I'm Back!!!!!!!!

Ten things that have happened since my last post. Here we go!

#1- February 4th- I turned 29. My hubby surprised me with 3 thoughtful, very unrelated gifts. I won't share on the blog. :)

#2- December 9th- Rob and I found out we are expecting a baby! Or as our parent's generation would say,"she went out and got herself pregnant." Below are pics of baby at 12 weeks (I'm now about 15 weeks, so just about two weeks into the 2nd trimester). Due August 17th.

#3- November 5th- Haley and Ryan tied the knot in Jamaica! Ya mon!

It was absolutely perfect and like a movie. That is what I tell everyone when they ask me how it was. Haley looked stunning (and was so fun to photograph) and Ryan a handsome groom.

Sorry Haley, I love this pic

#4- Fall 2011- Becky and Max got engaged! Wedding set for June 16th in Savannah. Can't wait to go back there.

#5- My sister in law, Michelle and her man Liam got engaged! Wedding is actually set for August 17th, 2013 (same day as our due date, but the next year (clarified for BECKY)). Their wedding date was set before we knew we were pregnant, so random that its the same date.

#6- July- The Jacobs moved to Minot, ND. They are loving it there, but we are sure missing them!

#7- I spent a week as a mother to a 4 year old and wasn't so sure I was cut out for parenthood (little late for that now). EJ came to stay with me and made our rounds to Philly, NYC and back!!! We had a blast!!

Elmo love in Times Square

What is a girls trip without a manicure?

And a Broadway Show!

We stopped by my office to visit (and so I could rest).

The Big Piano in FAO Schwartz

Visiting the horses up the street from Rob's parents

PF Changs! Ella Joy devoured her sweet and sour chicken and cheesecake dessert.

#8- May 8- Pat and Mel celebrated their 1 year wedding anniversary.

#9- Honeymoon in Maui!

You will see by the pictures that Rob and I don't do much beach sitting. I plan to post more pics of the honeymoon later, but I wanted to try to touch on everything we did while we were there.

Surfing Goat Dairy- tried cheeses, bought soap and best of all petted all the goats!

Luau! And yes call me vain for posting this pic of me, but I never get dressed up on vacation and I was tipsy and feeling sexy, so I made Rob keep taking pics of me.

Sport Fishing- I won the contest of catching the longest fish

Going to the top of Haleakala- we had to get up at 2AM and drive 2 hours to the top of the volcano and freeze our butts off. It was amazing and worth it. We stopped at this awesome breakfast place called the Kula Lodge on the way down. Yummy breakfast and beautiful flower gardens!

One of the famous blow holes.

Sunset horseback riding. Rob insisted he did not need a helmet (which he finally wore) and his horse was the only one to act up and try to throw him off! Guys try to be so tough! Anyway, this was an incredible experience and our favorite activity.

After you drive the Road to Hana you are supposed to turn around and go back because of the danger of the narrow roads and tight turns. Do you think we did that? NO! We drove on through and through a ranch which scared me to death as night came, but it is where I got some really nice shots.

This was on the Road to Hana I think, right by the Seven Sacred Pools

Whale watching

#10- Our Wedding!!! (I still have yet to pick our pictures to print or for our album)

Also, there aren't too many here (I will post more on our anniversary) because the computer sounded like it was going to blow up when I had the CD of pictures in it.

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

Before- enter at your own risk

During my time off I am trying to go through and organize the stacks of papers and pictures that have been building up over this past year (or maybe more). As you can see, when I decide to clean out I really clean out!! I'm all or nothing. Not always a good trait because you wait and wait (while the mess accumulates) until you have enough time to really do it right. Anyway below are some photos of our guest room. The walls have been bare for the past 4 months and I kept looking at pictures and art that I wanted to buy to hang in there, but I decided I needed to hang everything I had first before buying anything new. So, you will see how I made sense of a mish mosh of things around the apt. Hope this helps some of you decorate too. Enjoy!

(I hung pictures and curtains before the real demolition began. Sorry there are no real before photos to see how plain the room previously was).

Even Jack was scared to go in there!

After

I had my eye on a headboard, but again resisted temptation and opted to use the old bulletin boards that were taking up space (and I couldn't seem to throw away). Again I cut out pictures from an old Norman Rockwell calendar. Quick, easy and cheap solution to livening up a

blank wall.

Above the computer, I hung any frame that had black in it.

Bedding from my studio in NYC.

Random things

-2 of the 5 clear shelves

-sunset photo- my photography from a family calendar I had made for everyone last xmas

-old post cards tacked into the wall

-the "S"- had this since college, I just keep repainting it

-tiny dish (actually a soy sauce dish from a sushi set- loved the colors in it!)

-shrimp picture unframed and leaned on shelf

-a few inexpensive candles

My owls again (little dusty shelf huh?).

Organized shelves, what a relief!

Week and Weekend Catch-up

So much to post! The weekend was full of a lot of lounging, cooking, eating, wine drinking, tv watching and more lounging. On Monday I went with Rob to the Villanova vs. Syracuse game, it was awesome. Villanova was so close to winning. Bummer!! After the game, around 11:00PM, my friend, Tara, and I decided we were going snowboarding the next morning, woohooo! The weather could not have been better. It had snowed the day before and the sun was out. This week I have been reorganizing and doing a little more decoration. Pics to come!

Snowboarding at Vernon- Why my face looks twice the size of Tara's, I don't know.

Nova game- action shots

Lazy Sunday

Snoozing

Yoda right before a yawn. This makes me laugh so hard!

Spaghetti being cooked by a real Italian, yummmm!

As always, some wine drinking.

Bread breaking. Wow look at those guns!

Okay no more pictures.

Random pic! Haley I found this the other day. It was from 2006, wow!!! It's such a moment captured (we won't talk about how the rest of the night went, yikes!). We always knew you were part of the family. Love you!

More of da cats

Here they go again!