you can call me wonder*woman

its a wonder i'm still alive and kicking

what an absolutely crazy couple days around here

what happened to this place turning into a ghost town this time of year?

that certainly hasn't happened

nor do i think its coming

oh well... doing the best i can with what i've got

yesterday i spent the day scolding vendors
who screwed up my project for the second time
knowing how to do it right and still managing to do it wrong
does not equal good business sense
i was seriously grumbly for a long time about that
but we have a plan to fix it
and they'd better get. it. right!

today we moved off that 'jinxed' unit
and into another one
our burn icu
which has been wanting/needing ceiling lifts
and after probably 1+ year of planning
they finally installed today
its looking great!
careful planning that pays off makes me happy!
[no crappy vendors on this project] hooray.

helping get some weekend renovations kicked off
schmoozing with the guys down in the general construction office..

{in the dredded sub-basement. its not dirty, not dark and scary as the "sub" part of the name implies, in fact its pretty nice down there... but its not a place a girl goes alone (this time i had my friend dulce to tag along) don't get me wrong, i'm not afraid to go down there... there's nothing inappropriate, nothing like that, but you see, there's rarely a girl in a dress down in those parts

they're used to denim, workboots, dirty hands, toolbelts and buckets. its manly territory. it is what it is. and going alone only invites more comments, more looks, more "wow, look at her down here all by her lonesome. no thanks. at least i learned that dulce shares those thoughts. i'm not alone...

i digress}

"you'll do anything for a pretty face" one guy says to another
"you know me well" he replies.
and i got 4 boxes, free of charge and with a smile.
thanks boys :)

and in all my running around, i've walked 10,166 steps so far today! at 4pm!! that's over 5 miles! thanks busy-day-at-work. you're doing wonders for my waistline. (Edited to Add- I walked over 21,000 steps by the end of that day!!! I think that was a new record for me)

so yep, a crazy couple days here at work. the funny part is the my co-workers are wondering just who i am... since the cool, quiet, happy jen hasn't been seen in my office in a few days. i've been running or juggling or venting or pissed off. its so rare that its amusing. but you know what? its working. i just received a call from the far-from-favor vendor and told him i can't plan a time for him to fix his mess tomorrow because of the patient situation in the room in question. he told me "whenever you call, we will be ready to fulfill your immediate need. no problem." good answer buddy.

now its off to the gym with my good friend kim.
legs today
wish me luck.
i am just getting over being sore from last week (first week doing legs since my moving/vacation/visitors hiatus).

then home (which has no siding. looks so naked, and yet better than being blue),
to dan
and our new grill
and the steak tips we have planned for dinner.
life's good
hope you are too!

let's make this a regular thing

been back in the blogging mode
which makes me happy
i don't always have a lot to say, but that's ok.

sometimes HELLO is enough.
right?

its tuesday.
willy day!
see you this afternoon kiddo.

another afternoon at the gym yesterday

*shoulders*

1 small muscle group

and yet somehow they seem more difficult than anything else

stayed for the ab class which started unusually early

so kim and i did them on our own.

going with the flow.

ran into sheena from our be fit team

she's still going strong- way stronger than us

but hey, who's keeping track really?!

then off headed home for domestic pursuits

which dan had already headed off, doing laundry,

cleaning the closet and making the bed with freshly laundered sheets

{yep, i'll keep him}

i did the grocery shopping, made dinner,

cleaned the kitchen

put away my clothes

and swept

that's enough for one night.

today's another day.

there's still more to do in the aftermath of "hurricane marist & friends"

[which was well worth it]

still lots on the list for this week:

• editing pictures of florida to compile for the litchfield clan
• editing pictures of willy's birthday and working on a mini project for his follow-up birthday gift
• more cleaning and organizing, finding homes for things that are still wandering aimlessly around the house
• playing with my kitties, sorry girls. i know you're craving some extra attention ;)
• returning some more stuff we decided not to use on the house
• reading, relaxing, hanging with dan. maybe hitting the farmer's market. the good stuff :) there's lots of it!!

oh and suddenly i've had a real itch to scrap. i guess that's normal. its been a LONG time. i miss it. need to print me some pictures and sit down. even for an hour or so and just get into the process again. i think it will do me some good. to detach from the world and just create. it will be interesting to see how a new space changes things for me. might be a good jump start :)

ok that's enough for today.

happy tuesday

weekend in review

friday- 2nd day in the row at the gym

don't fall over! its true

i did legs with kim and i'm still paying for it.

i've missed that really sore, feel like you're crippled sensation

saturday- dan and i met up with mom, dad and jenny to go to the Country Country at Foxboro. we had a blast tailgating for hours and hours. we played a game (and a half) of Hand & Foot. grilled up some yummy lunch. watched a rowdy crowd throw frisbees at beer bottles, play beer pong, flip cup and sandbag toss... met a Marine who knows jenny's boyfriend peter (small world)! jeff and melissa joined us later and we headed into the show. sort of a random mix of folks, Leann Rimes, Sammy Haggar, Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney. it was fun dancing and singing along, though in the end all of us ended up leaving early in our three separate cars. a long, loud day and our beds were calling us. thanks again mom. we had a GREAT time!! :)

sunday- willy's 1st birthday party. danny and i stopped at home depot on the way out. i returned a set of hardware we'd bought for the curtains and didn't need while he picked up the ginormous, professional looking grill that it took two full grown men and a lot of grunting to get into the truck.

and thus we spent the day... grilling, cooking, chatting, laughing, taking pictures, hugging the birthday boy, playing, eating... a little bit of everything. it was an absolutely great party- well of course it was, miss krissy is the hostest-with-the-mostest {and matt does pretty darn well too!!}. we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside until just after we ate and then the sky completely opened up and we were finally forced inside. but that didn't put a damper on anything. the kids played, the men watched the end of the Brickyard 400, the ladies chatted, cleaned and oohed over the babies.

we sang happy birthday to little will. yet again, the clapping and 'yaay's didn't go over very well (and it didn't help that he was tired and not feeling well). he cried like... well, like a baby ;) but that's ok!

after indulging on the most delicious cake i've had in a long time, dan and i headed home. home sweet home. quiet, still in need of some cleaning, warm bed, a good movie (World Trade Center {sad}) and then a great night's sleep.

and now we start another week.

have a good one!!

friday fun

more creations from scrapblog.com
seriously, so easy.
i can't get over it
{note: you can double click on them to see it full screen}

Mom & I, singing our heads off at a Red Sox game this June:

Baby Oisin who will be home in America soon! Emelyn flies in TODAY!

cool site

As much as I love scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking totally eludes me. I have no idea how to do it... I can barely open Photoshop. Its ridiculous. But I saw a link for this site in a magazine and again today on Ali Edwards' blog so I figured I'd check it out. Seriously, its SO EASY!

Mom, thanks for the new cutie picture of Riley!! :)
Love you!

Edited to Add-- this is soo addictive!! I love it!!!!!

truths

things i know to be true... on this day at this very hour... its not much, maybe not all that meaningful or memorable but its the stuff of real life, everyday, ordinary, perhaps boring, little things that all add up to the world we live in...

• its raining outside today. wet and yuck but a welcome change for some reason. i walked from the train into the hospital sans umbrella letting the little wet prickly drops tap me on the forehead. good morning.


• the kitties are getting restless. i need to spend more time with them... but there aren't enough hours in the day.


• after having my head examined, they tell me i'm fine! hard to believe right?! ;) [just kidding] such a relief. a weight off. the MRI says there's nothing funky going on in my brain... so why i'm so darn dizzy i still don't know, but at least we've got something ruled out. a big nasty something.


• riley rolled over for the first time last night! such a big girl!! So Big!-->


• work is great. busy and hectic and frustrating and silly which = great. i've been more challenged lately and i need that to stay sane [yes, this is sanity, it may not look like it, but its there].



• will's got conjunctivitis and somehow after seeing him for 4 days in a row I don't seem to have caught it! that's sooo freakin' huge for me. me and eye gunk would be serious enemies. it would be beyond bad. [not that its so great for him either. the poor little dude was having such issues last night. tired, cranky, itchy. not cool. but he did ok]



• my kitchen's a mess


• need to start cooking more


• remembering to a) go to the right train station on each day (subway versus commuter rail) and b) having the right kind of money ($5 for subway parking, $2 for commuter rail) is just something i'm NOT used to having to think about. on tuesday i drove to Cohasset and then had to trek it to Braintree. today i didn't have 2 singles for the commuter rail parking. this will start to feel normal and routine at some point, but i'm not there yet!


• i miss scrapbooking. need to make a point to fit that in and soon. seeing all sorts of cool idea online. have a bunch of cool photos to work with. putting this back on the to-do list.


• our house feels like home now. it took a couple weeks to get used to the fact that yes, indeed, we could stay there as long as we like. that this beautiful, comfortable place that feels so perfect is not someone else's home that we're borrowing, but OUR home.

marist reunion weekend in ma

so here's a funny story....

my friend jen emailed me saying that she and her boyfriend, paul, wanted to come to boston and hang out for a weekend. 'sure' i said, 'let's do it. we'll plan a weekend and if others want to come that's fine, but since we can never seem to get together let's just plan something together since you asked...'

we picked a few weekends that worked... and somehow all of the planets aligned... and EVERYONE was able to come for the visit [ultimately more than a bit hectic considering we ended up moving about 3 weeks beforehand, however we couldn't have known that at the time].

so this weekend, dan and i had 11 of my closest friends visiting, helping to break in our new home, laughing, drinking, eating, joking, playing games and swimming with us! :)

courtney, jen, paul, meg and nick

eric and lorella

justin & amber

jessica & joel

friday night
the crowd trickled in. we got pizza delivered (apparently Victoria's has a meat-lover's pizza to write home about), played this board game justin & amber brought {thanks!) called Would You Rather?! which was soo ridiculous and funny i'd read a card that would ask the players something ridiculous like "Would You Rather...have to use a giant cat litter box as a bathroom or only be able to pee outside." Crazy, far fetched {often disgusting} things that made me laugh so hard I would read one half of the question to myself and lose it.. and then everyone else would take bets on how long it would actually take me to read it aloud!

saturday
we woke up and had a big breakfast while the parade of showers started. i think that took us more than 2 hours but we finally got out of the house and headed into boston. we started the day in Quincy Market where Jen, Paul, Amber, Justin, Meg, Nick, Jessica, Joel and myself met up with Lorella, Eric and Courtney. us girls started walking around, jessica on a mission to hit up her favorite store- Crate & Barrel- and it took a few minutes and a cell phone call from Nick for us to realize that the boys were no longer with us, but getting a pint at Hennessy's! Joel's a good tour guide :)

we met them there then moved onto The Green Dragon for lunch (where i took the few pictures i have of the weekend). and then it was on to the aquarium to ooooh and ahhhh over the giant sea turtles, sting rays and cool species of fish. {nice to be inside when it was about 100 degrees out!}

for dinner we headed to the Border Cafe in Harvard Square--- stopping only briefly when Joel ran gracefully across the street and injured something in his calf. not good. not good at all. he limped to the car and drove to Harvard Square while the rest of us schlepped over on the train. Border Cafe did not fail to impress the out-of-towners and the Margaritas were better than ever, if that's even possible!

sunday
it was more difficult to mobilize on sunday morning after walking 6+ miles in the heat on saturday but we finally got up and out and into the pool at mom's by around noon, sans meg, nick and courtney who had to head home.

we had a blast at the pool, joking around, teasing poor lorella who despite any comments {verbal or written in yearbooks} does not smell ;) joel gave my mom another lovely hostess gift (aka pot holder, this time from Border Cafe not Chili's)... dan cooked on the grill and we had some drinks... another great day of hanging out and just spending time together. by late afternoon everyone had left except Jessica, Joel, Jen and Paul. Krissy brought Willy over to say hello and we had a late dinner, with Matt and my Dad joining us after their patio building adventures at the Litchfield house.

jen and paul stayed the night with dan and i so we got to enjoy some last minute quality time with the originators of this special weekend. thanks so much for suggesting it! guess it was meant to be....

the scary part--- we realized that we've known eachother for 10 years (come August). we're getting old. there's no denying it! how great that we're still good enough friends to make the effort to do something like this. i love you guys. thanks for coming to visit!

let him eat cake

Will's First Birthday Dinner
@ Nanny's House
Monday July 21, 2008

Krissy & Matt bought him this really cool music table. It took Kris about 15 minutes to figure out some of the different options but we finally got it to stop playing the same three sounds {just in time too because I think we were ready to pull the proverbial plug on it}




















Willy's also learning to walk and ride his first John Deere tractor complete with sound effects of its own.


Vroom Vroom!
























Nanny bought him a very special birthday hat which lasted only a few minutes but it was pretty funny! :)






"How Big Is Willy?!"
























Combination of the Home Alone "AHHHHHHH" and "I think I'm getting a cold, Mommy!"




























the cake










happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear willy
happy birthday to you

yaaaaaaaaaay (quietly so he doesn't cry)










***********make a wish********











mmmmm sugar
i think i could get used to this frosting stuff


afterwards he was completely smeared green it was hysterical :)







"ok ok!!
i've had enough!"














he looks so sad and pathetic but i couldn't resist!
crying in your cake
not a great way to end the night...
though getting more presents made things a little better



















a little sneak-preview present from Dan and me. a toolbelt that says "Willy" and holds stuffed tools :)

happy birthday willy

Willy is ONE YEAR OLD today!

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite little guys ever!! :)

I can't believe you are

SO BIG!!

How in the world did that happen? So quickly! Seems like just yesterday....

He was making his entrance at Brigham & Women's....

Then seeing his home for the first time...

And learning how to laugh... forming that happy, bubbly personality that's so contagious, loveable and sweet.

Getting baptized. Learning to be the life of the
party and enjoying every minute of it...

Learning to eat big-boy food. Hating at first, then totally coming around. You're definitely well fed ;)

Learning how to snap, and clap and sing and dance! Some of your very favorite activities!

Pulling my hair... and finding other funny ways to push the limits and push our buttons....

Learning to crawl. Loving anything that's so ordinary and boring {yet dangerous and interesting}....

Standing, walking, trying on your first new pair of walking sneakers. Standing tall....

Happy birthday kiddo! Its been 365 days of joy having you in my life! Your parents are doing such a great job raising you. You're going to be an amazing toddler, child, teenager then adult! And I can't wait to see it :)

Looking forward to cake tonight and a really fun party on Saturday! Lots to celebrate this week...

dinner time visitor

last night i was making dinner, chopping veggies on the cutting board in the sink, and i look up to see my new doe friend looking in to check out what i'm doing. we did our little staring contest for a bit and then i went back to chopping... she hung a bit more so i went to get dan (and the camera). we peeked out the closet windows and she was just poking around at the edge of the woods. she'd stop every couple seconds and look back at us. i swear she must think to herself "what the heck is so exciting people? go back about your business" :)

i did snap a few shots of her through our dirty dirty windows

{note to self: find free time, grab ladder, bucket & sponge and take care of that mess!}

6 days before turning 1

this is what willy looks like

cute as can be

silly as ever

crawling on his knees

walking a few steps at a time

trying to use the sippy cup on his own
picking it up with his mouth...
worth a shot right?












and finally doing it right
on this own!
such a big kid.

then he proceeded to shake it up and spurt water everywhere... auntie jen started the "sippy cup is not a toy" lecture and that was the end of that ;)

still, i think his favorite part about our visits

is my lens cap

oodles of toys

things that make noise

and vibrate

fun colors and shapes

but this simple black plastic circle makes him sooo happy

i think he knows that its part of my camera and that he really shouldn't be playing with it

and that's what makes it fun

he "steals" it from me and runs around with it

with that "hee hee, look what i've got" grin on his face

like he's getting away with murder

another mistake shot that i love!!!

i'm telling you- he really loves this stupid lens cap!!

and finally a shot of the two of us :)