday, I through out the day kept looking at the golf course which our office is on. Each time I looked, the grass seemed to be getting greener and the trees sprung to life. When we came home last night, our lawn seemed to have gone through his amazing transformation, going from yellowish brown, to a thick, rich green color. Our lawn look AMAZING right now!!!! Seems as though this weekend will be the first cut of many this summer.

Jamanda's Baby Shower

We posted pictured from Jamanda's baby shower to the right of this blog entry. If you double click on the pictures, it should open a new window so you can see the pictures larger.

The shower was a lot of fun yesterday and a good amount of people came! Kristin and I headed up to MA Friday evening so we could help get the club house set up. A couple of months ago, the mudda-in-law, Kristin and I went shopping for decorations. In addition to putting up the decorations we had purchased, we set up tables etc.

I have to tell you, as I was setting up the club house, I could not help but reminisce on all the events we have had in that club house since Kristin and I started dating, and for Kristin and Jared, all the events they had in the club house before Amanda and I. I mean, we had graduation parties in there, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthday parties. One of the Christmas' we had at the club house was the Christmas I had proposed to Kristin. A couple of years later, the club house is where Kristin and I had our wedding shower and yesterday, years after we all got married, it was the baby shower for Jared and Amanda. That club house has seen to many milestones in our lives and certainly has been a constant gathering place for the families to come together.

Everyone seemed to have a good time yesterday......Lynn and George, we missed you!!! Hopefully between the pictures we all took and the video Jared and Amanda took, you will feel as though you were apart of the celebration! As always, there was plenty of good food. We had chips, dip, cheese and crackers for snacks. For lunch, we had a variety of wraps. My personal favorites was the chicken Caesar wrap and the turkey BLT wrap. Along with the wraps we had Italian macaroni salad, an assortment of pickled items (pickles, onions etc.). We also had chicken wings, meatballs and Italian bread and a Caesar salad. For dessert, we had Whites Bakery cupcakes, which were decorated baby ornaments. HG made his famous brownies and TaTa and I made chocolate covered marshmallows, which we had dipped in jimmies, wrapped in bags and tied with bows. We took three marshmallows and put them on a skewer, dipped in either blue (white) chocolate or peanut butter chocolate. For the peanut butter chocolate marshmallows, we used coconut crusted marshmallows. Everyone seemed to like them, though, they were somewhat difficult to make and VERY messy! Chelsea looked like a Christmas tree by the time we got done because all the Jimmies that fell, fell on her and get stuck in her hair.

After we ate, Jared and Amanda opened their gifts and then we had some dessert. For the rest of the afternoon, we all just sat around, talked, reminisced, joked and I asked Amanda 20,000 questions about being pregnant (sorry Amanda). The whole concept of being pregnant amazes me, though I had to say, it still freaks me out to some extent. The thought of someone growing inside of you, kicking you, moving around etc. in so weird but yet amazing. Looking at Amanda, I felt uncomfortable for her and worried to some extent that her stomach was going to somehow open up.....may sound weird, but I get nervous that somehow the babies hand is going come right out of the stomach.

I think we finally got out of the club house just before 8pm, at which time, TaTa and I headed home with Rosie following behind in her car. By the time we got home, we were exhausted. We both took showers, did some reading and then passed out. This morning I got up early to write out bills and make sense of the check book. Kristin and I went to church and then got some breakfast afterwards.

The weather is pretty gloomy today. It is much cooler than what it has been the past week. Those who know me well will be shocked, but I actually put the heat on this morning because I was freezing!!! Write this day down because it might never happen again.

Well, hopefully you all had a great day! Jared and Amanda, I hope you got home safely and had fun at Babies'R'Us and Lynn, hopefully you are feeling better. Hopefully TaTa and I will see you soon so we can have our Malibu Bay Breezes and Margaritas!!!!

Deck You

Well hello there!

Another busy day indeed! I got up at 5:45am and headed outside to start staining the deck. I started early for a couple of reasons (1) It was about 45 degrees and I knew the bees which seem to have taken over our yard would not be out. (2) TaTa asked that I be done no later than 3:30pm because she wanted to get on the road knowing we would hit traffic in Providence, RI. Overall, the staining went pretty well. The park that absolutely stunk was having to paint those friggen posts. That along too me 3-4 hours. After I got the posts done, I put a few coats of stain on the tops of the railings and began painting the floor. I was happy I got a colored stain because it covered up some of the imperfections in the wood.

After I applied the first coat of stain on the floor, I went to the front of the house and stained the front steps, which were a mess. After seeing the results of how the front steps came out, my next job is going to be to stain the front porch.

In total, I put a few coats of stain on the surfaces exposed to the sun all day. I have to tell ya, it looks pretty good! MUCH MUCH better compared to what it looked like before, especially after sanding it all down. Below are some before and after pictures.








Well, off to get cleaned up. Have a good rest of the day!

Memshnup

Buenos Noches!

Figured I would catch up on my blogging while I sit on my front porch watching the sun set.

Another crazy week. I have to say though, that this week was especially gruelling, stressful and tense for me. I am just happy it is over and the weekend is here. I decided at the last minute today to take tomorrow off, though, I am sure folks will still call my cell phone despite the out of office message I sent earlier today. I only feel bad for Kristin in having to have dealt with me this week, especially last night after getting home at 7:30pm (left the house at 6am) and then dealing with my crappy mood.

It was absolutely beautiful today! It was about 80, a nice breeze and no clouds. I tried to venture onto the deck several times, but each time I did I got attached my these massive bumble bees and wasps. I killed several with the exception of the bumble bees, which kept going into their nest in the ground. TaTa Extermination went outside earlier and dumped boiling water down the hole where the bees were. Hopefully that kills them.

I got up early this morning and went to Home Depot to return fertilizer and a few other items I had purchased this weekend. As sad as this may sound, I had a blast at the HD this morning because there was no one in there and the wifey was home, so I got to blouse, errr, I mean brows around for a long while. Lots of great stuff at HD and so many ideas. I did leave HD with stain for the deck. As you will remember, last weekend I sanded the deck, not it's time to put down some stain and make it look at purrdy. I was thinking about starting tomorrow, but who knows.

TaTa and I had some grill apple snausigez tonight, which were fantastic. To be honest, anything on the grill is fantastic to me....even grilled mice...ergo Easter. After dinner, I went outside and put another coat of sealer on the walkway, which is the last one I needed to put down.

So, a couple of pictures to show ya.....The ones below are of my Bee-A-U-tiful wife. I actually took these at night using the night time mode on the camera. Her eyes look amazing and mysterious. I just absolutely love these two pictures!





Below is a black and white pictures TaTa took of me and Chelsea standing by the slider to the deck. Chelsea was begging for me to pick her up, and as soon as I did, she put her head on my shoulder. Doesn't it look like she is smiling???



Lastly, I included pictures of the progression of the sun setting so you could experience what I did tonight. Watching the sun set is one thing I will never grow tired of watching!







So Jared, I watched NCIS last night....the first episode that aired 4/8/08. I realized how much I have missed that show. I have not caught up yet, but without giving it away, do you find out what Jenny has? When does the Unit come back on? With the nice weather finally here, it is so hard to get back into watching these shows!

Well, I am off to go splash around in my tub. Talk to y'all tomorrow. Maybe we will bring our blog live from Mass-Ah-choose-its (internal joke)tomorrow night.

Reading Time

Oh hi.

Here is a picture of Auntie Kristin reading to her little guy. Amanda doesn't look all that intrested in the story but I think the little guy really enjoyed it...just kidding Amanda.

Anthony and I are very excited to meet the little booger in person. Its very weird to explain but I already love him so much and I haven't even officialy met him yet. So I can only imagine how Amanda and Jared feel.

Anthony and I can't wait to show him the two surprises we got for him at the Blue Horse in Mystic, we know he will really love them!!! And Jared will like them too cause they don't take up a lot of room...

Well "thats all", short blog for today but have much to do.

See you soon Bean Bag.

Toes and Hoes

First let me start of by saying that the title was TaTa's idea....

Like yesterday, today was another busy day. I got up at 7am and headed outside to put the first coat of the sealer on the walkway. The past few mornings have been warm, however, this morning was not. TaTa and Chelsea got up around 8am and came outside to help me. Once the first coat was on, we had to let it dry for 4 hours before putting the second coat on. Below is a before picture (after not yet taken) and a picture of TaTa hard at work.



While the walkway was drying, I began sanding the deck with my new sander. I forgot to take a before and after picture but after 3 hours, I had sanded the deck. Even without staining the deck, the deck look 100% better than it did before. I pretty much sanded off the stain on the base of the deck and evened the high spots and rough spots. Except for some of the nails popping up, the deck is nice and smooth, all set to be stained. TaTa and I are hopefully going to stain the deck in the next few weeks. It will probably take a few coats. While painting is not on the top of my list of things I like to do, staining falls right at the bottom of my list because of the amount of time it takes to pain the railings and all the slats! After I got the deck sanded, the mulch man called and said he was on his way over to deliver the 3 yards of mulch I bought the day prior. After he dropped off the mulch, TaTa and I began spreading it. The bed by the front porch did not take too much mulch because we put down a good layer the year prior. The bed at the end of the driveway took about 2 of the 3 yards. I put down about 4-6 inches of mulch there in the hopes that it would prevent the weeds from coming up and sealing in the much needed moisture for our plants. Last year we did not put a good thick layer down and as a result, the plants dried out pretty quickly. Below are a couple of pictures of our freshly mulched beds. The front bed looks pretty empty because the hydrangeas have not bloomed yet, though the leaves are coming out.



While TaTa and I were outside, Ms. Monroe watched to make sure we were not messing up and/or slacking off. Hired help is hard to find. Occasionally she laid on the driveway or grass and took a nap. At one point she decided to go up to the front porch and sleep for a bit before coming back down to check in on us. Occasionally Chelsea decided to walk down the road, trying to see how far she could get before we noticed. I had asked TaTa to get me a rake while I was spreading the mulch. 2 minutes later I heard her scream "Oh F*CK!" I "strolled" (according to Kristin) up the driveway to fine her laying on the garage floor. When I asked what had happened, she pointed to where the ax had fallen onto her big toe and cracked her nail. I ran inside and got a bowl of water and filled with water and ice. I set the bowl on the walkway while Kristin sat on the step putting her toe in it. Ms. Monroe, who too hurt her toe (monkey see, monkey do) decided she was going to soak her paw in the water too. I took a couple of videos to highlight the two injured soldiers.





After we got done putting down the mulch, TaTa and I put on another coat of the sealer on the walkway. We began noticing that the sealer was making the walkway look somewhat shiny, like it was wet. I am hoping to get a third coat down at some point this week, early in the morning before the sun hits it. After we got done, TaTa headed inside, while I picked up a few things in front. While at the end of the driveway, I noticed someone watching me, occasionally nodding off. Hmmm, I wonder who it was.....



It was about 4:30pm before we came inside. While I vacuumed and mopped the floor, TaTa gave Chelsea a bath and herself one too! I soon thereafter followed suit. After we got washed up, we dried the dog, picked up a few things in the house and did some errands, before coming home and getting ourselves ready for work. All in all it was a good weekend. We got a TON of things done around the house. With the exception of having to stain the deck and put another coat of sealer down, I think we are just about done. The next project will be to get all our pots out and plant flowers. Oh, yeah, and MOW THE DAMN LAWN....Ugh!

Doggy Day Saturday

TaTa and I got up early today and laid in bed for a while this morning before heading over the the dog park in Groton. Ms. Monroe was very excited to find out she was going to the park. She was even more excited to find out she was going in Nannie's car. Before we went to the park, I made a quick stop at Starbucks for my morning jolt.

When we got to the park, we walked on a trail about 50 yards into the woods. Along the way, we notices that there were several marked trails you could hike. As we continued into the woods, we saw a clearing. When we got to the opening, there was a huge section of land fenced off with trees and mulch along with chairs and tables. This section was for the big dogs. There were about 4 large dogs running around inside this section. As we continued back, we saw another section fenced off which was for small dogs. When we got to the small dog section, there was a Chiuaua running around inside. He was very excited to see Chelsea. Once we got inside the fenced section, we unhooked Chelsea and let her go. The Chiuaua was running all around Chelsea, trying to get her to play, however, Chelsea could give a rats-ass about the dog. Instead, Chelsea jumped at me and TaTa to pick her up.

I walked around the fenced off section trying to get Chelsea to run. She however has no vested interest in walking with me. Rather, Chelsea thought it was more exciting to pee on every tree and bush she came in contact with. There were some instances where we saw Chelsea with one of her back legs on the tree, while she balanced on the other three. The bottom three pictures represent what Chelsea did at the park, while her mommy and daddy did the walking.





After we left the park, TaTa and I dropped the dog back home and went to Home Depot. Let's see...We got fertilizer for the lawn, a spreader, fertilizer for our shrubs and plants, wood for our deck, stone sealer and a sander. I got a spreader because the one I got, which was one John gave me from the dump years ago, was small and very flimsy. The one I got has bigger tires and holds more fertilizer. Additionally, it is make by Scott's, which is the fertilizer I use. We got Step 1 Scott's fertilizer, which is to build the turf and kills crabgrass. Now, I usually got through 4 15,000 square feet bags of fertilizer each application. With the new spreader, I only ended up using two, so that goes to show you how far off the settings on my old spreader were. I was excited to only use two bags because I just saved $90.00!

We got wood for our deck because the railings on the deck rotted out in some sections and cracked and fell off in others. For a new deck, I am surprised at how crappy it has lasted. Additionally, all the stain came off. TaTa was a great helper. She held the new wood while I cut it with the saw. We removed all the old pieces and put on the new pieces, using screws vs. nails. While the railings dry out in the sun, I am going to use my new sander and sand the whole deck down and and strip off the stain. Once I get this done, I am going to stain the deck, using a good stain due to the deck being in the sun all day. Below is a picture TaTa took that highlights my constructive personality.



TaTa and I also fixed our mailbox today and put back up our hydrangea mailbox, which will look nice once the hydrangeas bloom. While fixing the mailbox, we noticed all of our hydrangeas coming up. Very exciting indeed!!! While out today, we also got mulch for the beds. We found a small place down the road from us who delivers to the local folks. Hemlock mulch, which is darker brown and has a great smell, is $35.00 a yard. The guy said we would need roughly 3 yards because the bed in front of our porch only needs a top coating, whereas the bed by the rock wall needs a good 3-4 inches down as we did not put much down last year. I thought $35.00 was a good deal considering they charge you $4.00 a bag and we used roughly 50 bags last year. Anyway, they are coming tomorrow morning to drop off our mulch.

The last item we purchased today was sealer for our walkway. For those who have seen it, it is a very dull white/gray color, when it is suppose to be mixed with rich colors. I came to find out that in order to get the rich colors, you need to seal it, which not only brings out the full luster of the stone, but also protects the stone. The sealer makes the stone look slight glossy and always wet. I am actually looking forward in sealing he walkway because it will hopefully look amazing when it is done. I will be sure to take some pictures.

We picked up Cha-Cha and Sponge Bob around 6 tonight and stopped to get something to eat along the way. We got back to our house just about 8 and they headed home. TaTa just took a shower and now she is sitting here reading, waiting to give me a massage (I wish!). Tomorrow TaTa and I have lots to do....we need tog o for a walk/bike ride, lay the mulch down, get crap ready for work, maybe sand a little....we'll see though.

Pennies from Heaven

Hello Everybody. Kristin representing again....

So the weirdest thing happened today. I'm working from home, unfortunately Twonie had to go into the office for the last day of his meetings.

So you'll think I'm nuts but I talk to Nana a lot. Ever since she died I find pennies everywhere, all the time. Its really weird but I think that is her telling me something or letting me know she is thinking of me and doing OK. So I was on my way to Walgreens this morning ( representing DH) and I was thinking about her and talking to her, sometimes I ask her advice and I did so this morning.

I go to Walgreens and get my stuff and I'm in line and the lady in front of me opens her wallet and no lie like 50 pennies fell out all over the floor in front of me....do you think Nana was talking to me???? I do!!!


Its very nice out today. Chelsea has been on alternating between the back deck and sitting by the storm door. I took her for a ride to the post office and the library and of course everyone said how cute she was. "Everyone loves her."

I went to dinner last night with Anthony and some folks from Verizon. We went to a restaurant called MaxAmia. I had eggplant and Anthony got filet that came out still mooing.

Hopefully when Twonie gets home we can go for a walk or something, I know he is tired. He didn't get home until after 11 Tuesday night and had to be in the office yesterday for 6am and we didn't get home last night till after 9.

TATA for now

STAR STRUCK

Hello Kristin here...

I've attached a few pictures below of the people we saw while on vacation in CA. It's a really good thing I read In Touch magazine or I probably would not have recognized these stars.



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Anthony is going out to dinner tonight with Verizon. He has a very busy three days of meetings. Tomorrow night I get to go to dinner too, god what will I wear?

Tonight I have some top secret shower stuff to do then Chelsea and I will catch up on our TV we missed while on vacation.

It stinks to be back at work. I'm looking forward to the weekend already!

Weekend Mash Up

After getting back late Friday night (Saturday morning) from California, Kristin and I did spend much time around the house this weekend because of plans we had made to go to beer fest Saturday and our errands today.

We had to drop Cha-Cha and BOB off Saturday morning at the bus station in New London so they could get the bus to NY for their cruise. After dropping them off, TaTa and I went to Starbucks for our morning coffee before heading home. When we got home, Kristin went to bed, while I did some things around the house. We left around 3pm to head up to Providence for the 2nd annual beer fest. We met up with Kim and grabbed something to eat at Joe's before meeting up with Paul, Lauren and a bunch of other folks. The beer fest was great. There were roughly 30 or so brewers from all over the US. The link to the website is: http://www.beerfestamerica.com/...check out all the different brewers, who offered several of their beers to sample.

As soon as you walked in, you were given a small cup for sampling. If you lost the cup, they would not give you another one. Thus, the tasting cup was your lifeline for the evening. Once getting to the convention floor, there were booth set up for each of the brewers. Each brewer had several beers to taste, shirts and pint glasses to buy and various other trinkets to take. They were also giving out coasters for each of the beer types so you could remember which ones you liked knowing that after spending 4 hours tasting beers, you would be lucky to remember your name!

My favorite beer company was Birkshire Brewing Company. I discovered this brewery this past fall when Jared, Amanda, Kristin and I went to Yankee candle. Jared and I had tried a lager and a porter, which I loved. Last night they served three beers, one of which was a coffee porter, which was incredible. I think I went back to the guys there for samples 8-10 times. By the end of the evening, they were making me black and tans despite violating security guidelines of not filling the sample cup above the red line. The other beer I liked was Honey Moon, which is made by the makers of Blue Moon. It was a nice light, smooth beer with a hint of honey. There were several other beers I liked, however, the two above were by far my favorites...err, or at least the ones I remember!

In addition to beer, they were serving free subs and pizza all night. They also had live music and other food you could purchase. The guys stuck with the beer and the girls went and sampled cheese!!!! Cheese and beer do not seem to mix, but oh well! They also had girly drinks, like Mikes and Parrot Bay wine coolers. I myself was hoping there would be a Zima stand!

If you look to the right, I posted a slideshow of pictures from last night. If you want to see the pictures larger, double click on them. First, I look like a Mexican compared to everyone else! Second, the pictures of the groups of people at the end where of no one we knew. Trish, Kim's friend, decided it would be fun to invite everyone there for a group photo. Drunk people and cameras always result in candid photos! Notice Kristin trying to lick someones ear...hmmmm....I apparently missed this last night!

After we left the beer fest, we headed over to Ri-Ra's, which is an Irish Pub that one of Paul's friends use to work at. Because of such, we got in without having to pay a cover and got easy access to the bar for service, which was packed. The drink of the evening was the Ri-Ra drink, which was a pint glass filled with various alcohols to about 1/2 inch from the top, and topped with OJ, pineapple juice and cranberry. You tasted nothing but they had an awfully bad punch! We stayed there for a couple of hours before heading home.

Today, TaTa and I did some grocery shopping in the morning. We stopped using paper and plastic bags and bought the green reusable bags. We also started buying biodegradable house cleaners made by Clorox. Better from the environment and us, not to mention it is better to use considering we have well water. From the grocery store, we came home and I roasted some red peppers on the grill. Once I roasted, I then steamed in a brown paper bag, which aides in the skin falling off. Once the skin was off, I sliced and marinated in olive oil and seasoning, which we had with our dinner tonight. Kris also put some on her salad for lunch tomorrow.

After I got done roasting the peppers, Kristin and I drove into Mystic and parked our car and went for a long walk. We walked down some of the residential streets before getting to Main Street, where we walked from one end to the other. When we got to Mystic Pizza, we walked the street in front of the restaurant, which is where the Vodoo Grill is. While walking down the street, we discovered two new small restaurants. One was Pizzetta and the other was Parisian Pomme Fries Cafe. Pizzetta is a new pizza restaurant, which only serves pizza, salads and micro-brews. When you get a chance, visit their website. They have some incredible pizza combinations and you can also make your own. The place looks great and they are also going to deliver in the summer. I think Valentino's might have some serious competition!!!



The Parisian cafe is a tiny hole in the wall type place, but you can tell it has some great food. Their speciality is pomme fries, hence the name. The fries are big and they give them to you standing up in a cup. What makes them unique is that they are soaked in water then fried twice, so they are crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. In addition to the fries, they have some salad, soup, frozen custard, clams, and burgers (make your own). They also specialize in their sauces, which they make. Out of the many, which you put on your burger and can also dip your fries/clams in, the few that catch my interest were the wasabi-lime, Parmesan pesto and curry. What I found cool about both these restaurants is that they stressed how they were environmentally conscious and outlined why. The Parisian place also recycles their oil, to be used in biodiesel cars (www.mason-biodiesel.com). We discovered another restaurant, which was on Main Street. They had an eclectic menu that would satisfy everyone taste. So, we have some fun places to try!

The other place we went to, which was a store we walked by for 3 years but never stopped in, was The Blue Horse. It was a children's boutique, that sold beautiful clothes and collectibles. All the stuff was made in America and the clothes are all hand made, thus, the quality was impeccable. After spending an hour in the store, we got Callum a few non-cloth items, which we were excited about. Once of the items was a Montgomery School House train. I remember these growing up and did not known they came in different sizes. The larger ones are collectibles and have different themes. Kristin and I decided that we wanted to start a tradition and give Callum one every year, so we started the tradition today! Each train comes with a brass plate, which you can get engraved. Exciting stuff!

Well, I gotta sign off. TaTa is yelling at me to shut the computer off. I do not know why she cares though because she is watching The Hills! Have a good night y'all.

Homeward Bound

Kristin and I are sitting her in LAX dreading the long flight and the slap of reality we will walk into. It has been an awesome week and we both wish it could continue. I was saying to Kristin, that a week ago I was saying to myself, "one more day and we will be in California," and now the week in California is over.

TaTa and I spent the day by the pool doing much of nothing, except relaxing in the sun. We went for our walk in the morning and had sat outside in front of Starbucks for an hour before heading back to the hotel. We sat in the sun for a few hours, then headed back to our room to shower and get ready for our venture to LA.

It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to LA last night. I brought Kristin to the World's Farmer's Market, which is the biggest farmers market around, and I have to say, absolutely incredible. It was immensely overwhelming with so much to see and do. The first store we went to was the "World's Market," which has just about everything and anything from all over the world. If you can think of it, it was there! Oh yeah, and Jared, they had beers from all over the world. I said to Kristin last night, that if I had a way of getting it home, I was going to buy a bunch and give you bottles. I saw beers from Jamaica, Japan, China, Caribbean, various US states, various islands, Hawaii, Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland....the list goes on and on. The bottles were awesome as well. I am going to see if they have a website and find out if you can order things from there.

After the market, we walked around and viewed the hundreds of places to eat with cuisine from all over. We even visited produce stands, seeing a Fuji apples that were the size of cantaloupes and 2-3 times cheaper than what we pay back home. For those know me and my addiction to Giada, we also went to the crepe stand where she ate.....I kissed the seat (NOT...but thought came through my mind). For dinner, we went to an authentic I-talian restaurant, which I have to say, was not all that great.

After dinner, I drove Kristin into Hollywood to see Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd and some other destinations of choice. We stopped for an hour and went to the Hollywood Wax Museum, which was OK at best. We then ventured to the hills to see the Hollywood sign, which we came to find out is not lit up at night. The venture to see the sign was....um...well....RIDICULOUS! I got lost in some friggen apartment complex and thought I was going to have a frock attack trying to get us out, but no fear, I did.

Well, TaTa is giving me the signal that we have to go. She only wants to go so she can get some peanut M&M's. I think she might need to shrod a little...HA! Thanks for all your comments and for checking in with us this week. Here is to a great week and manay more!!!! Over and out!

Californian Birthday

Hi Everyone!

It is sad to say that today is our last day here in sunny California. It has been an amazing week. Outside of a few days of conferences, Kristin and I have seen some incredible sights, relaxed and spent some quality time together.

My Birthday yesterday was great. Kristin gave me a card and surprised me with tickets to see Alison Kraus, who is going to be playing at Mohegan in June. Ever since Jared introduced me to her music, I have been wanting to see her in concert. Unfortunately, she does not seem to tour much in the East.

Kristin, in an attempt to decorate the room while I was sleeping, had brought a Happy Birthday sign from home with her. Not having tape to hang it, Kristin improvised by chewing a piece of gum at 4am and then proceeded to take the gum, rip it into two pieces, and stick it on the bathroom mirror to attach the sign. Her creative effort did not last long, but nonetheless, it was funny!

After getting up, we did our morning ritual, which has consisted of a walk down the beach to the Huntington Beach Pier. From there, we walk down Main Street and grab a coffee and people watch. As I mentioned earlier this week, Starbucks out here seems cheaper than home. I also found out that if you save your paper cup or bring you own mug, they only charge you $.50 for coffee. Back home, they only take $0.10 off the total price. I do not know why the difference, but you cannot beat a $.50 coffee. In fact, I do not recall seeing any place that only charge you $.50! After our coffee, we walked back to the hotel. I went to a couple of meetings while Kristin hung out by the pool. I joined her mid-afternoon for a little while before we headed up to our room to get ready for dinner.

Last night we drove into Newport Beach, which is a wealthy section of Southern California, but beautiful. We went to the Blue Coral for a drink before dinner. We sat outside in front of a warm fire enjoying the sun setting over the pacific. I had some cured salmon, which was cured with vodka. From the Blue Coral, we walked next door to Roy's, which is where TaTa made reservations for my Birthday.

Roy's is a Hawaiian restaurant that specializes in its fish. There were so many varieties of fish on the menu, some I had not even heard of before. Our waiter recommended that we start off with a sushi roll appetizer. I cannot remember the name of the roll, however, it consisted of seaweed wrapped around avocado and salmon. They then rolled it in white rice and topped it with a shrimp, a scallop and topped with some special sauce. All I can say is that I thought I had died and gone to heaven!!! It was that good. In fact, Kristin seeing my reaction (and also thinking I needed to be at a table by myself with the sushi roll) tried it.....and she liked it!!! I was so proud of her that she tried sushi. For dinner, Kristin got steak and I got Hawaiian swordfish. After dinner, the waiter surprised me with a dessert with a candle in it for my Birthday and Kristin had chocolate souffle, which as I think about it, she never let me try!

Once sleeping beauty gets up, we are going to go for our walk and hang out by the pool for a while. I think this afternoon we are going to go tour the Crystal Cathedral and maybe head up to LA and Hollywood to site see and grad something to eat. I have been wanting to go to Caiote Pizza Cafe, which is a restaurant Giada had gone too and recommended. If you get a chance, check out their menu online. Pretty inexpensive, but some interesting pizza concepts.

I hope everyone is doing well and thank you all for your Happy Birthday wishes yesterday!!!

Oh Hi Gidget here, I will post the blog tonight while Twon changes into his JAMAS.

Yesterday (Monday) was a very nice day for Anthony and I. We did a lot of nothing. We went for a walk in the morning down Main Street and had a Starbucks. We laid by the pool and I went in. We just relaxed. It was great to have Anthony all to myself. We had a very yummy dinner at Dukes Restaurant last night. Its about a 1/2 mile walk from the hotel. Anthony had Alaskan sea bass and I tried a bite. I had the Huli Huli Chicken. Dukes is a Hawaiian restaurant. Everything was so good, I even discovered I like mango salsa. Dukes is famous for their Aloha Pie. It is chocolate crust with macadaminan nut vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. It was huge and I ate it all. Our table at dinner looked right over Huntington Beach and we walked people play volleyball and walk. Oh and one guy had a dog in a basket on his bike and the dog had on pink sunglasses. Don't worry Chelsea, Daddy is getting you some.
After dinner we sat by the fire pit at the hotel then went to bed. It was a very relaxing day.

After Twon finished his conference today we went to Disneyland around 4pm. It was chaos. It was so crowded and so cold. Almost everyone had a Disney sweatshirt or jacket on because it was so cold people were buying clothes. We did venture and went on Tower of Terror and an upside down roller coaster, I did it for Anthony....
We also enjoyed California Soaring, Space Mountain, Indian Jones and the new Pirates of the Caribbean. Amanda would like it because it looks like Johnny Depp is right there. We couldn't do splash mountain cause it broke down. Some people were on the ride and had to be rescued....Mum can you image if you were on the ride and it broke down?? GET ME THE @9*@)*@_)!+ OFF THIS RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Both of us agree we like Disney World much better than Disney Land. Everyone just seemed very rude and dumb at Disneyland today. No one says excuse me when they run you over with their carriage and parents do not watch their kids. We both decided we are not taking our kids to Disney for a looooong time and definitely not till they can walk on their own.

We stopped for a quick slice of pizza and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is Twon's 29th Birthday. He is getting to be such an old lad. I plan to read my book tomorrow and relax, maybe swim some and then Anthony can pick where he would like his birthday dinner to be.

Ok TATA for now everyone back east.

Love,
Gidget

San Diego

Well, it's 1:30am Eastern Time, 10:30 Pacific. TaTa and I are watching some TV after getting back from a long day in San Diego. We got up around 8:30am, got ready/dressed, and headed to the local Starbucks for some Java. Starbucks out here in the West is like Dunkin Donuts in the East, i.e. on every corner. Starbucks is not just a coffee shop, it is a lifestyle for the folks out here. The stores are bigger and offer a plethora of both indoor and outdoor seating. Additionally, I also noticed their prices seemed cheaper out here. Maybe it is because the volume is that much higher.

After getting Starbucks, we headed down to San Diego, a trip that was roughly 1 1/2 hours (95 miles). We headed through Laguna and the hills of southern California. The ride was beautiful. Much of it felt like we were driving through the White Mountains, though, the White Mountains look like hills compared to what is out here.

Once we got into San Diego, we headed right over to the San Diego Zoo. Before getting to zoo though, TaTa and I came across two funny signs, which are below. When looking at the first one, look at the 4th line down. The concept is ingenious, however, I do not know if I would go to a barber that also grooms dogs. The second sign was from a clothing store. "Honey, where did you go today?" "Frock You!" We also saw another sign, however, could not get a picture of it. It was for a hotel, which advertised that is rented for the day, week, month, oh yeah, and hour.




We got to the zoo about 12pm. Both TaTa and I could not remember that last time we went to the zoo, so it was exciting being able to go to the San Diego Zoo. The slide show on the right are pictures from our zoo expedition. If you want to see the pictures larger, just click on them. We saw so many animals and exotic plants from all over the world. By each animal, there was a sign that provided detail on the animal, where it is from and a classification of whether it was endangered or not. The Flamingos were funny....they dragged their heads on the ground and swayed, and when they slept, the slept standing on one leg. What an amazing sense of balance. The monkeys were also funny. There was one in particular Chelsea would have liked....it pooed, picked it up and started to break it apart and eat it! TaTa loved the orangutans. One is particular was hilarious. There was a small black monkey who wanted ths orangutan to play, so to get his attention, he was swinging from a branch just above where the orangutan was sitting and he kept on swinging while slapping the orangutan's head. The orangutan, who did not want to be bothered, picked up a blanket and put it over his head. When the monkey stopped, the orangutan slowly peeled back the blanket to peek out to see if the monkey was there. As soon as he caught sight of the monkey, he immediately put the blanket back on his head. I found the orangutans to be amazing....how they ate, interacted with each other, walked, used their hands and feet, etc. Our other favorite animal was the Koala bears, who as you will see to the right, were all sleeping. They were so incredibly cute!

After walking through the zoo, I took TaTa to Balboa Park, which is this well known park next to the zoo. The park has several museums on it as well as impeccable grounds with beautiful flora. There is also a long pond with a bridge over it in front of the botanical gardens. As we walked the ground, people were lying on the perfectly manicured grass, relaxing in the 65 degree, breezy afternoon. On the way to the botanical gardens, I took this picture of a older man standing up against the railing over the pond, playing his saxophone. I thought it was a really cool picture. We spent a while in the botanical gardens, reading up on the various plant species from just about everywhere in the world. I took some incredible close up pictures of the flowers....some look so fake when you look at the pictures but incredibly beautiful. TaTa and I want to have the printed so we can frame them. After we walked the botanical gardens, we walked across the grounds and headed to the museum, which was showing artifacts from Pompeii. On the way to the museum, I took another picture of a violinist playing in the street. He, along with the sax player, where some of the many musicians playing all over the grounds of Balboa Park.

When we got done with Balboa, I took TaTa over the Coronado bridge to the island of Coronado. The bridge to get there is massive. It is high enough so that cruise ships and navy fleets can pass under, and it spans the San Diego bay. It takes about 3-5 minutes to get over the bridge going about 50-60 mph. Once on the island, we drove down the many streets, which were filled with shops and restaurants. We then headed to the famous Hotel Del Coronado, which has been open since 1888. Much of the entire building is original from 1888 (with renovations). The hotel itself is massive and breathtaking both inside and out. TaTa and I walked through the lobby, which has huge ceilings that were made of solid wood with intricate designs carved into it. The elevator, an original, is a brass cage, controlled by a man who controls which way the elevator goes by moving a large arm/lever. We then walked downstairs, which was like a mini mall. There was a section downstairs dedicated to the history of the Hotel Del, which as noted above, began in 1888. Through the life of the hotel, it was a destination for royalty, celebrities, and those of the upper class. It's history also consisted of being in movies. Today, the hotel is known all over the world, and it attracts an eclectic crowd, both young and old. Below is a link to the Hotel Del's photo gallery:

http://www.hoteldel.com/raves_and_reviews/raves_gallery.cfm?CFID=13339783&CFTOKEN=541becb86fda672d-29269051-1321-B350-56CADD014548BD48&jsessionid=c830adadcaed62f544d5

After walking around for a little while, TaTa and I went to eat at Sheerwater inside the hotel. We sat outside, overlooking the Pacific. The view was amazing, with the sun slowly sinking behind the mountains that seemed to have rolled into the Pacific. Our food was great too! TaTa got a pasta dish and I had Chilean sea bass. After dinner, we walked the beach as the sun set before getting in our car for the long drive back north to Huntington.

All in all, it was a great day! We saw so many things, learned a lot, but most of all, enjoyed our time together! It is about 7am Pacific time and Tata is sleeping. As soon as she gets up, we are going go for a walk down Huntington Beach and head up to Main Street, which is about a 1/2 mile down from us. Main street is filled with shops and bistros etc. From there, I think we are going to go sit on the beach for a while and read/listen to music, and maybe spend time by the pool. As an FYI, in case you did not see, there is a blog from our first day below.

Have a good day!

Cali - Day 1

Good Morning Everyone,

We are live here in Huntington Beach, California, also known as Surf City USA ( where the Beach Boys began). We were up at 3am Saturday morning because we had to be on the road by 4am to get to the airport. Mama Rosie, aka. JoAnn, drove us to the Providence airport. We had an hour flight into Philly and then a six hour flight to LA. Kristin and I lucked out because we had no one in between us, so we were able to sprall out an relax while we watched "PS I Love You" for our in flight entertainment. Below is a picture of Kristin's "secret" handshake, which she turned into it being a luck handshake so that no one would sit next to us on the plane. The second picture is homeboy Twon.




Let's talk about our flight experience now......The first flight to Philly was on a small jet (about 50 seats). There were two flight attendants, one, who I will name Kanesha, was not friendly nor helpful. Thus, it is not the type of person who hands I would like to put my life with at 35,000 feet in the air. The second flight attendant, who I will name Eduardo, was flamboyantly gay. He did not fit the stereotype homosexual men typically do, i.e. excessive, open and funny. If fact, he was quite the polar opposite. Our experience started with him with first yelling at the man behind us who had a small dog on the plan in a carry case. The dog, needless to say was scared and might have yelped two or three times. Eduardo came over and said "Um, that thing most definitely cannot come out of its cage as the two of us are most definitely highly allergic." Um, hello, you're a flight attendants. Who is paying for the flight, us, or them? As we were en route to Philly, Eduardo struck again. This time, to an innocent girl sitting next to Kristin. Eduardo came running down the aisle and stood next to the girl and said "If I can hear the lyrics, it's too loud, so turn it down." The girl next to Kristin, as I am sure you devised, was listening to music, which by the way was not loud at all. Needless to say, she had to turn her music down to please Eduardo. The last Eduardo experience was when we landed and were no farther than 50 feet from the gate. Everyone anxious to get off the plan started unbuckling their seat belts. Eduardo was not happy with this at all, so he picked up with intercom and said, "As the plane is not at the gate, seat belts should still be fastened, so for all those that took their off, put them back on, thanks." At least this time he ended with thanks, but, it did not have friendly intentions.

The next two pictures were taken from roughly 42,000 feet up in the air as we flew over the grand canyon. The pictures were not that clear, but nonetheless, amazing. I have to say, that I was awe struck seeing some of the breath taking landscape from that far up.





We ended up getting to our hotel at 12pm yesterday. The hotel is beautiful and its right on the Pacific Ocean. We ended up getting a room with a balcony looking over the ocean. Our room was not ready when we got here, so Kristin and I went and had some lunch at the outdoor restaurant at the hotel. I was reading that the produce and fish here are incredible because it's all fresh right from the State. After lunch, they called us to tell us our room was ready. When we got to the room, we were both surprised with a Birthday cake for Kristin and massive chocolate covered strawberries decorated to look like they were in tuxedos, for me. We ended up going down to the pool to relax for a little while, before heading to dinner at Sparks, that was across the street from the famous Huntington Beach pier. Below are pictures from our room. The pier you see if the Huntington Beach pier, which by the way, is massive. Kristin and I walked the pier last night and watched the surfers. The pier itself has several stores and shops built on it as well as a look out tower for Baywatch babes to watch the surfers.

Well, TaTa and I are off to San Diego to go to the zoo. I also planned on bringing Kristin to see Balboa park, which I went to a couple of years ago. The park looks like pictures of the Garden of Eden. If we have time, we might go to Sea World.