Oh, How I Miss Having a Garage...

Tuesday
6:30PM: We get home from work and notice the blue snow emergency lights flashing in Everett. Snow is on the way. So, we parked our cars in the same spot they were safe for the last storm while we were gone.

11:45PM: Looked out the window before going to bed... no flakes flying yet. Is this going to be another over exaggerated east coast snowstorm!?

Wednesday
8:00AM: Step outside to assess the snow accumulation and see if it is worth driving into work or not.

8:01AM: Wow! It is absolutely gorgeous! Everything is cover in bright white snow... probably got between 6-8" overnight. Kenzie is LOVING all the snow in the yard.

8:05AM: Wait a minute. Where are our vehicles?? BOTH cars - towed.

8:06AM: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I HATE THIS TOWN!!!!

8:10AM: Call Quealy Towing. Not there. Call Paul's Towing. Yep, come and get 'em. Lot opens at 9. Bring $130. Cash. For each vehicle. (That is exactly how I wanted to spend my Christmas bonus! Awesome.)

8:30AM: We have no cars. The roads are still covered in snow. No taxis are running. SO, bundled up in hats, gloves, boots, snowpants, the works... we begin our 15+ block walk to the tow place. In a blizzard. With a shovel and broom in hand, I might add.

8:56AM: We notice we are not the only ones... there is a trail of people going to retrieve their cars.

9:22AM: We arrive at the tow place. On Winter Street. How fitting.

9:32AM: Learn that cars were safe on the street during the last storm because they were parked on the even side of the street and it was 2010. NOW it is 2011 so you need to be parked on the odd side. Good to know... Jot that down! We've only lived here for 3 years and just figured that out.

9:35AM: Hand over $260 hard earned dollars. Oh, (and the cherry on top) don't forget to mail in the $50 for parking tickets. Vehicles are released... We can take them home.

9:36AM: One problem. Where are they? Let the hunt begin!

9:42AM: Found my car! But yet another problem. There is another vehicle in front of it. So we have to wait for a tow truck to come and move it out of the way.

10:10AM: Meanwhile, Adam digs his Jeep out and the vehicle in front of his car is moved. The Jeep is free!

10:48AM: STILL waiting for a tow truck to come move the vehicle in front of my car. Bored.

10:49AM: Do snow angels.

10:59AM: Tow truck arrives. Attempts to pull out SUV in front of me. Tow truck gets stuck. Start shoveling out tow truck and SUV.

11:15AM: Chains tow truck to a flat bed truck. Pull both tow truck and SUV. Rip bumper off SUV. Yikes. Glad that wasn't my car!

11:21AM: My car is free! Drive (if you can call it that) more like spin, slip, and slide on home. Saw this Volvo with a nice mohawk.

11:30AM: Home! Bucknam St. But there is no where to park.

11:32AM: Call Everett Police Department... Me "We just picked up our two vehicles from the tow lot and don't want to get them towed again." Officer Helpful "Yeah there is going to be a parking ban until Friday." Me "Yes, I know, but there is no where to park within a 5 block radius of our house. I was calling to see if you knew of anything." Officer Helpful "Nope. Nothing." Me "Can you park at any schools or at Target or Stop & Shop over night or anything?" Officer Helpful "Nope. I don't know what to tell you ma'am." CLICK. (He hung up on me!! Rude!!)

11:40AM: Start searching for parking places. Find one. Start shoveling.

11:48AM: Realize why spot was still available. There is a giant hard packed ice mound under all the snow left over from the last storm.

12:00PM: One spot down. One to go.

12:09PM: Find a second spot... far away from our house. Start shoveling.

12:21PM: And shoveling...

12:34PM: The Honda and the Jeep are both in parking spots. Hooray! Time for lunch... then begin working from home.

9:00PM: STILL snowing. I think the 24 hour total was around 19-20".

Thursday
7:45AM: Step outside to go to work.

7:46AM: Walking to my car. It was about two blocks away.

7:51AM: STILL walking...

7:53AM: Arrive to car. Notice it is covered in snow AGAIN!

7:54AM: FUMING! Apparently people didn't like us parking in front of their house. So, when they snowblowed their sidewalk and driveway, they blew ALL the snow on top of my car.

7:55AM: Walk BACK to the house to get the shovel.

8:08AM: Shovel. Check. Still fuming. Check. Start shoveling. AGAIN.

9:11AM: Climb in through the passenger seat of my car.

9:12AM: Plow out of snowbank. Begin my drive to work.

9:13AM: Remembered how great it was having a garage and a driveway!!

Home for the Holidays - 2010

Waiting on pictures... stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Adam!!

Happy Birthday to Adam today!! He turns 29... yikes, pushing 30 already! ;o) I made him a special birthday cake... yellow cake with chocolate frosting (his favorite) with Butterfinger and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (also his favorites) chopped up in the frosting. It was super good! Now we just need some people to help us eat it all!

We had a busy weekend, as usual this time of year, and didn't get to do any special birthday celebrations. Saturday night we had our work holiday party at the Stonehenge Inn in Tyngsboro, MA. It is a resort nestled in the woods with some cool wine cellars that you can tour. We did our traditional Yankee Swap and big surprise, everyone was fighting over the alcohol! Rob and Nicole (from work) just moved into a new house, so we all went over there for the after party/house tour. We had a good time!

We were going to celebrate Adam's birthday today at the Tavern in the Square with brunch and the Vikings game, but apparently the game has been postponed due the Metrodome roof collapse! Crazy! For those of you who haven't seen it yet check out the video below...

Looks like we will just have to study for finals instead! ;o)

Kyle and Beth Tie the Knot!

A big congrats to the newly weds, Mr. and Mrs. Bobek!

We had a fun weekend in Connecticutt celebrating with the happy new couple. I also got to see some old high school friends, childhood neighbors, and friends from college. The wedding was extravagent... everything was just beautiful! We were so glad we could be there to be a part of their day. Here are a few pics from the ceremony and reception...



We are very happy for you Kyle and Beth!! Have a great time on your honeymoon and enjoy your new lives together!

Thankful for Friends & Family!!

Thanksgiving is that wonderful time of year where we celebrate parades, football, overeating, days off from work, and some other things I've entirely forgotten about. Here are some things I'm giving thanks for in 2010...

10. The old man in our toll booth lane who was wearing a stuffed turkey on his head making our Turkey Day drive that much more enjoyable.

9. O|A|R playing on my iPod. My love for music and amazement of advancing technology has been crammed into one spectacular device. If it weren't for my iPod it's possible I would not survive some days at work, I might never clean the house, and I would be bored stiff on road trips!

8. Sweatpants and my leather couch. Oh, what would I do without the world’s best comforts? I didn't manage to escape the winters by moving to Boston, so when days get cold, I grab a book, get in my jammies and crawl under a blanket as if snowmageddon was taking place outside my door. It is one of the most relaxing, most comfortable feelings in the world!

7. Pizza Fridays: Not only am I thankful to have a job in this economy, but I love having an employer who treats me to lunch every Friday. I look forward to pizza on Fridays for many reasons, one being that I don't have to make lunch in the morning, which means I can hit that snooze button a few more times. That extra sleep is precious going into the weekend!

6. All the things I couldn't live without on a daily basis... Diet Coke, the internet, perscription strength deoderant, etc.

5. Sampler Packs. It is fun testing out different varieties of beer and the sampler pack is the perfect way to do so without spending a fortune on just one beer. And even if there's a bad one in the bunch, you don't have to choke down too many. This time of year is notorious for seasonal brews. Which reminds me, have you tasted the Sam Winter yet this year?

4. Red Box DVDs. Thank you Red Box for making it so convenient and affordable to spend the perfect night cozied up at home with my wonderful boyfriend.

3. My at times crazy, but mostly lovable yellow lab - Kenzie. No matter how angry, frustrated or irritated I am from the day, her wagging tail and “miss you” licks melt it all away. Who wouldn’t be thankful to have such a wonderful pet? And the best part is, she doesn't talk back!

2. My good health, which has allowed me to live the life I love... traveling, hiking, golfing, snowboarding, etc. I like the outdoors and exploring everything it has to offer. There is great joy in seeing the world from the summit of a mountain you just worked so hard to climb.

1. And finally, I am thankful for having such great friends and family!! You are all brilliant, inspiring, and can make me laugh out loud even on the worst days. My relationship with each and every one of you has molded me into the person I have become today.


This year we spent Thanksgiving in Sunapee, NH. We went with Mike and Hannah to Hannah's family Thanksgiving. There were lots of people, all very welcoming, which was very appreciated since we had to spend the holidays away from home. We ate too much food and desserts (of course), played some two hand touch football in the backyard, and had some entertaining conversations into the night. All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. Much thanks to Hannah and her family for inviting us and making us feel so welcomed!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!

Brewing Beer

Two weeks ago, we did our annual fall beer brewing outing with people from work. We go to a place called IncrediBREW in Nashua, NH - it is a brew-it-yourself brewery. It's pretty cool! They have six brew kettles that you can rent out to brew your favorite beers. They have over 80 recipes to chose from! Once you decide on the beers you want to brew (and that may be the hardest part!) you weigh out all your grains, hops, and malts and the brewing process begins. It takes about 2 hours to brew... and in the down time, it leaves plenty of opportunity to socialize, eat pizza, and sample some beers. Last year we rented all six kettles, this year the number of people was down slightly, so we only did three kettles. Each kettle holds about 14 gallons of beers... which when you come back in two weeks for bottling turns into about 72 (22-oz) bottles of delicious goodness. Tonight was our night to go back and bottle the beers. Now our fridge is officially stocked for the holiday season. We cracked one open tonight to test it out and it was really good... now I can't wait to try the other two! Cheers!

Happy Halloween from Gillette Stadium!

On Sunday we attended the Halloween match up between the Patriots and the Vikings at Gillette Stadium. It was a 4 o'clock game, so we arrived at 11am with about five car loads of people all decked out in purple... that way we had plenty of time for tailgating. We had an awesome tailgating setup with a prime front row spot in the parking lot since we arrived so early. We had multiple grills, banners, flags, balloons, bags, and even an inflatable Vikings player. We had an amazing spread of food... hot dogs, brats, steak tips, state fair style pork chops on a stick, taco dip, spinach dip, chili, cheese and crackers,and plenty of coolers full of drinks. We even had some MN people fly out for the game and they brought us some Michgolden! I was actually surprised by how much purple I saw in the parking lots, but we were by far the biggest Vikings crew. Tailgating was definitely a success... and lots of fun! Makes me wish we could do it more often. My all time favorite part was getting everyone together for the group photo and we all broke out in song, "Skol Vikings, let's win this game..."

In the spirit of Halloween, there were also quite a few people dressed up for the game. Some of the costumes were pretty amusing. I saw everything from Bieber Fever in a Tom Brady jersey to Brett Favre's cell phone and of course tons of Randy Moss afro wigs! Some of my favorites were a mummy wrapped up in bandages wearing a #4 jersey poking fun at our old and injured quarterback. Another person in the crowd was dressed up exactly like Childress. They showed the fan in the stands up on the big screens, then showed Chilly on the sidelines, and went back and forth between the fan and the coach - it was pretty funny.

The first half of the game was great. The stadium was packed, but we had good seats with a good view - second level on about the 10 yard line. Favre started despite his busted ankle, as we all knew he would, to keep his streak intact. The Patriots debuted their throwback jerseys for this game. An interested stat I heard, our throwback QB was actually in the league when the Patriots really wore these jerseys! Watching the game live was fun... I got to see Adrian Peterson muscle in for a touchdown. We were either ahead or tied during the first two quarters which made for an exciting game. We were surrounded by some fun Pats fans, so there was lots of giving and taking in the taunting department. After halftime, the Vikes came out and got a field goal, and the Pats responded with a touchdown. We got the ball back and Favre throws an interception, which the Pats converted into another TD. And it was all downhill from there. I was really hoping Moss would have been a bigger factor in this game, but Tom Brady and his Patriots team proved to be too much for us this time around. Despite the loss, I think I can speak for everyone and say we still had a great time!! There were too many pictures to post for this one, so check out the slide show below:



HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND SKOL VIKINGS!!