gone, gone, from new york city

i will be posting pictures from ny soon (i didn't get a chance to upload while i was there), but just wanted to say i'm back safely and i had a fantastic time! plenty of claire pictures to come =)

in ny

well, i made it safely AND found free wifi in our hotel lobby--double yay! my flight last night took off about 1h30 late (leaving at 12:20am instead of 10:50pm, but that wasn't overly horrible.

now i have to wait to check in, so i'm off to explore the city a little bit (unfortunately laptop in tow for me), but i'll certainly be back later to update! i can't wait to see claire in the city.

and for the excitement of the day...two things.
1. apparently (i guess i was asleep) some guy got drunk and unruly on the plane. when we went to deboard, they held us all while the cops came to escort him off. whoops! i did actually notice him when he got on--he seemed slightly aggressive and cranky when trying to find a spot for his luggage overhead.

2. the twa terminal! last time brandon and i were here, we were hoping to catch a glimpse and failed miserably. it's going through repairs currently, so you can't go in it but the jetblue terminal is right next to it, so when i was heading to airtrain i saw it! yay!!!

nyc, here i come

so, sorry i've been sort of MIA this week. i have been working till at least 7:30pm every day this week and now i leave for new york tonight! i'm on a red-eye, so i get to go home after work, finish packing (just the toiletries, etc.) and then head to bart to go to the airport. whew! now, hopefully i will get to update some blogs while i'm there, but so far it looks like my hotel doesn't have free internet which i'm not happy about. we'll see...so i'll either be updating while i'm there or when i get back! i'll be back monday night, so it's not like i'm gone for a long time.
in the meantime, happy weekend everyone!

nat's bridal shower

whoooops...when i went to type the title of this post, i wrote baby shower. luckily, i fixed this...no need to start rumors! natalie's BRIDAL shower was this weekend, and boy was it beautiful! it was held at metro lafayette, which had amazing food and a great environment! i highly recommend--i would love to go back sometime.

anyway, it was a gorgeous sunny (slightly breezy--yay allergies) day with lots of beautiful ladies and a relaxed, fun time. i cannot emphasize how great it has been to hang out with the high school girls--we've now seen each other three weekends in a row! i love spending time with this wonderful group. again, i am so fortunate to have them!

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all-in-all, a perfect day (minus the sunburn on, eh hem, one side of my nose only. luckily it has faded away today)

unfortunately i had to miss joanne's engagement party with the girls today in order to get some things done before new york, but i hear it was lovely! halfway through my crazy 6 weeks, only 1 trip to ny, 1 half marathon and 1 wedding left!

more cats

so, first off thanks to everyone and their comments regarding my pain-in-the-butt cat. i know it's probably a phase, just a longer phase than i'd like. ben takes opportunities like this to remind me of my commitment to being a pet owner, and remember that he has needs too, and our relationship can't always be on my terms...oooh how it's not on my terms.

and yes, i realize having kids is like this times 10, and i also realize it sounds like i'm talking about human kids, not cats.

anyway, i digress. i just HAVE to say, all you cat--and even non-cat--people out there, head over to edyta's blog today. i found her post today SO hilarious. just to give you a snapshot...the post starts out with the following text:

"Friday! Is it a dress, lingerie or a jogging suite? Oh Boris, it’s a bag."

and has this picture at the top:

photo courtesy of edyta szyszlo photography

so head on over there to see what boris' mischief is all about...ooooh boris.

i need a cat trainer

i need a cat trainer, and no, this isn't an april fool's joke. in fact, this is the opposite of funny. as you've seen from my bad cat behavior posts, my kitties can be naughty. however, most the time it's semi-cute naughty, like awww, those goobers. the side that you don't see as much is the pest side of ben. i feel bad, because he clearly wants SOMETHING, but i have no clue what it is. i play with him, he gets bored. i pet him, he gets tired of that. he makes a distinct whiney meow noise (oftentimes sounding like he's saying "raoul"), and if no one responds, you just brace yourself for bad behavoir, whether it be wine glass bumping, cord chewing, or picture frame moving. i love this cat to pieces, but every night he drives me insane. i frequently can't get things done because he's causing trouble every couple minutes.

i've tried playing with him until he tires (the down time doesn't last long), we've tried ignoring the bad behavior (we end up with broken wine glasses)...i just seriously don't know what to do. pretty much every evening i end up getting upset and telling him that i don't know what he wants, and asking him if he could PLEASE just one night be good. sometimes we're so lucky as to have him nap in the evening, but most of the time he doesn't.

the worst part is, i feel like it's just because he's ridiculously smart, and so he gets bored. i get new toys from him, we try and entertain him, but i just don't know what to do...

so, in conclusion, anyone know a cat trainer? i don't know what else to do...either a cat trainer or a cat wheel...anyone want to donate a cat wheel?

most amazing deal ever!

so, edyta (my wedding photographer) is offering the most amazing deal ever. as in, it seriously makes me contemplate wanting to get married again (to the same guy, of course!) just to take advantage of this if i were to enter and win. she's giving away a FREE day of wedding photography.

the package includes:

Complimentary Wedding Package (includes 8 hours of coverage, 20pg 10×10 album of your choice, online hosting, disc of images). Couple must pay for travel (airline ticket, car rental and hotel if needed - this will serve as the deposit to secure the date). $4400 value!

sign me up! umm....edyta, can we enter to win just a portrait session? teehee....jealous! so ladies (and gents)...head over to edyta's blog to get more details and send in your entry! this is an amazing (and cost-saving) opportunity.

farm fresh

so after chatting about it this weekend with my friend natalie, i was convinced that i should sign up for farm fresh to you. it's a company that delivers a variety of usda certified organic fruits and vegetables to your doorstep (or, um, your office's doorstep if you have a gate like we do). what i like about this service? it's reasonably priced, gives recipes with the produce, it's going to force me to expand my cooking repetoire (and get out of our 5 meal rut we're in), and will force us to eat more fruits and veggies--not to mention the benefits of eating organic. it's also extremely customizable. want all veggies? done! all fruits? done! only local? done! every other week/3 weeks/once a month? done! we started at one box every three weeks--this will give us an opportunity to test out the service, and see what we think will be a reasonable delivery schedule without wasting. they apparently post what will be in the box on the friday before your delivery, and you can email or call in to change out an item if you don't like it. i can't wait for our first delivery! here's to healthier cooking!

sick sunday

well, our fantastic weekend in vegas ended with a not-so-fantastic plane ride. i was expecting a little bit of turbulence as we departed vegas and flew over the mountains, but i was not expecting 45 minutes of it. i wasn't hung over or anything, but man did i get sick. i get motion sick extremely easily, but i've never actually gotten sick. i guess there's a first time for everything! our fasten seatbelt sign was only off for about 15-20 minutes, and multiple people on the flight were ill. it was awful. at least i have good friends who still like me after sitting next to me. the flight attendants were so sweet and kind, so that was nice-- one even checked on me when he walked through the cabin. thankfully we landed safely, but i was obviously feeling a little under the weather. brandon took the opportunity to snap a photo of me while i was napping...then i woke up but we snapped a few more of the kitties because they were being so cute.

vegas! (aka joanne's bachelorette)

so, this weekend i went to vegas for my friend joanne's bachelorette. it was SO amazing--there were 7 of us from high school plus two of joanne's other friends. we had a blast! it was fun/tiring/relaxing all at the same time. we flew in friday afternoon on virgin america. the plane was full of bachelor/bachelorette parties!
the lovely bride and friends

when we arrived, we checked in the hotel room and chilled until we had to get ready for the night out! we got all dolled up, went to dinner and then out dancing at a club, thanks to hookups from tati.
saturday morning i got up early and went for a 10 mile run with tati--it was her first time going 10, and she did great! i was proud. we then went back to her house, showered, baked some cakes for later, and headed back to the hotel to meet up with everyone else, who were resting poolside. i have to say a bloody mary after a long run is just about the most amazing thing EVER. it's a heavenly way to replenish all the salt you've lost.

after the pool, we had a mini "shower" for jo, where we unveiled the shirts i had made for us to wear.

to give some background, in high school joanne's mom shared something with joanne about kissing, which joanne passed onto us. it's sort of a "classification system" for kisses...we were always pestered with the question "was it a peach, a plum, or alfalfa?" now, if you say these aloud, carefully pay attention to what your mouth/tongue does and you will see what the differences are.

anyway, we came up with the concept of using peach/plum/alfalfa for the shirts, all of us being peaches and plums, and joanne being alfalfa. i made up some graphics on my computer and then screenprinted them.

so saturday after the shower we got ready, all wearing our shirts, and went to dinner and then danced for a bit while waiting for our show to start.

group photo courtesy of melissa

all in all, a much needed, much enjoyed girls weekend. we should have these more often. not to get all sappy, but i'm so thankful to have such a wonderful group of friends. whenever i'm with them i am amazed at what a fantastic, beautiful group of girls i have as friends. it says a lot that here, almost 10 years after high school, we're still hanging out. thank you, girls, for being so fabulous. i love you all.