Welcome to the family Illy!

Meet Illy. She is a bromeliad. We picked her up at Trader Joe's. She lives in the kitchen. Her tag says it is ok to discard her when she stops flowering because "they'll grow more". Sadly, that is probably a good thing for us. We'll do our best to take care of Illy, just don't judge us based on our previous plant track record, please. We love you, Illy. Welcome to the family.

Scrumptious Memories

Today is the 4th anniversary of the day A and I became a "couple". Naturally, this leads me down a path of memories from the days we first met. I remember the day I first met A. I was told he was in charge of the company softball team and that they were always looking for people to play. I sent A an email with my interest and within an hour he appeared over my cubicle wall with a big smile. The organizer of the team, he was happy to meet the newbie and welcome me. Remembering that moment and our softball adventures makes me smile about where it all led. Definitely, a happily ever after kind of story.

Another scrumptious memory floated to the front of my mind today in response to my improved flossing efforts of late. I have a dentist appointment coming up. This means I have begun flossing religiously to prepare. I don't think the dentist is ever fooled, but I am usually better about flossing the month before my appointment.

I remember one morning before kindergarten, my dad took me to the dentist. I don't remember anything about that particular dentist appointment, except that Dr. Mednick always had fun toys and a receptionist with my name! What I remember is the surprise Dad had for me in the car on the way to kindergarten after the dentist appointment. He gave me a little ziploc bag with two cookies in it. With my dad, we were always allowed two cookies for dessert (if we ate our dinner). I remember Dad looking at me with a smile, "I brought you a treat for being good". I remember thinking about my shiny clean teeth and how the cookies were going to make them not so clean. That didn't stop me though. I dived right in. I was five. I remember arriving late to kindergarten. One of the teachers welcomed me in and asked to see my shiny clean teeth. I flashed her a big grin filled with cookie. I remember the look on her face, and I'm not sure if she believed my explanation, but Dad and I know I was really at the dentist that morning.

Scrumptious memories...

Summer in Boston

Saving Energy

Read about Blackle .

The idea is that it not only saves energy, but acts as a reminder to make at least small efforts to save energy.

Of course, spending my evenings blogging and watching TV seems a little energy excessive, but at least the kitchen lights are turned off! I'm going to turn off the computer and turn on the kitchen lights to do the dishes. Then, I'll turn off the kitchen lights and turn on the bedroom light to read before turning off the bedroom light to dream.

Are you conserving?

Hot chocolate at 3 PM is every girl's dream. OK, really cupcakes are, but I'm settling for cocoa today. Yum.

un-fun jobs

One job I certainly don't want is to be the printer fixer guy. Think about how frustrating every day would be. Wake up, go to a random office, trouble shoot printer issues, kick the printer, tell everyone it's fixed, go to the next office of the day, repeat. Yuck.

Very Important Business

The most important thing today is to post this shout-out to my Pops. Pops, you know I love you and that you're the greatest dad any girl could wish for. Thanks for being mine. Here's your shout-out.

Happy Father's Day, Pops!

That was loud wasn't it? There are a few more father-type people I'd like to mention today.

• Mr. T - Thanks for being in my family's life, a great dad to my best pal, AND congrats on being a grandfather this year!
• Dick - You're a wonderful support to my husband (and me). Thanks for everything.
• Hobart - My new father - in - law, thanks for all the love you give us.

Lastly, I'd like to wish a happy father's day to my friends who are dads. You know who you are .... I hope your kids are treating you well. Happy Father's Day!

More Very Important Business

A and I have been taking care of some very important things this weekend. Here's our list of accomplishments in no particular order of importance (they are all important!):

1. 1. We saw the movie UP. I loved it! It's a must see in the theaters (3D).
2. 2. I finished the book Breaking Dawn, the last of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Great books. Great ending. I had such fun reading them.
3. 3. We spent some significant time catching up on our TiVo recordings and setting up new season passes. It's good to have your TV organized, right?
4. 4. We returned a large bag of potting soil (dirt) to Home Depot. When we set up our potted garden on the porch a few weeks ago we thought our pots would take more dirt than was necessary so we were left with a rather large bag of dirt. We've been reimbursed the $14 and hopefully someone else will use it to grow wonderful things.
5. 5. We walked (I did a little jogging) around Fresh Pond in Cambridge. This was a great excercise. The pond seemed a lot bigger than it really was. It took us an hour to speed walk around it. At one point my forehead was covered in little tiny bugs. A wiped them off for me. What a guy! It was overcast and humid and the little bugs were swarming all along the trails. There were also a lot of dogs. Luckily they were all well behaved and no one pounced on me. One dog named Schnitzel obeyed his owner when she told him not to go in the puddles. We didn't feel very welcome by the City of Cambridge since most of the parking was reserved for City residents and it was difficult to find parking that we could use...but the trails around Fresh Pond are beautiful and woodsy. I'll go back despite the unwelcome-ness, the dogs, and the bugs. It really is a great recreational resource.
6. 6. We cheered on the Red Sox. Hoooray for Beckkkkkkett's shut out on Saturday night and Thank you to Nick Greene for a walk-off home run this afternoon. It turns out the Atlanta Braves are a pretty good match up for the Sox this year. It was a fairly close series. The Sox travel to Atlanta in a week or so for another three game series with them.
7. 7. We ventured to Costco for some edible provisions and picked up a copy of My Sister's Keeper. A and I have joined Sam's bookclub on Goodreads and this is our first assignment. Feel free to join us!
8. 8. Two loads of laundry: washed and folded!
9. 9. Given all the productivity of accomplishments 1 - 8 you might not think it, but we slept in and enjoyed lots of relaxing pajama time this weekend.

All in all, I have had one fabulous weekend and feel refreshed and ready for a new week.

Happy Summer! It doesn't look like it here (overcast, rainy, and humid) but it has officially begun.

Welcome to Scrumptious Explorations

Thank you for joining me here in my new home! I moved from Wingnut's World for one reason. I've got too many gmail accounts and Wingnut's World was associated with an old one. Scrumptious Explorations is associated with a current gmail account and lets me link to the picasa web pictures. How fun is that? Check out the slideshow on the sidebar. Seriously. Click on it. I love it!

(note: the asia pics are not all up yet...it's a work in progress)

Basically, as long as I was moving the home of my web log, I took the opportunity to give it a face lift and a new name. Scrumptious is usually used to describe edible items, but I like to think that some of the stories and thoughts I share are so compelling that you'll find them scrumptious to read!

enjoy.

a little bit of housecleaning, archival items

I grabbed these from our pbwiki site which we aren't really using anymore. I don't foresee having a continued use for it. It was fun to experiment with, but for my postings, I think Blogger is the way to go. Here are some oldies that didn't make it into Blogger:

February 22, 2009
WOW. It's February already! I've been so absorbed in my new Blackberry portable email and connection to the world device that I haven't spent much time in front of the big computer checkin on things. A and I are now addicted to Facebook and are having fun tracking old friends and trying not to get sucked into the little games that FB provides. The holidays were great. We had our first christmas as "Man and Wife" in Boston, just the two of us. It was a WHITE christmas which made two California kids very happy. We went for a walk in the snow and it felt like we had gone to the mountains for Christmas, but in fact we were right here. The weekend following Christmas Day we met up with The Cousins in NYC to celebrate Emeline's 2nd birthday and meet Tucker. It showed us how easy it is to get to the city for a weekend, especially when Jake and Hi'i are so willing to let us crash at their pad. We're going again this coming weekend and meeting up with Mike and Nate who are doing a weekend trip from CA to see the Rangers play at Madison Square Garden.

Other news since Christmas, we officially have a new president in office now!! HOOORAY!! January flew by, I think we were still in hunkering down during Winter mode. A and I have been enjoying big breakfasts (french toast, waffles, etc) on the weekends and catching up with our friends TiVo and Netflix. It's amazing how the time flies! We also try to get out during the middle of the day for a walk. During the week work keeps us pretty busy. We've been good about hitting the gym three times a week and are bonding with our yoga instructors and the yoga poses. We're making new friends with some of A's co-workers and they are introducing us to fun games like Apples to Apples!

Our trip to China / Japan is all planned. We are ready to go!

December 21, 2008 Winter Solstice
This winter has brought us many adventures already! Thanksgiving was full of family fun down in Washington D.C. followed by a super 31st birthday for Corinne. Adrian spoiled her with presents, a fancy sushi dinner and a decadent chocolate dessert platter at Finale. We visited Kitty and Bobby in Boothbay Harbor, ME and enjoyed the small coastal town christmas festivities of a lighted boat parade, ginger bread house contest, and walked along the scenic coast while exploring the new Botanical Garden. Since then, our adventures have been more local. We have enjoyed a few "pajama days" relaxing at home while decorating the christmas tree and wrapping presents. This past week we went to the Boston Pops Holiday Show and the Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs game. Both were tons of fun (in very different ways, of course). Adrian was given a big raise this week! Happy Holidays at the Bartshire house! The country wide snow storm that began in LA and Vegas reached us on Friday. It started snowing around 1:30pm on Friday and hasn't stopped yet (Sunday evening 4:30pm). Corinne has made many snow angels and we've done plenty of shoveling. It's a blast to walk around in the winter wonderland. Thanks Koolaid for hosting a snow day Pancake Palooza! Corinne's favorite discovery was finding out that mini marshmallows leave a hole in the pancake perfect for filling with syrup or berry sauce. YUM! Pics of our Winter Activities are on our picasa website.

November 8, 2008
YIPPPEEEE for our NEW PRESIDENT!!!!! Election day was quite exciting. Our quiet polling place had a line!

Last weekend held many fun fall activities. We started off with chores at Al's house. OK, I lounged with a novel and Adrian moved a lot of heavy stuff in the garage. Then we meandered (well bee-lined) up to Greensboro VT to hang with Jack and Colton. They taught us how to play Wii and Corinne's arms were sore from "boxing" for the next week! They also took us on a hike up their local hill (pics on the picasa website). VT already had many inches of snow, so fall views are mainly gone. It's still beautiful in the city. Leaves are covering the ground, but there are still many bright colored trees throughout the city.

This weekend is being used to catch up on chores around our house, and Adrian is helping out with some at Al's house too. Corinne took a trip to the local library. We love the library, but for some reason, life's just been too busy to make it there. We've been enjoying our renewed relationship with the gym as well. Yoga!

October 31 to November 2, 2008
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Our pumpkins are lit on the porch and looking fabulous! We are jetting off to Longmeadow and VT for the weekend. We won't be home for trick-or-treaters but last year we got all of 0, so we aren't feeling too bad about this.

Corinne's work has brought her a night in Stamford CT, a night in Fairfax VA, and a night in Waterbury VT over the last three weeks. She's always on the go! She's also got a renewed relationship with the gym. She is experimenting with spinning classes and getting back into yoga after several months of non attendance.

October 25 & 26, 2008
We carved pumpkins! Thank you to Kate, Addy, Janice, Cynthia, and Kenny for joining us in the fun! Sunday was filled with a spectacular pancake and bacon breakfast. Thanks to Liz and Justin for joining in or indulgence. A and C strolled the Fall Festival at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. The foliage was spectacular and the weather couldn't have been nicer. It was sunny and 60 degrees! (see pics on our picasa website)

October 18, 2008 - Harvard Football & The Head of the Charles
Today is our four-week-iversary. It's also our first Saturday at home since the action packed wedding fun. We enjoyed a morning of sleeping in and wandered out into the sunny autumn weather for a Saturday afternoon adventure. First stop, breakfast! (of course). With full bellies we adventured onto the 66 bus to Harvard. It was the most crowded bus I'd ever been on! Note: I don't take the bus daily, just the train. The bus pulled up next to Harvard Stadium and we saw indications that a football game was going on. Being the adventurous selves that we are, we hopped off the bus and scouted out the scene.

The next thing you know, we're inside Harvard Stadium rooting for the Crimson & White. I was entertained by the band and cheerleaders, while Adrian scouted the best players on the team. Every time Harvard scored, the cheerleaders went behind the end zone, lined up, and did as many push ups as Harvard had for a total score. Thank goodness we didn't do this at Wilcox!

We left near the end of the 3rd quarter (Harvard was winning) to check out the Head of the Charles. It is quite the "to do" here in Beantown. We strolled the booths and gathered all the freebies we could find then walked along the river and watched the boats go by. I'd say the highlight was having my picture taken with two people sized Blackberry cell phones!

a one night adventure

Who would've expected that a one night trip to Raleigh could be so filled with excitement?

 

I had to fly Delta on the flight to Raleigh. I hate flying any airline other than Jet Blue. I'm so comfy on Jet Blue. I used to say I LOVE them, but they've had some customer service glitches in the past year and so I've demoted them to I'm comfy on their airline. I still prefer them over any other airline.

 

My biggest frustration with Delta is that I couldn't book a seat online when I booked my flight. I was never able to choose a seat. I went through security with a "seat request" thing. In their world, it counts as a boarding pass. I wasn't too worried about it since I got to Logan with plenty of time before my flight. However, the line for security took 45 mintues to get through! That's not usually the case. I made friends and eventually came out the other side. I bee-lined for Lucky's, chowed on a cheeseburger (yumm), and mosied over to my gate a few minutes before the scheduled boarding time.

 

When I arrived at the gate, they were busy trying to get a few other flights out at the same time, so they told us not to wait in line for seat assignments. They would call us by name. How did the other folks get seat assignments?

 

The next announcement I heard was "Folks, we are in an oversold situation. We are looking for two volunteers....blah blah blah...the next available flight is tomorrow morning."  I'm thinking "great, I've got no seat and we're oversold".

 

Shortly thereafter, I hear they are boarding all passengers to Raleigh. I hopped in line with my "seat request" and the magic machine printed me a seat number. 13B. phew. I was getting on the plane.

 

13B was the back of the bus. The very last row. It was only half a row. The other half was the bathroom.  Halfway through a less than 2 hour flight, some guy decides to use the bathroom. fine. When he's done he just stands in the aisle outside the bathroom and over my shoulder. He's just chillin'. I realize that if he needs to stretch his legs, he has no where else to go, but it was a bit intrusive of my space. Grrr... I missed Jet Blue.

 

THE NEXT DAY

I get to the Raleigh airport super excited that I get to fly Jet Blue home and I don't have to get on Delta or any other airline, only to find out that my flight is delayed. Bummer. A and I had plans to go out to dinner. The delay was due to weather delays in Beantown. The rain cut the Red Sox game short that night. We blame Mother Nature for the Sox's loss on that one. They totally would've won had they been given the chance to play four more innings!  Anyway, my delay kept getting more and more extended.

 

A and I realized our dinner plans just weren't going to happen, so, I found myself a chocolate chip cookie (size large), a wall outlet for the laptop, and purchased access to the ATT wifi. With a cookie and internet amusement (facebook, email, goodreads, etc) I felt much better about the delay. When I finally made it to Boston, A picked me up ad whisked me home so I didn't have to walk in the rain. YIPPEE!!

 

I was welcomed at home with a stocked fridge and "Welcome Home Flowers". They are gorgeous magenta gerbera daisies. Lovely!  My honey is really good to me. 

The pain of Heroes

We finally caught up on the TV show Heroes. Thank you TiVo! But, oh the pain! They had a wonderfully complete, nice tied up ending where the bad guy could be gone forever, and they just had to twist it to keep the story going for another season. So painful! I was ready for the bad guy to be done. I've been looking forward to that moment for so long. What do they need another season for? Is there anyone who watches the show besides A and I? I wish I'd gotten a vote on how the season ends. I would've told them I like perfect fairytale endings.

Isn't it funny...

Isn't it funny how one can take the same route to and from work everyday and one day notice a building that has sprouted? It's a huge building, really tall. How did I not see it before it got so tall?

a few things you might want to know

it's rainy today in Boston

 

we LOVED our cupcake tour yesterday (details below)

 

I'm still in my pajamas at 1:30pm in the afternoon

 

the phlebotomist informed us that in order to know how much water you should drink every day you take your weight and divide it in half. That's how many ounces of water you should drink in a day. Drink Up!

 

Cupcakes! Part 2

At Sweet we did frosting shots and shared a lemon raspberry cupcake and a mini organic karat cupcake. The lemon raspberry had lemon frosting and was filled with raspberry jam. Light and summery, it was scrumptious. The organic karat was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and topped with little gold flakes. It felt like quite a party with seating and all the various things we ate at Sweet.



From there we walked down the Charles River to the North End. We stopped for a pizza for some "real" food before Lulu's. At Lulu's we shared a Boston creme cupcake. It was good but not WOWing.



We walked along the Rose Kennedy greenway over the Big Dig to the Fort Point area to Flour. They do one kind of cupcake and they do it WELL! We shared their signature giant chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. The cake is moist and rich while remaining light and airy. The frosting is not to thick but not too light. It really is a perfect cupcake. It is so big, one might just call it a small cake.



The last stop on the tour was the South End Buttery. In honor of gay pride weekend we shared a chocolate cupcake with rainbow flag icing. It was good but not WOWing. The location is fun. I love the brownstones and the vibe of the South End neighborhood. The ambience was great too, a fun little cafe with plenty of seating indoor and out. I'd definitely go their again for lunch or an afternoon break from walking in the City.



In the end, Sweet won the favorite vote by a landslide. It came down to Flour and Sweet for having quality, delicious, cupcakes. The variety at Sweet took one up on Flour and wins in our minds for cupcakes. However, Flour provides a variety of other pastries and sandwiches which are delicious. As a cupcake vendor, Sweet takes the cake!



Our first annual cupcakery tour was a success! And, thanks to splitting cupcakes all along the way, A and I are feeling good. We're off to a BBQ.

Cupcakes!

We have begun our cupcake adventure! One down at Party Favors. A and I split a chocolate cupcake withe three truffles on top.

The sun is out and it's a beautiful day for cupcaking!

WEEKEND!

Today, Boston is happy, despite the rain. The Red Sox just swept the Yankees in a three game series. That always makes Boston-ites happy.

 

Tomorrow we are headed on a Cupcake Tour organized by Sam. Check this out: 

http://www.allsamsidea.com/2009/06/cupcakes-cupcakes-cupcakes.html

I've been pricked!

After two finger pricks I was allowed to give blood last night. I guess my right hand has more iron in it than my left. Perhaps my left hand is using all of its iron to heal the finger I burned the other night. (see separate story below) After work, A and I walked pretty far into the industrial parts of South Boston to get to the Red Cross blood drive at the Boston Athletic Club. We thought we'd never get there...but we eventually did. I had to break into the juice bottles prior to giving blood. We answered all the questions and got our fingers pricked. Once up on the bed, the lady did a great job putting in the needle, but then she did some adjustments! She wiggled it around until it was in the right place. YIKES!  I made it through the whole donation, ate my oreos, and filled out my entry to win Red Sox tix. Phew, we were done.

 

I was in desperate need of a cheeseburger. We headed over to Atlantic Grill (a new place that opened up on the water). The place is FULL of flat screen TVs. Everywhere we turned our head we could see the Red Sox beating the Yankees. We enjoyed some great cheeseburgers, great baseball, and then headed home. HOORAY for Youkilis and Lowell's 10th home runs of the season! 

 

At home, when I took my jacket off, I found my gauze pads on my elbow were all red. I had been bleeding during the burger fest, I guess. I washed out my jacket sleeve, peeled the tape off my arm (OUCH!) and examined my needle hole. It's more like I've been sliced than poked. It doesn't hurt and it's not bleeding anymore, so I guess I'll be ok.  And, I'll probably donate again. 

 

 

my burned finger

I try to be a good wife by cooking dinner and doing the dishes, and what do I get? a burnt finger!  Dinner was successful. I went to the kitchen to make hot chocolate after dinner and decided to wash some dishes while the kettle warmed up. I was jammin' through dish duty and grabbed a pot lid from the stove. As I was washing it and spinning it in my hands, a hot part reached my finger. OUCH! It was hot. That lid was sitting next to the kettle...silly me.  It wasn't a bad burn, but I did go to bed with an ice cube.

My apologies. I left out a few things from my SWG. 1. My sis and I had one of our best conversations. We talked China (she loved the journal I kept for her), Twilight, weddings, and more. We had great fun.
2. I talked with my Pops. He's as perky as ever.
And....
3. I watched our garden grow.

SGW

This post is documenting my Super Great Weekend! I went on many dates with my husband, who I don't get to see much since we've gotten back from vacation. He goes to work and I go to work, and we only hang out in the evenings now. (sad face). BUT, this weekend, we had lots of fun. On Saturday morning, A hopped up and went for a run. Go A! I worked on the china pics (some are posted to our picasa website now). When he came back we made breakfast burritos and watched the movie Twilight. Such a great way to start the weekend! (I'm reading the fourth book of the Twilight series now, so it was great fun to bring A into the vampire world that I have been enjoying). Saturday afternoon was filled with dishes, laundry, vacuuming, an oil change, etc. Somewhere around 4:30pm we looked at each other and said, "oh, I have to get ready for a date with my honey!"

 

I showered and put on my Red Sox shirt and cap and joined my honey in the hallway for departure. We strolled in the beautiful sunny afternoon air to the T. We disembarked at St. Mary's and enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the Beacon Street Tavern (the name of the place is something like that). My lamb kabobs and cous cous were delicious and A's oyster po'boy was the fanciest most fun po'boy I'd ever seen. We dined on the patio and watched the Red Sox fans walk by heading to the game. With full tummies we joined them and walked over to Fenway. A bought me a program so I could practice my baseball scoring skills (we had to run into 7-eleven to buy pencils).

 

Our seats were near the Pesky pole for the second game in a three game series with the Texas Rangers. It was a GREAT game and we had a blast. We also managed to eat peanuts, fenway franks, and drink lemonade before the game was over. Our eating fenway franks, I'm convinced, gave Big Papi the luck he needed to hit a home run. It bounced off the Pesky pole... It was his second HR of the season and we were there. The crowd was so proud of him. Lester pitched the entire game. Ellsbury (my fave) made several outs in center field. The Red Sox won 8 - 1.  Waaaa Whoooo! A great game for us to be at.  (I love dates with my honey)

 

We walked all the way home in the beautiful warm night.  Sunday morning, A took a spin on his motorcycle, I went to Costco, and we met A's cousin Ashley for brunch at 11 (well, I was a little late).  We hit the S&S in Inman Square. It had been a long time since I'd been there. My eggs benedict with smoked salmon were great. A enjoyed the corned beef hash and Ashley loved her quiche lorraine. We chatted about her upcoming graduate school adventures, told stories about China, etc.

 

In the afternoon, A and I went on another date! We are so spoiled. We went to the Star Trek movie at the Boston Common theater. LOVED IT! My upbringing in a family of trekkies was very beneficial to my appreciation of the movie. I laughed and very much enjoyed the adventure. My favorite line in the movie goes something like this: "Since my traditional farewell seems somewhat self-serving I will just say 'Good Luck'."

 

After the movie we strolled through the Boston Common (because I always love to walk through the park) and ran into Koolaid and Chris! We're invited to a swap party at their place next weekend. We took some time to catch up and chat in the park before parting ways. A and I continued through the public garden. The palm trees and summer plantings are very tropical! We went to the Beacon Hill Hotel and Bistro for a divine dinner. (so spoiled). We used a restaurant.com coupon...and enjoyed duck (me) and pork shoulder (him) followed by beautiful lemon tart (us).  Then, as an extra special bonus, we walked through the public garden again!  (I love dates with my honey).

 

Sunday night we relaxed (sort of) with a scary movie while I put wedding pics (picked up at Costco) into an album. We watched The Happening. I don't recommend watching it before bed. Luckily, I didn't have any nightmares.  We went to bed very happy with our weekend and reminiscing on the fun we had. 

America the Beautiful

Welcome Back you say? Why Thanks!!! (There were more postings from China...but they didn't get emailed to the blog...so if you didn't get the emails, I guess you were left hanging after the Yangtze River cruise. Let me know if you need to be filled in...the pics are still a work in progress but will be shared on our Picasa site soon.)

We arrived happily back in the U.S. in mid May. Our five week adventure was fabulous and grand, but we were ready to come home and enjoy the conveniences of this country. We spend a full day at home recuperating before going to "the office". I went for a run around the Charles River and had an experience which I felt was a message from the world that it was my Lucky Day. As I was running along, some bird doo doo landed splat right next to me. NOT on me! What a Lucky Day!

A few days later, I had an even Luckier Day. I was lucky enough to go to Newport, RI on two of the most beautiful weather days for a conference and found a $5 bill in the parking lot. What a Luckier Day!

This country is made for me. We are having fun reminiscing the trip and enjoying the routine of summer life in Boston.

We've planted some flowers and vegetables on the porch. We go to A's softball games twice a week and enjoy the beautiful evening air.... Life is great.