Birthday Countdown Continues

2 days until I'm 29! Then, the countdown to 30... Why is that such a milestone? Should there be things I "need" to get accomplished before I'm 30? What will my goals for age 29 be? 28 was pretty good...I moved back to Boston, got my first professional certification, continued developing a wonderful relationship with A, and spent more time with my parents than I have in any other year since starting college. What fun peeps they are!

I'm laying down (building) the brickwork for an adult career and perhaps even establishment of my own family. That progress will continue into age 29...Are there more professional certifications and perhaps home buying in the future? YIKES! I think it's official that adulthood is here. Trust me, I'm listening to the child within...or shall I say, the traveler within. Spain has recently popped onto the list. I've never considered it as a desirable destination before, but yesterday it sounded good. Other top places on the list are Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, and Japan (yes, again). More local destinations include NYC, Nova Scotia, Montreal.....How do we get sponsored to travel for a year? Is one year on the road too much to ask for in a person's life?

Random Advice: So, our car was looking a little dirty (well kind of like a sand pit with all the stuff collected on the floor). I was feeling like it was run down and was drooling over new cars (how wasteful, I know). This weekend, I vacuumed the car, cleaned the dashboard, etc and now it's just like new! Who knew that a little act of cleaning the car could have such a big effect. What a beautiful little car I have now.
(This theory applies to bathrooms also)

Turkey Week!

How was your turkey week? Our Turkey Week was chock full of Family Fun Activities. The week kicked-off with a visit to Body Worlds 2 at the Boston Science Museum and continued right on through to the latest in Fashion at the Museum of Fine Arts and a walking tour of the Freedom Trail. The 3-D culture was maxed out at that point so we hit the 2-D movies (Déjà vu and Casino Royale) after porking out on Turkey. (Can you say ‘porking out’ when referring to the bird?)

Of course, as per our family customs there was a lot more eating than just the turkey meal… We visited the Parker House and indulged in the famous Parker House rolls and official Boston Crème Pie. Yes, this is the restaurant that invented the Parker House rolls and Boston Crème Pie. No, they do not know why it is called pie when it’s really a cake. We asked.

We also fit in an afternoon of high tea at the Boston Harbor Hotel. It’s always a favorite. Yum.

Game of the week: Monopoly! Wow, talk about getting to know you’re family… This game will show you who’s in it for the money and who’s willing to lay on the guilt to get the money! We played the current version where you collect $2 Million for passing go. Check this out.

Happy Turkey Day!

gobble gobble

Best Snowboarding Lesson Ever!

last night...on the hill near my house...no snow...no snowboards...but the best snowboarding lesson I've had!

A talked me through how it all works, the hip turning, the pushing from your heel... We envisioned going down the mountain to the right, and then shifting the weight to go to the left. I can envision myself snowboarding now. This is more than I did the times I actually tried snowboarding with snow and a snowboard.

Just you wait. I'm going to tear down those slopes this year! Queen Latifah in Last Holiday is my inspiration. If she can do it, so can I. Right?

Countdown begins!

Only 15 Days until we get to celebrate another year of life with Wingnut!

News from the Wingnut Frontlines

It’s been an action packed week around the Wingnut household. We hosted a good friend from sunny Sacramento for six days. His visit took us up to Maine to go Rock Hunting! He knew what he was doing. He could actually find crystals and such. I focused on the rock hunting outfit, as that is the most important part of any hunting expedition. We didn't find any bears or meese on our adventure. We bashed rocks with hammers and had a blast in the fresh air. Did you know they crumble under pressure? There were lots of sparkly flakes in these rocks. They have a name…and I knew the name last week. Hmmm… sparkly flakey things… Well, it was almost like books of plastic pages in the rocks. We have some at home. It’s fun stuff. Word on the street is that they used it in the 40s to make snow for the movies.

After our action packed day in Maine, we toured Coolidge Corner and took a trip in to the game store in preparation of Game Night! This store is the best place ever! There’s puzzles and games up the wazooo. Anything you could dream of, they have it! We picked up Super Scrabble and Pitch It! (a game of storytelling). Super Scrabble has more squares on the board (three extra rows), double the letter tiles, quadruple letter scores, and quadruple word scores. What fun!

Game Night, however, featured good friends (that’s what really makes it), homemade soups (turkey chili and clam chowdah), cornbread and snacks! Oh yes, let’s not forget the delicious salad and brownies brought by the good friends. Are you wondering about the games? We played Cranium (the Turbo edition)! It was wild! There was acting, drawing, putty sculpting, and mind bending word games. This sounds like a commercial huh? The game is perfect for parties and great for teams of three or more J Of course, my team won, but who’s keeping track?

We goofed around with Pitch It for a while and had a lot of laughs. It’s a great improvisational game and perfect for sitting around the campfire. (No, we didn’t have a campfire this time…. My house would’ve burned down if we did.)

The female multi-taskers also convened the first meeting of our newly started Book Club! We’ll get a website going and a link for all of you who’d like to follow along virtually. The first book is “The Alchemist” by Paolo Coehlo. I’m loving it so far! The Book Club’s theme is “quality fiction”.

Stay tuned….

Where's my sticker?

Yesterday was election day. I did my research. I went into the polling place as an educated voter. I marked all the little bubbles and fed my sheet into the machine. I looked everywhere for the person passing out the "I Voted" stickers, but they weren't there. Actually, I didn't see anyone all day wearing a "I Voted" sticker. Personally, I love the reward...and am sad there were no stickers. Does Massachusetts not believe in "I Voted" stickers?

Snow?

They say it's going to snow soon....

Here's a snowflake site that Pops passed along. If you are in sunny California, you can get a snowflake print to hang on your wall and pretend like it's winter!

I love winter hats and gloves. Yippeee!!!

Driving Practice

Do you need practice parking?

Check this out!!!

Only one month left...

Today marks one month before my birthday!

I know you're all dying to find out the results from the Halloween Coloring Contest. Well, we had two excellent entries! I'll post a picture soon...Right now they are welcoming the mail man with their display on the front door.

Halloween was a smashing success in our neighborhood. We got two, yes you can count them on one hand, trick-or-treaters! Of course, we weren't home between 6:30 and 8pm so I don't know how many trick-or-treaters came by in that time... Huey welcomed them, I'm sure. That's Huey in the picture.

Dad passed a fun site along: If you didn't have time to carve your pumpkin, go here

Happy Post-Halloween. Happy One Month Until My Birthday! (presents area always accepted)