Wild Wild New Jersey...

It all started Friday night, I was walking past the door and noticed a big furry creature on the deck. I said "Ohh Fred there's a racoo..uh..2 racoo..no 3..4..holy crap there are 6!!! A mama and 5 babies were scurrying around looking for some eats. Of course I run for the camera and Fred grabs .... a sponge mop!!! Why?? Becuase the damn things were climbing up the side of the house!! After he finally shewed them all off I got to snapping some pictures.



Sunday - we are driving around the hood. Out comes Bambi! Once again..."Fred, stop the car, I need to take a picture!".



On my way to work this morning - mama and baby trotting across the road. Once again, stop the car, grab the camera. Just as I snap they turn and walk away. I know by the end of the summer I will get my shot! For now I will settle for deer buts.

July 4th in Limerick, PA!

Once again Fred (or Freddie as he is known around those parts) and I headed to his friend's Mike & Nancy for their annual July 4th celebration. We arrived about 11pm Tuesday night to find that Mike had already started celebrating. (By "celebrating" I mean consuming large quantities of alcohol - but it's cool, he's over 21!) Mike's son Nick was nice enough to give up his bed for us. Although, I don't think he had much of a choice.
We were up pretty early the next morning. We got to the deli around 10am. Mike is a partner in Sonny's Deli. Every year for the fourth they throw a huge bash in the parking lot. Fred and I went last year and had just as much fun this year, although this year I knew everyone!
Unfortunately though it rained and we missed the fireworks. But we still had a great time and it was so nice to spend yet another holiday with my baby!!

It's been a long long time

I know it has been forever since I blogged. Don't know why, I guess not much excitement over here. Hmm...let me think back. What has happened since I last blogged. Well on June 16 we had my future sister in law's bridal shower. It went off without a hitch. Thanks to Jill's friend Dawn, Jill was even surprised. It was a really nice day and I was excited to see all my cousins...in NJ!!!

The bride cuts the cake...



Mom and her girls...



The bridal party...



On Father's Day we went to Long Island for a BBQ at my parents house. Fred's parents met us there which was so cool!!! I was greatful they made the trip. I know they sat in tons of traffice but it meant everything to me to have them there. They fit right in of course, everyone in my family loved them. I am so happy to have found someone from a similar family structure.

The weekend after that we were back on Long Island. We went Friday after work. Friday night we went to Bill's bar and Fred finally got to meet Bill & Brian. I couldn't believe how excited & surprised Bill was to see me. It was so awesome!!
And of course we got to hangout with my beloved Cookie. This is a pic of me & her from my going away party back in November. I <3 her very much!!



The rest of the weekend we spent with my parents and then on sunday had Rosie's graduation party. This is Rosie & my mom when we went took her and my other little cousin Jen to see Mary Poppins.



This past weekend was a bit of a lazy one. I was supposed to go to Atlantic City for my cousin Michelle's bachelorette party but every possible way I had arranged to get there fell through. Which was also totally lame becuase I missed Cristina's shower too. I had actually been looking forward to both those things and went to neither.

Mish is the one in the middle in the black shirt...(Jason on the left, Nikki & Rosie on the right)



This is a pic Cris sent me from her shower...she is so cute & pregnant!! I miss her!!



So our weekend was pretty much spent bumming around. When I got home on Friday this was waiting for me...


Gotta love that! Saturday we went Straberry picking which was so cool! Who knew they grew on little plants in the ground? Umm..yeah I knew that! We spent some QT with all our kids. Fred get's very excited when he gets attention from the cats, hence this kool-aid grin becuase 2 out of the four where chillin with him at the same time...



Fred pulled out the treats and they all came running...



Except Bailey...he sat by the door watching.



All in all things have been pretty quiet. I did finish up a layout on Saturday night. I haven't snapped it yet but promise to post that later in the week. Hope everyone has a Happy 4th!!

A Very Scrappy Sunday

I was so psyched when Theresa invited me to crop at Riverside Scrapbook on Sunday. A nice little crop, 10am - 6pm. It was perfect. I got to hangout with Ellen, who is awesome and met some really cool new ladies!! I actually got 2 complete layouts done and started on a third. Ann (the owner of Riverside) calls it a "no frills" crop. It was only $8, she has cans of soda & bottled water you can buy there for 50¢ (can't beat that with a stick!) She even brought us some goodies in the afternoon. It was a great time, I am definitely looking forward to the next one!!

And then there were four...

When Fred & I heard Room For One More animal shelter was closing, we knew what we had to do. We went over there with full intentions of adding a new cat to our family. It was such a fun day! I even bumped into a fellow scrapbooker from my yahoo group, Jen Starr who adopted a kitty as well. She ended up with a sweetie named Mellie, although she changed it to Chloe. Definitely can't blame her for that one. (Hence: Smelly Cat...Smelly Cat...Pheobe from Friends) She was very cool and her kids were the cutest!! Anyway, Fred & I ended up with a calico cutie we named Hazel. I kinda knew she was going to end up with a food related name if Fred had anything to do with it. And of course...Hazlenut...Hazel. And so she is our new calico cat named Hazel.



So far she seems to be doing fine. She came in, got acquainted with everyone, checked out the diggs. The other kitties are adjusting. Now we have a big happy meowy family!

Some Scrappy Reading...

I have been reading a lot at night lately. I don't really have enough time to come home at night and scrapbook. I get home around 6:30 - 7:00. We usually finish dinner by 8:30 or so. Since Fred started this new job, we have been going to bed around 10-10:30 (which is working out much better for me - no dosing off on my way to work). So anyway, since I get bored very easily in front of the television, I have been doing some reading.
This Book was awesome. I read it in 3 days. Not only was it a good murder mystery, but it spoke my language - scrapbooking! The book centers around a character named Carmela Bertrand. (which is cool becuase that's my mom's name!) Carmela is a scrapbook store owner in New Orleans. She somehow gets mixed up in a murder during Mardi Gras. Good book. Highly recommend.




Another great book!. This Book is written essay style. The author is hysterical. She talks about the trials, tribulations and outright insanity of being a scrapbooker. I pick this one up in between doing things and read a few pages and always seem to laugh out loud.

Bailey, Merv & Sleepy...

My parents are coming to visit this weekend!!! Yay!!! I miss them a lot! This is what happened the last time they came to visit....


Have a great weekend!!!