Europe BABY!!

So I know its been forever since I posted, but my next post just had to be about Europe! Joel and I went to London, Paris, and Scotland. We had the greatest time. We were non stop tourists. We went to London first and spent our time there touring every corner. We stayed with Joel's cousins Scott and Kathy and their two boys Elijah and Caleb. It was so nice to see them and spend some time with them. We were there for about 4 days. From there we headed to Paris. We spent our 2nd Anniversary at the Eiffel tower and walked the Champs Elysse and saw the Arc de Triumpe and Louve at night. We stayed there for about 4 days then headed to Scotland. The history and castles were incredible. I think it was Joel's favorite place. While we were at one of the castles we saw Princess Anne. oooh....Royalty. We also went to Roslyn Castle. Most of you saw it in the movie The Davinci Code at the very end. It was beyond beautiful. The architecture inside and out was beyond belief. We stayed in Scotland at this nice hotel and had an amazing Scottish breakfast everyday. We were in Scotland for about 3 days. After that we went back to London for a couple more days. There is so much to talk about that we saw that it would take up the whole screen. The title of this blog is a link to all my millions of pictures :-). ENJOY!! Here are a few to start you off... (I know there are a lot, but I have so many!!!)

LONDON!!

(Buckingham Palace)

(Westminster Abbey)

(The London Eye...it was awesome)

(Piccadilly Circus)

(Us in front of one of the million museums we went to)

(Entry to the Parliament)


PARIS

(Eiffel Tower)



(Notre Dame)




(Inside Notre Dame)


(Mulin Rouge)

(The Louvre)

(An amazing sugar crepe)


(Sacre-Coeur)


(A PANINI!!!)

SCOTLAND!!


(Edinburgh Castle)

(The lady in the grey dress suit is Princess Anne...we saw royalty)

(Roslin Castle)

(On the Scaffolding of Roslin Castle)

I have a lot of catching up to do in my blog...Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Joel's birthday etc...someday I'll get around to it.

Wicked & Things to Come

I totally forget I didn’t blog about Wicked…how could I?! So any who…Joel and I had such a good time. It was amazing. I know that sometimes the critics are cheesy and call things magical or whatever. But it really was magical. The scenery hits you as soon as you go into the theatre. It is so detailed and intricate. They didn’t cut any corners. I highly recommended the play. I thought it was amazing how they tied this story in with the Wizard of Oz that we have grown up with. And the talent… OH MY! To be honest, I’m a huge fan of Kristen Chenoweth (the original Glinda), but the girl who played Glinda was phenomenal and did just as well. And whoever played Elphaba was incredible. I’m already dying to see it again!

This past weekend we had a great time watching our nieces and nephew for an overnight sleepover. It was Eliza’s first overnight from home and she did really well. We told her it was a slumber party with her cousins and that seemed to work! The kids were so cute, but needless to say we were exhausted!

Below - Eliza (with Uncle Joel's hat on), Paige, & Charlie playing outside!

On another note, Joel and I are very busy packing for our upcoming trip. We can’t wait. I am a little nervous right now just because we are getting things together. But come Wednesday we won’t be able to contain our excitement. Joel has put together a really awesome itinerary. We are totally booked with sight seeing and tours etc (And shopping …but don’t tell Joel I snuck that in). We will be gone for 2 weeks!!! We are going to London, Paris, & Scotland!! In two weeks we will have been on 5 plan rides all around Europe. We have been very blessed and fortunate to make this possible. While we are in England will be staying with Joel’s cousins who are living over there. We can’t wait to see them!

Joel and I will be coming home the day before Thanksgiving. I can’t miss my favorite holiday! I will blog about the trip when I return. So until then…I hope you all have a wonderful November and a great turkey day!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I am so excited! Tonight we are going to see Wicked on Broadway. I can't wait! What an awesome Halloween. The City is going to be crazy!!!! I have been listening to the Wicked CD for months and sing it all the time. I may even shed a tear when it play starts. hahah JK. My wonderful family is making this all possible. When the fire happened they gave us money to go out to dinner and a show to get a way from it all. So finally we are taking them up on their offer.

GO SOX!

Pumpkin Carving 2007

It's our second Halloween as a married couple, but our first Halloween that we actually carved pumpkins. I picked the design and Joel carved it out. He thought they were girly designs, but oh well...I thought they were cute! For Halloween we have GREAT plans...but I'll let you know about that soon!

A book I can't put down...

My Favorites!

Pics of the Kids from Pumpkin Patch 2007

(Me and my nephew Charlie (age 3))

(My niece Paige (18 months))

(My hubby Joel (with the sun in his eyes) with our niece Eliza (2.5 years old)

me again....

Ok...so I have not blogged in a while...I'm sorry. In fact, this Blog was written a couple of weeks ago and just never got around to posting it. Life has been so busy and I love it! This summer was a blast. Joel and I went on so many little day trips and outings I can't even remember. We had an amazing time in Maine with my family and a great time with Joel's family in Rockport & Boston for Labor Day. My new love is to travel or do all the little things around my home town I wouldn't typically do.

Joel and I are still planning to go to Europe in November and we can't wait! Just 23 days away We hope to hit Paris, Scotland, Ireland, and will definitley be hitting up most of England! So excited! Nothing like being with your favorite person and getting to learn and see new things together!

Any who...several nights ago (as you would know since that METS are not playing much ball anymore ;-)) Joel and I were given incredible tickets to the Mets game from my brother. They were amazing seats. We also had Diamond Club Access. WOOHOO. I kept the tickets a secret from Joel...all the way up him getting home from work and us having to leave immediatley for the game! We had dinner at the Diamond Club right in Shea Stadium. The game was awesome. First, I got Dunkin Donuts delivered to my seat...that's what I call a sports game! Then, a foul ball hit the chair behind me and I got clobbered by a million guys....but it was still fun. Since the Mets were losing pretty badly, most of the stadium was empty by the 7th innning....oh well we stayed because we believed. The Mets made an amazing comeback attempt. In the bottom of the 9th the Mets were down 10-3, but we had great seats and nothing else to get home to so we stuck it out. With 1 out the Mets scored 6 runs in the 9th making making it 10-9. The crowd was so loud and there was like 10 of us (jk...there was more but it was still empty). It was louder than the the first 8 innings put together. Yes, the Mets lost, but what an amazing game!! To not cause any confusion on where my loyalty stands...I was watching the score board waiting for the F go up next to the Sox game winning it 7-3. GO SOX! As Pete says, "I'm a secondary Mets fan"...but I'm still a fan.

(I can't believe I'm sharing this picture with you all.)

On the way out we went through our little special door for the Diamond Club people. As we were getting on the elevator to go down to our car, Omar Minaya came out. Now let me just say...I didn't know who this guy was but I will never forget him. Joel yelled Omar and he looked at Joel and pointed and winked. Joel was ecstactic. For those of you who don't know he's the Mets General Manager. Joel and I then squeezed onto the very packed elevator. I was trying to push my way in and didn't even realize that I was literally rubbing shoulders with Frank Robinson (hall of famer, triple crown winner - pretty much the man). Joel was in awe. He had this adorable cheesy smile staring at the guy the whole ride.

Needless to say it was just an amazing night!!!!

btw.......GO SOX

Eliza

Taken on our family vacation in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. I'll post on Maine later. How cute is she!!!???

Food Network

So it's been a couple years now and I think I have to admit but I love the Food Network. It is actually very entertaining and educational, so don't pick on me. It all started back in the day (College) with Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals. She really kept my attention and made me think that I could cook great meals and have time to enjoy my evening. Then it escalated to Giada's Everyday Italian. I occasionally watch Barefoot Contessa because she's just so darn sweet. Joel and I occasional catch the beginning of the Iron Chef when they tell you what the secret ingredient is - namely for the unintentional comedy. I enjoy watching Unwrapped with Marc Summers. It's interesting to find out about my favorite foods and snacks and how they are made and processed etc. Plus I'm still waiting for him to comeback with Double Dare, but I guess I wont hold my breathe. I just recently just got caught up in the Next Food Network Star. Boy is Alton Brown mean! I'm cheering for AMY (not a fan of any of them really, but if I had tochoose)!

And now it's come to this... ACE OF CAKES!

Who could not like this show? It's got quirky people and Duff, who has the greatest laugh in the world. The funny thing about my obsession with this show is, I HATE cake! At my wedding, Joel and I had our own special Cheese Cake! My fascination with this show is just their skill and creativity to make some of these cakes inall different shapes and sizes and their wit while they make them. It's incredible. I secretly want to work there because it looks like they are having so much fun. I wish I could do that kind of stuff, but I will stick to making my Niece's birthday cake(pic in one of my previous posts), which I think I did amazing on (ifI can say so myself).

(Pics of My wedding Cakes)

Anyway it's no Discovery Channel's Man verses Wild where you learn how to survive alone in the wild.

Which, btw my husband is obsessed with this show because he now thinks he can be dropped off anywhere in the world and survive for days on end with only a knife - he's got a vivid imagination! - And I must admit its pretty cool and the host isn't half bad looking :-), but the Food Network is still educational and fun.

Avenue Q

Last week I went to see Avenue Q on Broadway in NYC. I had no idea what it was about - I just remembered one of my college suite mates playing the songs over and over again. My sister's friend was in the show. She played the character on the far right, Christmas Eve (that's not her in the picture though). She did a great job and was really funny. The show was hysterical. Some parts were a bit much, but over all the show made me laugh really hard! It was a complete satire on living in the city present day and all that life brings you. The show was definitely not PC at all. :-) Avenue Q used puppets for some of the characters, which you would think would be distracting and weird, but it was funny and the way they did it was very cool and different. It's pure talent to do that kind of thing on stage.

However, the best part of the show was going with my sister....FINALLY, a girls night out! Boy, have I missed those nights!!!

I'm back...I think, well at least for now!

Ok, I know it's been a long time since I blogged. So here I go.....

Life has been interesting but fun! Joel and I moved out of our apartment and are very happy about that. We are currently crashing with the rents and trying to buy something or waiting till the Lord tells us what He wants us to do, wherever that may be.

I know I haven't blogged, but I've enjoyed reading all your blogs. Blogging is insane though. If you don't blog people get curious, they tell you to update :-), or they kick your off their links on their page....hahaha. Anyway, thanks for bearing with me.

With bumping into a lot of people that we haven't seen in a while in the past two weeks, thanks to Congress, we've been asked what's new and what are we up to? Well...I honestly don't know. We are enjoying just being together, doing random things, taking walks (sounds corny, but we do) spending time with the family (mine and Joel's), spending time with our Church and being as active as possible, and of course.....being Aunts and Uncles and loving it! We have 2 beautiful nieces and a handsome nephew! They are 3, 2, & 1 year old! Look what I made for my Niece Eliza's Second Birthday :-)

(pic of the cake and of us with Eliza...or as Joel calls her, Little Lizard)

We do have some exciting news...Joel and I are planning a two week Europe trip in November for our Anniversary and "lets do something awesome for ourselves since the fire really stunk." (which has consumed a lot of us). We are going to visit Joel's cousin in England and travel all over England, Scotland, and France. We are so excited! I'll definitely post on that.

Last Sunday we went to Joel's cousin's corps and held the flags for their baby's Dedication. It was so nice to see this commitment that the parents made, as well as the family to participate in the spiritual growth of this beautiful baby, Benjamin Joel. Benjamin is truly a blessing and a miracle. Over the winter we helped Jenny and Samuel (the parents) set up the room and the house for this new blessing (that's another thing we were up to :-))

(Me and Benjamin Joel the day he was born) (Jenny, Samuel, and Benjamin at
the Dedication)

The Month of May was crazy for us. We had both of our Niece's birthday parties, Youth Councils, Chris' college graduation in Boston, & 3 Weddings; among other things.

My tribute to May....


So I hope this is a good recap...(is this ok Allison?) :-)