More, of course!

Another weekend, another set of photos of my favorite (and only) nephew! Just had to share :-) I know, I'm the cutest little baby boy ever!
A little mid afternoon snack with Daddy and Nana - YUM!
Taking a break, working on the mechanics of crawling.
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!

I just love the dancing duck. Can't get enough of him!

Big Dig Woes

Here we are - more than two weeks since the Big Dig proved faulty and killed a 39-year-old woman. The cause - faulty bolt and epoxy assemblies within the I-90 connector tunnel.

As investigators continue inspection every inch of the $14+ billion Central Artery Tunnel Project infrastructure, more and more faulty bolts are being found on a daily basis.

With local news outlets unveiling documents saying the bolts in that part of the project were suspect and failing years ago, and an Inspector General report questioning the materials used in the project back as far as 1998, it puts to mind the question of what went wrong - from both the material side of things and the project managers, coordinators and construction crews charged with making this state-of-the-art project other cities around the world would want to mimic. Now, it's a wonder it's all still standing.

Ah ... Urban Legends

My girlfriend sent me an e-mail Thursday morning about the importance of knowing that by dialing *677 on your cell phone you can get in touch with local police dispatch, particularly when an "unmarked" police cruiser is attempting to pull you over and there's a question as to whether or not you should. I've always been of the mindset to never pull over for an unmarked car. Instead, simply put your hazards on or continue driving to the closest town and even the closest station before pulling over where you know you will be safe in case this person is indeed a fraud. Afterall, a true officer should understand if you are simply trying to protect yourself. Her e-mail told a story that had a woman in that exact situation follow the same concept.

While the "knockoff pullover" may be the stuff of urban legend, as described on a website link sent to me by my friend Tim, the lesson learned from it is something I think far outweighs whether or not the story is true. It's always better to be safe than sorry right?

Here's that link: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/fakecop.asp - you can check out most, if not all, urban legends here - Enjoy!

Bring Back the Dead Pool?

So I'm perusing MSNBC online this morning and see two stories about two Hollywood actors injured in car accidents in LA yesterday and early this morning. Haley Joel "I see dead people" Osment and Daniel Baldwin (the Baldwin brother we can never figure out). And immediately I'm reminded of the time my brother changed his "dead pool" list to include actors who fly their own planes after, I believe, John Travolta and another actor in a separate incident both had near misses.

Which leads me to the question at hand. We haven't had our dead pool since the days of Lou's. Anyone interested in getting back on the bandwagon? I know, I know, it's morbid, but also fun in a creepy, totally wrong sort of way. Let me know. I can create a link here and we can start them.

Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

He's Just Too Good ...

I've made a promise I won't get too personal on my blog because there are some, if not most, aspects of my life that it wouldn't be right to share with the entire world. That being said, I have to say my wonderful boyfriend, who I adore more than anything in the world, really knows how to brighten a girl's day.

He has this impeccable timing in terms of sending flowers. Sure he's sent them to me at work on my first day and on Valentine's Day, but he also tends to send them "just because" which make me turn into a super gushy 16-year-old every time.

Tuesday was no different, Paul, our mailroom guy comes by my office with his usual "what have you done now?" and presents me with my latest surprise. Two dozen Gerbera Daisies (my absolute favorite by the way) in a myriad of colors. I believe I actually squealed with delight. OK, I admit, I did, people told me.

He just really knows how to make me feel special and on the other hand, he inadvertently really knows how to make others look pretty bad. At least two of my male co-workers came by today with a look followed by a comment of, "man, he makes me look real bad." But no worries - what your wives and girlfriends don't know won't hurt them - but God help the male counterparts of my female work associates, I'm sure they are likely to hear an earful.

Aren't they beautiful?

Vacation Comes to an End

Here it is - late Sunday afternoon and my vacation is finally winding down. (Sigh) Did manage to make the most of it, even the weekend. Headed to my parent's Saturday morning and stayed there most of the weekend. Sat by the pool, cooked out and my mom, dad and I played a mean game of Scrabble - Dad won, but that's because we gave him some good words to work with. He simply added letters to most of them :-). But fair is fair and he was the winner.

Got to catch up with my girlfriend Michele this morning. It had been far too long since we last spent time together. We sat by the pool, had coffee and talked to for hours! Then we got a great surprise, Anthony came by with A4 (the best nephew ever) and of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't have my trusty camera at my side. Here are a couple of pictures of the little guy greeting my mom on his arrival. Enjoy!






And of course no set of photos would be complete without one of Daisy trying to escape the heat!

Mother Nature Stikes Again!

Yesterday Craig and I traveled north to Maine to hit the outlets in Kittery. Our mission: to finally find bedding for our master bedroom. Although we didn't come back with everything we wanted, we did manage to get a great deal on a new down comforter. And any shopping trip for me wouldn't be complete without coming home with a couple of new pairs of shoes.

While the sky opened up and we had to deal with some major rain on the way back, we were doing pretty well traffic wise until we were coming toward Boston, things seemed pretty backed up on the major roadway so we decided to pull off and take Rte. 1 home, which (if it hadn't rained so much) would have indeed been the better alternative. Instead, we found ourselves stuck - though not literally, although others were, in the water. Checking the traffic on Boston.com from my trusty Blackberry we did know there were delays and flooding in the Lynnfield tunnel, but how much really wasn't evident enough until we were actually sitting on the road approaching the tunnel. Traffic wasn't moving, and if you looked up ahead we saw the beginning of what should have been the road going under the bridge but instead looked like a raging river. Cars which tried to make it were stuck and literally bobbing in the water. There were a couple of large trucks and a bus which were going to attempt to get through. We figured depending on how high the water level was on those vehicles, we'd attempt to try it with the trusty Ram, but no dice. It was too high and we weren't going to risk it.

We did the only thing we could do. We sat and waited it out hoping once the rain subsided the water would eventually drain. Cars without any patience started backing up out of the area, others pulled off to the side while passengers walked up ahead to get a closer look. MassHighway came down to keep the peace, but believe it or not, although we were all stuck there for at least an hour, people's spirits were good. The best part - I had my trusty digital camera with me as well so I can share photos with you all! I hope you can see how deep the water is from these images.

Sunday at Mom and Dad's

Ok I've finally discovered the difficulty of posting to a blog. It was going so easily - typed in a new post, grabbed some photos to go with and then it stalled 90 percent way through the process. Ugh!

In any case, what I was saying was that I officially start my vacation today - woo hoo! But wanted to let you all know about last weekend. Last Sunday my family and some friends gathered at my mom and dad's for a celebratory birthday cookout for my brother and dad (their birthdays are a day apart). It was a great time for all complete with good company, lots of laughs, some swimming and some amazing food. Here are some photos I want to share from the day.



This is what happens when the baby swims, everyone, including the dog has to watch every moment :-) It's so much fun we all love him sooooo much!



Me and dad



Here's my brother, Catherine and Baby Anthony enjoying some pool time!



My two favorite guys - the love of my life and Baby Anthony I just love this photo!



OK, I love this one too!

Check out my links

There are two links you'll see on the left-hand side of my page. The first, Hanging Blogger, is the best ever! If you haven't checked it out be sure to do so. The second is even better - especially if you're into "bad" celebrity sightings. It's pretty harsh, yet, thoroughly amusing. I'll be updating these weekly so be sure to check back and see what's new!

I'm up and running

I can't believe how easy this actually was and I always thought I was a computer novice! I guess the new job is helping alot with my abilities to deal with things like HTML. I'm most impressed with myself. So it's Thursday night, just got home from work - played with Molly a bit (right now waiting for her to settle down a bit so I can sneak attack her and give her her medicine), poured myself a glass of wine and trying to wind down from my long day.

Long day? Who am I kidding. I'm only working three days this week and next week I'm on my first official vacation. No major plans, we're just taking it day by day and hoping to relax and get some things done that have fallen by the wayside over the past few months.

Anyway, that's it for now - going to go surf the web and catch up on all my celebrity news :-)

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I'm hoping this will be a place where I can write and share all my thoughts and experiences along the road of life. Bear with me while I get this totally up and running. Looking forward to hearing feedback from all of you :-)