Britta's in Guatemala! Check out the pictures of her adventure here: www.damianfiles.com

First Day of SPRING! (boing boing)

Let's think of happy things like the tulips soon to arrive and the warmer temperatures to come! Let's think of hiking in the sunny mountains of New England. Let's think of swimming in Walden Pond. (Okay, now I'm getting into summer).

I love spring!

Grandma passed away this month. I'm sorry for my Pops. I know it was hard to see her age. No matter the conditions they are in or how old we become ourselves, it's a hard thing when a parent passes. (Luckily, I don't know from experience.) I'm thankful to my Uncle, Aunt, and Sister for being there. I'll remember Grandma fondly and think about her in a better place. After all, she was the grandparent that I knew the most.

Bathtubs! Toilets! and Sinks! Oh MY!

I've already got a picture of the japanese style bathroom I will build in my house someday. It's a hardcopy pic, so I can't show you here. In the meantime, here's a toilet discussion for your contemplation.

I don't know what I was thinking! I brought fruit instead of cookies for snack today.

Today is the Ides of March. Beware!

Here, in New England, we can't figure out what season it is. Yesterday it was over 70 degrees and tomorrow we are forcasted for a foot of snow. What fun!

It's great to see all the people coming out of their winter hibernation...lots of action along the Charles River and all around town with runners and walkers. I've been lucky enough to partake the last two evenings. My legs are loving me for giving them some exercise. And my tummy is asking for sweet rewards!

Winter has finally come!

Nine degrees this morning. Just 9. Not 19. Not 29. Just 9. Brrrr.

The Iditarod racers have warmer weather in Alaska right now.

I don't mean this as a complaint. More of an amazement. I do look quite cute all bundled up.

One Year

One year ago, I flew from Sacramento to Boston to begin working at Dewberry. Today is my one year anniversary with "The Dew". Let's eat cake!

Mommy Daughter Day - March 3rd 2007

I don’t know about you, but I had a very fun, very social, very busy, very relaxing weekend. You’re probably asking, how can one weekend be all of those things? I’ll tell you.

The weekend festivities began with celebration of the work week ending on Friday evening. Kate and I met the Boys (A and Peter) at Cambridge Brewing Company for a fun dinner and (can you believe it?) a 3.5 liter tower of pale ale. No, Kate didn’t partake in the pale ale, but she shared pics of the ultrasound with us! We talked about all kinds of grown-up things…having babies, buying houses, planning finances, etc. Amazing! I can’t wait until I’m 30. We adjourned dinner and migrated to Christina’s for a scoop of ice cream and then called it a night. We, adults, couldn’t hang out past 10pm!

Mom, however, is super spunky! Saturday, we started our Mommy/Daughter Day at 8am with Power Step Class. It was quite a workout! Dripping in sweat, but still looking quite cute in our workout clothes, we went to the “cute breakfast place by the gym”. It has a name…I think it’s called “The Lighter Fare” in Quincy. We dined on a smoked salmon version of eggs benedict and easily made up for the calories we burned while stepping, stomping, spinning, and lifting at the gym.

After getting the grand tour of the Fruit Center we tootled back to Mom’s and bathed. At this point it was noon and we toyed with two options for our next activity: take a nap or see a movie (which is kind of like taking a nap). Instead, we talked ourselves into an outdoor exploration due to the sunny warm weather. Sunny and 50 degrees is something to celebrate around here! Napless, we headed out into the world. Mom, as designated driver, and I, as designated navigator, we left the car with GPS at home and took the beloved van and paper map book out to Hull.

We stopped along the way at a beach parking area to look out over the water. Several other people were doing the same thing. We quickly learned that the thing to do is park at the water, put your chair back and take a nap or read a book. Everyone was just chillin’ in their cars. So we chilled in ours. We chatted about the fact that we were sleepy and hadn’t taken a nap. No, we didn’t nap in the car. We moved along into the town of Hull.

Before, stopping in for a bite to eat, we walked “the strip”, meandered over to the beach, strolled along the squishy wet sand. Mom was amused by the fact that the wet sand near the water squished under our shoes. It wasn’t compact and hard like we’d expect. We admired several of the homes along the walk and made our way back to “the strip”. There we popped into the bakery/coffee shop and had a blast! The shop was holding a cookie tasting contest. We got to try three different cookies and vote for our favorite. It was sooo Gilmore Girls! When we finished our tea and snacks we remarked about what a fun little town Hull is and returned to the car. We drove out to the tip and enjoyed the view of Boston Harbor.

It was different to see the skyline from that perspective. It was a due west viewpoint. Usually we just see it from the North or the South… Plenty of people were parked at this lookout just chillin’ in their cars. Perhaps, to a New Englander in the winter that is what defines “going out” for the day. It worked for us! We did our share of strolling in the wind on the beach and were happy to enjoy the views from inside the car.

At 4pm we headed down to Weymouth (with expert navigation by moi) and found (with a little help from a nice lady at CVS) the Cameo theater. For $4 per person we saw the movie “The Last King of Scotland”. It wasn’t about Scotland. It was about Uganda and the reign of Amin in the 1970s. Very well done…. I can see why it won the Oscars it won. Not exactly a peppy movie, but very well done.

We finished the day with dinner at American Joe’s and went back to Mom’s around 9pm. What a day! The great thing about Mommy Daughter day is that you can celebrate it whenever you want. It doesn’t have to be on a given day that the calendar gods declare. We had a blast!

On Sunday, A and I slept in, took ourselves across the street for breakfast and then met Rattler and Michael at the Tower Botanical Gardens (outside of Worcester) for a lovely lunch in the Twigs Café and afternoon walk around the gardens. There’s a great Orangerie (greenhouse) with inside blossoming flowers and lots of fun outdoor paths to stroll. We had a great time stomping and slipping and sliding around in the snow, and we’ll definitely go back in the spring for the beautiful flowers. The boys invited us over to their house for hot cocoa and continued chit chat. That have a great bungalow filled with three dogs and a cat. We’re hoping for a baby soon too! The room is ready to go in Classic Pooh décor. Adorable!

On the way home A and I stopped at Michael’s to pick up some frames for our most important professional certifications. My CFM and his PE! We also got a fun candle making kit and some new pencils for my art class.

So, can you see how the weekend was fun, social, busy, and still relaxing?

Pink

A bought me a shiny new pink softball glove! I'm ready to take my princess self out to the softball fields this spring. Anyone need a player?