Happy Birthday

The day we picked up Bogart. His very first picture

It's hard to believe this little 4 pound puppy is 10 years old today. My Bogart has been a staple in my life for almost as long as my bestest friends. I got him the day before my college graduation. Can't you tell? I had not wrinkles in my forehead. Bogart has been with me through so many good times and bad times. He has cuddled me when I'm sick or sad and made me laugh like nothing else could. It makes me sad when I see him acting like a "senior"dog, as the vet calls him. I hate that term. He still hikes like a champion and plays like a puppy. He has brought me so much happiness and unconditional love. He's my baby boy. He will always be!

Last weekend we took a trip to the local Dog Shop, Scarlett's Way. The owner is a sweetheart. We talked for almost an hour and she was in love with how silly Bogart was.He ended up getting just about everything in the store; special "I Love You" cookies, a new sweater, eco friendly stuffed bone, hallowed bone for peanut butter, hiking canteen and travel water dish. Yep, he is spoiled!

Happy 10th Birthday, Bogart, Bog, Wubbie, Woogles, Woolies!

Wedding Wednesday....

I can't believe in just a few weeks we will celebrate our first wedding anniversary! NUTS! I can't believe how fast time flies. 

It's crazy how I didn't post all of my favorite things from my wedding last April. Not shortly after our wedding life got a little crazy and all of these posts from our wedding sat in my draft folder. I'm so glad I'm able to finally share. Better late then never! 

I wanted to share with you all some of our wedding decor. I did just about everything myself with a little help from my mom and mother in law. I never felt so crafty. 

I used an old picnic basket that used to belong to Brian's grandparents. I love the fact that they took this very same picnic basket when they were dating. They have been happily married for over 50 years. I made the flower with jewels and silk flower petals to dress it up a bit. We now use the basket in our living room to store extra blankets and small pillows. 

Our centerpieces were by far one of my favorite parts of our wedding. Since Brian and I had our first date and got engaged in an apple orchard we really wanted to incorporate that into our spring wedding. Good thing we chose green as our main color. 

We purchased wildflowers from our local supermarket as an addition. 

Brian's mother is a potter and made the cake plates. The morning before the wedding my mom, mother in law and myself stood in the basement of the country club for over 2 hours building these. They were a huge success and everyone wanted one. Our guests who did take them home have made mention every time they have a nice cake or pie they think of us and our wedding.  Makes them even more special for us. 

The green fabric has now been turned into some bedroom pillows for us and couch pillows for my best friend. 

Like our table numbers? I printed them out for FREE thanks to The Wedding Chicks

Nothing fancy here. We skipped the usual favors and donated money to our local humane societies. We placed a little note on everyone's place setting. 

Our window pane seating chart. This was one of the very first things I saw when I began planning my wedding and it was the first thing I was positive I wanted to add. We were on the hunt for old windows. Brian's mom crossed over a busy road to pick these up. They did need about 10 washings before they were pretty enough to use but still looked rustic.

We had 13 tables with one pane left. I added "Our Love Story" to the very last one. Not everyone knows all the special days in our relationship and we loved sharing them. 

Have I mentioned our connection to the orchard? Yep, thought so! Well our "guest book" was another way for us to include it in our wedding day. 

We love it! Its a beautiful piece of art and it now hangs over our bed. 

If you'd like one you can find them here

My Bride and Groom chair hangs were finished on the morning of our wedding. I'm so glad I finished them although my bridesmaids giggled at me for doing them instead of relaxing. I sat on the floor of my living room hot glueing away. So many people commented that they loved seeing them through the large reception window as they mingled during cocktail hour on the boardwalk.  The picture above shows just what our guests saw. A small sneak peek into reception room

I hope to continue to share so much more from our wedding this month. 

What were some of your favorite wedding details?

Planning your wedding? What details would you like to see?

We Are Juicing!

Recently I found this awesome Facebook page where residents of my county buy and sell their unneeded items. I love this idea! I hate throwing things away. Originally I was only going to sell, and sell I did. I sold, all of my costume jewelry I was over wearing, 2 over the top dresses, softball cleats and wall hangs. Last week I did see a Jack Lalane juicer on sale for $50. I read the reviews, original price being $100 I jumped on it. I offered $40 and we are now the proud owners of a juicer. The elderly woman who purchased the juicer hated it. She told me she preferred milk shakes.


This juicer is pretty rocking. I know it isn't the $500 Vita-mix everyone seems to love but lets get real. I had no idea if I would like this thing or like the way the juice even tasted so $40 was enough for me. The juice tastes fresh and I really enjoy it. The negatives are the cleanup. This is by no means an easy or quick clean up. There are 5 separate parts of the juicer that need cleaning afterwards. It also takes a lot of fruit to make the juice. It is a pricey adventure.



Here are my 2 favorite juices.

Each of these made 2 glasses of juice

First Attempt- I have no cute names for them

1 cucumber
1 apple
1 orange
1 handful of blueberries



Second Attempt

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 orange
1 mango
2 strawberries
(The strawberries were on their way out so I threw them in)
I also added a little coconut water

I really loved both of these. I add a lot of ice because I really like ice cold juice.We also started saving the pulp left over and freezing it for smoothies. No use in wasting it.



BTW, what is up with Pinterest (or me?) and the embed button. I've tried to days to embed things into blog posts and it is just NOT working. Grrrr!

April...

Holy cow! March is really over?!?! It just seems like it flew by. I think it is because most nights I was out cold by 8:30! I guess boot camp will do that to you. I'm a sucker for pain or a glutton for punishment because I'm doing boot camp again this month. In case you missed it in Friday's post I felt pretty successful after the last class in March. I didn't lose any weight which was a bit of a bummer BUT I did lose 3.5 inches. I'm hoping for the same thing if not better this month. My first April class started this morning and I'm feeling great. Especially after eating all the goodies yesterday during Easter brunch.

We had such a beautiful Easter. We skipped the fancy Easter dinner and pretty clothes for a simple Easter brunch at my in-laws and a long family hike. It was perfect. Food was delicious. We indulged on some quiche (I made it), ham, chicken, mac and cheese, vegetables, pulled pork, cole slaw and a ton of other goodies. We got to enjoy a beautiful day out in nature with our family and all our dogs. For me it was the best kind of way to celebrate family and the beginning of Spring. 

Bogart interacting for the first time with our nephew Ryan. 

Seconds after this he pulled a clump of hair out of poor Bogart's ear. 

Poor doggie.

Chubby baby cheeks! 

Paul and Bogart are best buddies. 

Paul wanted to hold my hand to protect his "Aunt Asqueena"from wild animals on our hike.

He protected me from all the bears, tigers and kangaroos out there.

I love the imagination of 3 year olds. 

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter as much as we did. 

Happy April Fools day! 

Happy Baseball Opening Day. 

GO YANKEES!!!! 

Happies and Crappies...

HAPPIES:

- I completed boot camp! I DID IT!!! I did not miss one class! I think I may have been the only one! 

- I lost a total of 3.5 inches. 
Arms- Down .5 inch
Chest- Down 1 inch
Waist- Down .5 inch
Hips- Down 1 inch
Leg- Down .5 inch

- My birthday weekend was great. I will probably post about it when life gets a bit less hectic. I took a zumba class. Went shopping for some new work out clothes, dinner and breakfast at my favorite place the next day. 

- My parents got me a Home Depot gift card so we can do some home renovations. I also got some great earrings. Brian got me another month of boot camp! I'm so excited. 

- We got a juicer! I'm loving juicing but hating the clean up!!!

CRAPPIES:

- My phone broke. BOO! Verizon did replace it but I lost all of my photos.

- Work is just INSANE! Plus, I'm kind of jealous that it seems like everyone has a 3 or 4 day weekend. Not me! 

- Between work and the 4:45 wake up call I am so tired all the time. I haven't stayed up passed 8:30 this entire week. 

What are your happies and crappies this week?

Happy Easter! Enjoy your weekend. 

OHP SPRING

Hello friends. I have been such a busy little bee. I can't wait to post more about it too. This week has been nothing short of hectic. Between the stress of work, taking on a second job, bootcamp and a pulled groin I am wiped. Yes, I am asleep by 9pm every nightThe good news is it almost sort of feels like Spring. Well, its better than 30 degrees, right?!?! With Easter right around the corner and temps near 50 I am so ready.

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Happies and Crappies

Yay, it's Friday!!! 

HAPPIES: 

- My BIRTHDAY is tomorrow. I have not idea what is planned but I have decided to take the entire weekend to celebrate and have fun. Starting tonight with my parents tonight. YAY! 

- It's SPRING. Ballet flats, capri pants, pretty colors, bare legs here we come...

Source: Millie on Pinterest

- I've completed 9 out of 12 classes with 3 left. I'm the one of three girls who have made it to every class! The threat of push ups and burpees are enough to make me get up so early. 

- I'm feeling so strong! I feel muscle for the first time in forever. I'm seeing improvements too. I have been able to do 25 push ups with out stopping. I

- My Old Navy order showed up last night. FINALLY! 

- I also scored a pair of Jessica Simpson jeans. I LOVE the fit of her clothes. They always seem to look and feel good on my body. I also love the $29 price tag! 

-Did I mention my birthday?!?!?

CRAPPIES: 

- Poor Brian came home from a work event with food poisoning. He was so sick last night. I was afraid we would end up in the ER. He was so dehydrated. Thankfully he is doing better this morning. I hate seeing him so sick. 

- I'm having major muscle pain. It pretty much hurts everywhere. I'm battling a problem with my wrist which makes a lot of push ups and planks really difficult. 

- It's spring to bad its freezing! Icky! 

What are your happies and your crappies this week?

Throwback Thursday-Opening Day

So spring is officially underway and I'm ready for all the great things that come with it. Especially baseball. As a girl who grew up in the Bronx I'm a Yankee pinstripe kinda gal! As a kid we went to tons of games. My husband and I love to go to games. We celebrate his birthday with a Yankee game every year. 

One of my most favorite days, EVER, was attending the Yankee ticker tape parade back in 2009. We woke up at 4am and drove to Hoboken NJ and took the ferry down to NYC. We froze! It was so cold and I remember being so hungry. 

The day was going great until we got back to our cars. We took 2 cars and parked next to one another on the streets of Hoboken. Problem was it was permit only. OOPS! We got ticketed AND booted! Yep, $800 and removing the boot, later we were finally able leave! 

What a mess! Still it was one of the best days! 

PLAY BALL! 

Just Because- Spring Where Are You?

Spring starts in just 2 days.

You would never have guessed by my commute home last night and what I saw when I woke up to this morning. It looks like 7 inches or so. I can't say it enough but thank goodness for my Jeep. The commute home last night was horrific. So many accidents and cars spinning out of control.

It's like the winter that just won't end! I really can't wait for capris, sandals, pastels and temps about 42 degrees! Last year at this time I remember the temps around 70 degrees. I think I was spoiled but I've had just about enough.

Mr. Groundhog.... You're FIRED!