August adventures

August had been a pretty fun month. Here's some of what I've been up to the last few weeks.

I just love farmers markets lately. I didn't know we had any near us - but apparently they are all around. I've been to ones in Montclair and Fort Lee. The fruits and veggies are so good!

Randi and I made this awesome cake - Paula Deen's Bobby's caramel cake - and it was really the best cake ever.

I took a couple days off so Randi and I went up to Hyde Park to see FDR's home.

Everything pretty much looks the way it did in 1946, when Eleanor signed the home over to the government.

This garden is over a hundred years old and was really beautiful. FDR, ER and their dog Fala are buried there.
You can also visit the library & museum where there's a lot of family and presidential memorabilia.

And Randi hung out with the Roosevelts.

We had lunch at the Eveready Diner right up the road because it was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

The next day we took mom to the shore for her birthday. We hung out in Point Pleasant. The weather was nice but the ocean was too rough.



And you can get a chocolate and mint swirl cone! We had these after some lunch on the boardwalk.



I went to a baby shower for my friend Steph. She looks so cute!

One of Steph's friends made this. It was so cute! And inside was a little bucket filled with more clothes on a clothesline.

Then on Sunday, we had a little bbq at my brother's for my dad's birthday. My nephew is seriously getting huge. He's 4 months old now, rolling himself over and he's got a heartbreaker smile. He is one happy kiddo. I made spinach artichoke mac & cheese - a recipe my friend Tania posted on FB - and a cucumber, orzo and feta salad. Good stuff!



Last weekend I picked up my friend Becky's daughter at the airport and got her back to NYU. I was playing with my phone while I was waiting and took this pic. Gotta love New York's bravest.

And after I stoped at Taim for some really great falafel. This was another Food Network trip. The restaurant's owner lost to Bobby Flay in a throwdown.

After all that, I headed to the Rover. Open mic is one of my favorite things about Sundays. I love then end of the night when the guys just get together and jam. Sometimes they play covers, rock out or just make up silly songs. You never know what's going to happen.

And one of the guys has been bringing a bunch of maracas, tambourines, a fun thing called a vibraslap and other easy instruments for the audience to play. I played the egg.

I worked the day shift again this week, so I hung out a lot with my sis. We had dinner at Blue Moon with our Aunt Lorraine and cousin Melissa and her boyfriend. Then we decided to visit Melissa at work the next day at a great little coffee shop. We also went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which I just loved. If you like comics, video games, graphic novels - it was fun to see one come to life in this movie.

We've had really cool weather this week. I was wearing long sleeves most days. I usually don't mind, but I think I'm going to be sad to see summer go.

Summer scrapping

This may seem like a lot of pages, but I just haven't shared in ages...

Here are some close ups of Penny. I just love all her little puggy parts. I used a mix of stuff, but mostly a collab between Amy Wolff and Gina Miller called Whirlwind, which I just love. Credits


Here's my friend Marianna, who we call MJ, on her first night as karaoke dj. She rocks. This is another Gina Miller collab that I love. Credits


Meredith Fenwick has gotten back into designing and has opened a new shop at Oscraps. I've always been a big fan of hers and so I signed right up when she was looking for some people to do some pages for her on FB. Here's one I did featuring my grandma and two of the aunts that she has been taking care of. Credits

I splurged on this harness for Penny at Trixie + Peanut in NYC. It looks so cute on her! Credits

I scrapped some shots from July 4th using more goodies from Meredith. Credits

Here's D being a party animal at my cousin's party. This is that Whirlwind collab again. Credits

Michelle Godin (aka PixelWorks) designed this super cute doggie kit called Who Let the Dogs Out with my Penny in mind! So I used it to scrap Penny and her new house, which she wants nothing to do with. Credits

I used Michelle's Paint the Town Pink to scrap my cousin's sweet 16. The colors were absolutely perfect! Credits
Here's the birthday girl. I can't believe she so grown up! Credits

Jessica Bolton is doing a guest gig for SBG's 7th anniversary and created this awesome kit, the Long Haul. Credits
I love this photo of Penny! I used some of Amy Wolff's August BOYC goodies. Credits

And Amy has a new Back to School kit, which was perfect for scrapping some of my 8th grade memories. Credits

Goodbye tree

When my family moved into our house in 1983, the Christmas tree outside barely reached the top of the windows. It was one of the few trees on our city block and would soon become the only tree. The family that lived here before us had planted it. It was a neighborhood landmark. I'd tell people "It's the house with the giant tree" when they were coming to visit or dropping me off. Over the years, it grew almost into the house, crossing closely into the telephone and cable wires.


And that's why my mother decided to have it cut down after all these years. I knew it was going to happen, but not when. So I was kind of shocked a week ago to be awoken by the sound of chainsaws and my dog whining. A tree service crew was outside cutting down our tree.

And here's what's left. I'm saddened when I arrive home now. Those big green branches are there to welcome me anymore. Our block looks so empty without it. Our neighbors are all shocked to see it gone, except for the mean old lady who lives to our left. She complains about all the pine needles outside her house. (Don't get me started about the tree in her back yard that drops tons of berries in our yard that also make Penny sick!) Our neighbors to the right joke about how without the tree you can't hide from our unpleasant neighbor.

I have to find some of the old photos of us in front of our tree. Pictures from the first days of school, communions, graduations. I wish we could have taken one last family photo out there.

Mom plans to get a new tree to shade our house. For now, Penny is happy that her view to the street is unobstructed and she can look at the window and bark at anyone as she pleases.


Speaking of Penny, here's a photo I took of her in the yard today. I think it's my new favorite! :) At least we'll have some new pretty daisies - and daisies always cheer me up.

Back on days

I'm halfway through another week of day shifts. And I'm so exhausted! I was in bed by 10 pm last night and I don't know how I'm still up tonight! It might have something to do with Craig Ferguson on Shark Week or Top Chef.

I have so many layouts to catch up on - I went to a crop two weeks ago and I still haven't finished posting them all in the galleries. My weekends have been pretty crazy but fun. Besides the crop, there was Patti's spa party, the Evil Eye Panda's show (a friend's band), birthday parties or dinners for friends and my brother, farmer's markets, movies, shopping, etc. So much fun stuff!

Hopefully, I'll catch up on my sleep and my posting soon!