Wiki-Meme!

Eric tagged me to do a Wikipedia survey.


Rules: You go to Wikipedia, type in your birthday (month and day) & you list 3 events, 2 births, 1 holiday, and tag 5 friends.


Events

1. 1918 An explosion occurred killing more than 100 and destroying the T.A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Sayreville, New Jersey. Fires and explosions continued for three days forcing massive evacuations and spreading ordnance over a wide area, pieces of which are still being found in 2007. (Ordnance? Not sure what that means but thats what the article says.)

(Besides being the hometown of Jon Bon Jovi, Sayreville is a town not too far from my hometown in NJ. It was just listed in Money magazine as #47 out of the top 100 places to live. I don't get it. Sayreville is a town surrounded by landfills and possible cancer clusters. Go figure.)


2. 1927 Gutzon Borslum begins sculpting Mount Rushmore.

3. 1950 Snoopy's First Appearance!!!


Births

1. 1946 Actress Susan Sarandon

2. 1976 Actress Alicia Silverstone

3. 2005 Prince Emannuel of Belgium

Holiday

World Animal Day

Tag, you're it: Jessica, Jennifer and Becky. Do it if you want. Sorry, I don't have 5 blogging friends to tag.

HP

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I would have finished it days ago except I've been a bit sidetracked with packing and all...as to be expected, it did not disappoint and left me on the edge of my seat at all times. And now, Eric's finally begun the series. He's almost done with Book 1.

I won't say anything else about it because I don't want to give anything way. Amazing. Dark. Frightfully terrifying. Full of twists and turns. Thats all, Folks.

What Happened???

There's a song that I've been listening to for two and a half years now and I can recite every word by heart. My sister introduced it to me in early 2005, I suppose it was. And now, Hey There Delilah is at the top of the Billboard charts. Go figure. But I just had to say...

I liked it first!!!

Doggy Evenings

After a busy day (several of them, in fact), I can think of a million and one things I should have been doing tonight. Like packing for our move to Sussex County in August. Or laundry. Or packing for my upcoming weekend away to Omega. Or giving the place a good cleaning for this weekend's open house. I could have used a good nap too. I'm utterly exhausted.

Instead I spent the evening reading. No, not Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Just a couple more days til I get my hands on that one.

A couple days ago, I finished the J. A. P. Chronicles, a funny 'chick lit' read. As I was packing books and looking for another read yesterday, I found The Dogs of Babel, a book I acquired a year ago at a library book sale. So I began reading last evening and finished tonight.

A great novel, though bittersweet and sad. A linguist loses his wife--she falls out of a tree in their backyard. There is only one witness--their dog. The story follows the grieving husband as he attempts to teach this dog language so the dog can tell the story of what happened. While our main character is trying to solve the mystery of his wife's death, he also tells the story of how they met and fell in love. Anyone read this one? I really enjoyed it though it was a sad read.

I found out it's coming out as a movie in 2009.

A Birthday Celebration

We wrapped up Eric's vacation week with a trip to Skytop Resort on Sunday to spend the day with Eric's parents and family friends as well. Not that we needed a special occasion to get together--but we did have a very special occasion! It was Liz's (Eric's mom) birthday!

The Poconos are a lovely place to spend the day. And a lovely day we had. We had lunch and lazed around on rockers.



Then we acted real goofy playing putt-putt golf. (Eric is goofy 90 % of the time as you can see below.)


Then a rainstorm chased us inside.
So we played a "no holds barred" edition of ping pong.
Luckily the weather cleared up. That made for some nice pictures! See?


We did some walking. Look. Kindred spirits live here.



I like this resort. They even have tea time.

After dinner, it was time to go home.

A Movie with More than what Meets the Eye

Friday night, Eric and I went to see the new Transformers movie. It was his choice but I was eager to see it too. I'd never seen the cartoons as a kid but had played with my brother's Transformers toys. Anyway, it was a good choice. Eric and I both enjoyed it.

While we were in the movie theatre, I saw an advertisement for a movie coming out around the holidays. Here's a a hint...

Alvin? Alvin? ALVIN!!!!

Didn't get it yet? Okay, click here...

Thursday at the Jersey Shore

Thursday morning, Norton seemed to be back to his jolly old self, so Eric and I decided to go on our next adventure: to the Jersey Shore! Being that I lived down the shore a few years ago for college, I had some ideas...



First, to the beach! We headed to Deal for some fun in the sun...it was a beautiful warm and breezy day. Unfortunately...my spray-on sunscreen malfunctioned and I've suffered another bad sunburn. Remind me to use the annoying rub on stuff next time. At least it works.



After the beach, we drove to another beach--Point Pleasant Beach for the boardwalk. Eric's first time there! We perused the aquarium, acted like children in the funhouse, ate, ate, and ate, and played mini-golf.



A good time had by all. Until we got home and the pain of my sunburn kicked in.

But its okay. I'm still alive.

Phun in Philly

Earlier this week, I discovered that one of my favorite bands, Travis, was going to be playing at the Electric Factory Wednesday evening. Since Eric was to be on vacation all week, we decided to get tickets.

Wednesday didn't quite go off without a hitch though. Poor Norton was sick all day and we had two visits from possible townhome buyers. But by dinner time, Norton seemed to be okay so we left for the concert in Philadelphia.

Awesome, amazing show! Travis is a great band out of Glasgow, Scotland. They've been around since the nineties, and in fact, have been credited for paving the way for bands such as Coldplay, Keane and Snow Patrol. Anyway, Eric and I enjoyed the show so much that we've been rethinking our previously chosen wedding song...

Day and Night at the Museum

Eric is on vacation all week so we'll be enjoying a weeks worth of local adventures. Yesterday, we enjoyed Adventure #1. We drove into New York to visit the American Museum of Natural Museum. It's Eric's fourth favorite place and I hadn't been in years. There were a couple of exhibits we were eager to check out: Frogs: A Chorus of Colors and Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids. Between the two exhibits, we even had time for an Imax movie: Dinosaurs Alive. So we enjoyed a fun and educational few hours at the museum.

Then, we walked through Central Park in the torturous heat to the Upper East Side to head to a vegan restaurant that Eric wanted to take me to. Unfortunately, Candle 79 was closed due to a private party so they sent us to their other location, The Candle Cafe (their original location).

Boy am I glad that somebody told Eric about this restaurant. It was amazing! Here's what we ate : 1) some kind of pina colada-esque smoothie--the fruit in it was so fresh and delicious!
2) a Greek salad with crumbled tofu in lieu of feta cheese--salad dressing was tangy and
freshly yummalicious.
3) Chipotle Grilled Tofu with a quinoa and black bean stuffed avocado--so tasty!
4) Porcini encrusted Seitan (a kind of meat substitute) with mashed potatoes. Crunchy
perfection (well, the seitan was crunchy anyway!).

No, Eric is not a vegetarian but we both loved the food so much that we scarfed it down in record time. Then we bought the cookbook.

Oddly enough, we had the perfect movie waiting for us at home from netflix after our adventure in NY: Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller. Despite what we'd heard about the movie, we both really enjoyed it and found it very funny.

Martha Madness

I'm not quite sure when it became "cool" to dig Martha Stewart. Was it after she was arrested a few years back? (Here's an interested link, titled, 'Is Martha Stewart Finished?')

I think not! I read something in a newspaper yesterday about her new lines coming out: carpets and flooring, lamps, etc. The carpets and flooring will be available exclusively at Macy's and Flor.

(Pictured are Martha's cool new "carpet tiles," tiles that can stand on their own or you can mix and match! How cool is that?)

And if thats not enough, she's got paint lines out at Lowes for $25 a can. Eric, can we get Martha Stewart paint for our new house?

I'm partial to some of her magazines. I like Blueprint, a fun and fresh living magazine. I've got a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings too.

I just checked out Martha's website for the first time and it seems to be addictive. Perfect for a domestic goddess-in-training like myself!

Happy belated July 4th!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July! It hardly felt like a holiday to me because it fell during the middle of the week and I'm off all summer anyway (for the most part).

Eric and his dad were going to a Yankees game yesterday and his mom and I had plans to tour Duke Farms. We had three different tours booked, starting with an 11:30 tour of the Japanese Gardens.

At 11:06, after locking the front door and shutting all the windows, I grabbed jackets because it was chilly out, said goodbye to my Norton and locked the back door behind me. It was then that I realized I left my keys hanging on the hook in the kitchen.

Oops. Thanks so much to Liz, Eric's mother, for hightailing it from Duke Farms to Eric's townhouse in record speed. We actually just made it on time for our first tour!!!

Liz and I enjoyed three tours--the Japanese Garden tour, the Country Manor tour and the tour of the 4 mile square property.

Duke Farms was first developed by James Buchanan Duke, a man who made fortunes from the tobacco industry. Duke built himself a "modest" 11 room bachelor pad on the lush farmland. He brought in 2 million shrubs and plants for his property, drained swampland and built 9 lakes! Duke married and added onto his home. Later, Duke Farms was passed onto his daughter, Doris Duke. Doris was an animal lover and had many dogs. They drank out of a beautiful indoor fountain and had an elaborate dog house which contained ramps to a private entranceway to Ms. Duke's bedroom on the second level! Doris even had camels--two of them!

Today, the house contains 55 rooms! It houses indoor tennis courts, a theatre, an indoor pool (and an outdoor one too), and a lounge.

Anyway, its an interesting place to tour if you're ever in the Hillsborough, NJ area.

We're Moving!

Just when I was half-way moved into Eric's townhouse, a deal of a house came along that we couldn't or didn't want to pass up in Sussex County, NJ. It's a four bedroom, 2 bathroom home on 1/2 an acre of property--comes complete with woods and deer and bears and hawks. Yep, I love it. There's a pond behind the woods, for ice skating in winter, and it'll be Norton's in summer. Two minutes away is Lake Tomahawk, a lake complete with water slides. But this is lake country; there's lots of them!

And, guess what's ten minutes away? Remember my post about Wild West City from a couple weeks ago. You got it!

In Memory of...

My father called me a couple days ago to give me the sad news that a 27 year old female soldier from my hometown was killed in Iraq. I didn't know her but I graduated, and later worked with, her older sister. There are no words to tell how I'm feeling right now. I was home at my parents' today and all over towns are signs, "We love you, Trista" and "We'll miss you, Trista." There was even one with a photo at the vet's office where I took Norton for his shots today. When is this war going to end? It breaks my heart that so many soldiers are losing their lives out there...

Here's a link to a story...

A Great Weekend

It really was a perfect weekend. I think the best part of it was knowing that I wouldn't have to wake up at 6am for work this morning!

Friday evening was spent in--at my parents' home, relaxing, and enjoying some quality time with Norton, Pumpkin and Mom. My dad had an overnight visit at the Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, but this was for a good reason! He finally was able to get his tracheotomy out and he's doing wonderfully!

Saturday afternoon, after paying a visit to the Hong Kong Supermarket (for Sunday cooking essentials), I had lunch with my family at Cafe Colore, a delicious Italian restaurant in South Brunswick.

Then a visit to the A & P for whatever essentials I couldn't buy at the Asian market.

I already mentioned that I brought Norton here for good this weekend. Once I got him settled on Saturday, Karen and I met Katie and Mike in Princeton for dinner. (Eric was enjoying a boys' night out.) We ate at the Triumph Brewery. Yummy! And, of course, enjoyed some beer, as well! Next to Ricky's for ice cream and candy and a walk around the Princeton campus.

Sunday was a nice day spent with Eric. We took Norton to Duke Island Park for a walk and a swim, ran a couple errands and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and doing work around the house.

Sunday dinner was home-cooked Thai cuisine--Tom Yum Soup, pineapple fried rice and Eggplant with mint and chilies.

Eric kicked my butt at Battle of the Sexes (the board game), then we watched Bridget Jones' Diary, which he actually enjoyed!

Summer!!!!

Summer started at 2:30 pm on Friday for me...not a day earlier, even though Thursday was the official first day of summer. Summer began on Friday when I walked out of school--and I do not plan on returning until sometime at the end of August. Yippee!!!

There are a lot of reasons for me to be happy and stressed right now. Here's one of them.

I'm at Eric's, where I have basically been living. At my feet is my Norton. With the exception of the occasional overnight visit, I wanted to leave Norton with my parents until the summer. This way, I'd have time to spend with Norton so he can actually get used to his new digs. Pumpkin will have to come later...so today, I packed up Norton's food and his pills and his leash and his toy box, etc. He's happy now. I am pretty sure of it. And so am I to have my boy with me!

Tuesday, Tuesday

Sitting here on the futon, Eric's laptop on my lap. Eyes are growing sleepy as the rain pours down. The thunder and lightning...

This post was intended to be posted on Tuesday...but I fell asleep and my Tuesday, Tuesday post will have to be published on Wednesday, Wednesday.

Driving to work yesterday morning, I made a smart and quick decision which may very well have saved me hundreds of dollars. And made me five minutes late for work. But it was well worth it.

I was driving my daily commute and going the speed of traffic when I zoooommmmmed past a cop going 80 mph. By the time I saw him and stepped on my brake, it was too late. Heart pounding, I moved into the right lane. I didn't see him pull out of his hiding place and maybe he had no plans to come after me. But I wasn't taking a chance. I got off the highway at the next exit...took a long way to get back to the highway. This way, if the cop was looking for me, I stumped him.

Smartmunkee.

Wild about Wild West City

Somewhere in dusty albums of long ago and in basement boxes, there are pictures of my parents and my brother and I. It was in the days before my sister came along and it was at a place called Wild West City. In the pictures, my cheeks are rosy pink and I'm pig-tailed while my brother, Ryan has one of those bowl hair cuts. Eighties all the way. (I'll have to hunt up some pictures and try to add to the post.)

I'm not sure how many times I'd been to Wild West City as a kid but I've always had fond memories of it. In fact, I dragged a boyfriend there when I was 18 or so just go to back. What more could you ask for out of a day outing? You can ride a stagecoach or train and get held up. You can witness a gun fight. You can tour the old west and a petting zoo too!

A couple years ago, there was a mishap and during one of the "staged" gun fights, somebody was really shot. There were real bullets in the gun. There were supposed to be blanks!

I haven't been back to this place for several years, probably ten or so. I'm hoping to share some slightly relevant but exciting news in a couple days. I'll keep y'all posted.

Look What We Made!

Eric and I saved the bottle of wine we drank the night of our engagement. Then we made sand art so we can display it forever!

More Wedding Goodness

All things wedding, I know you're either intrigued by it all or nauseated. I love The Knot. All weddings, all the time. Check out our wedding page on the Knot. I'll be adding a picture to it very soon and more registry stuff when we get to it (because gifts will graciously be accepted)!

Happy Anniversary Sgt. Pepper!

Today is the 40th anniversary of the day that The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in the UK. (It was released in the US on June 2nd, 1967, the very next day.) I listened to an interesting radio program today on WFUV--all about Sgt. Pepper's. Did you know that Sgt. Pepper's was the first concept album? First album of its kind that you might listen to from beginning to end! First album that included lyrics! I'm almost embarrassed to say that I actually don't own this Beatles album, though my mother has the original record!

On a side note, I just got The Beatles Love a few days ago. It's great, it really is. (And so are the new Travis and Feist albums just in case you were wondering!)