Weekend in Philadelphia

We made it down to Philadelphia to visit my sister and Ezra, but most importantly, to finally introduce Lily and Wesley! This was something we were all very, very excited to see. My sister actually had to work late on Friday so she took Wesley with her so she wouldn't miss the first contact.

The two puppy cousins fell in love with each other almost instantly.  It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.  Wesley is 4 years old (Lily is only 8 months), and he took his role as the "big cousin who has to teach this puppy things" very seriously.

But we did a few other things besides watching the dogs play.  We went for a nice hike since the weather was starting to finally feel spring-like.

We went to Costco and I bought a pair of Shape-Ups sneakers.  We went to Benihana for dinner and waited for a table for two hours, which was annoying, but it allowed us time to play a round of race cars at Dave & Busters and discover the wonderful department store, Boscov's. 

At Boscov's I bought Bump-Its for $3.99 and four Topsy Turvy tomato planters for $1.99 each. Bargains, I tell ya!

Pre-Order My Mom, Style Icon

One of the smartest, funniest and lovliest people I know is my very dear friend, Piper Weiss.  Piper is an editor at Shine, but she is also the creator of the fashion blog My Mom the Style Icon (my very own style icon mom has been on the blog AND made it into New York Magazine thanks to MMTSI!)

Piper has a book coming out in May called My Mom, Style Icon, which is based on her blog.  It's very, very exciting and I've held the book in my hands and it is GORGEOUS. 

You can pre-order the book now if you want to make sure you have something pretty to look at in May.

Amercican Idiots

On Tuesday night my friend Dennis and I had a very cultured evening of fine dining and theater.  First we had dinner at Grammercy Tavern and because Dennis works there. We were doted upon by all his lovely co-workers and the chef.  Next up, we headed to Times Square to see the Broadway show, American Idiot.  Dennis and I have been die-hard Green Day fans since the 90's and we've gone to a few concerts together.  When we heard Billie Joe was currently starring in the rock opera we jumped on tickets. 

 So we were off to a very mature evening, but Dennis and I have been friends since we were teenagers and when we get together we act like very silly teenagers who are allowed to drink...a lot.    Before the show we decided we needed to get a drink, but we were in Times Square, which is normally the last place in the world I want to be, but we embraced it and ended up where else, but the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. 

American Idiot was very fun - kind of silly of course, it is a Green Day rock opera, but I love Green Day and did not mind watching good looking people dance on stage while singing Green Day songs.  Plus I will forever love Billie Joe Armstrong.

After the show we decided to get another drink, which turned into many, many drinks and karaoke and ended up with me missing my train stop at 3am and Abe having to pick me up in Poughkeepsie.  Ooopsie doopsie.  Luckily I have a very nice fiance (he wasn't even mad at me!).

Need to do my To Do's

This morning I made three huge To-Do lists (wedding planning, home projects, business goals).  I actually accomplished a big wedding task - I finally picked the DJ.  I also did a few business/shop-related tasks by taking new photos and listing a few new items in my Etsy shop, but I didn't get a chance to do any home projects. 

I'm trying to stay focused on getting money-making work done during the week and save home projects for the weekend, but it kills me because there are so many things I want to do and I get totally obsessed.  Anyway, I thought I would share a couple of the projects I have on my list in...maybe it will help to get them out of my brain, but at the very least you may find the instructions useful for your own projects.

Bar Cabinet (Love the idea, but I want to make it more modern and less shabby-chic)

photo via This Old House

Tool Bench (I'm going to make two - one of them will be for my screen print station!)

photo via This Old House

Raised Garden Beds

I actually did this last year, but now I have a better idea of how to maximize our yard so I'm starting over.  Plus, we have a dog who LOVES to dig so I need to make the beds a couple feet higher.

This time I'm planning on using composite lumber (made from recycled polypropylene with wood fibers), which won't rot. There are lots of pre-fab raised beds out there, but they are way expensive and I need at least three. However, making my own shouldn't be too hard and some key supplies can be purchased from here.

Impromptu Dinner Party

This weekend Abe and I drove up to Shrewsbury for a visit with the fam. We thought we had a lot of snow in Beacon, but they have twice the snow - I've never seen anything like it in my life. Lily was in heaven as she conquered all the new snow mountains.

My parents and some close family friends came over for dinner.  We had baked seafood, a beef tenderloin, salad, chocolate cake and lots of wine.   Allyson and Mike even made it for dinner and brought champagne, banana cream pie, cupcakes, and Bud Light.  Good times.