Monday, April 11, 2011

Spring is here!

Finally we got some nice weather in Boston! As Amit would say, it's shorts weather! It was a fabulous weekend. I loved hanging out in the sun and cleaning the house with the windows open. Hooray for fresh air!

Spring cleaning means that the chairs come out of the garage and onto the front porch. Apparently it means that Amit and Emma will be sharing many a good conversation while sitting out there. Too funny!
We spent Saturday with Derrick and Mel. We went out to Redbones for some great BBQ and sweet tea. Nothing says summer is almost here like driving with the windows down, listening to some country, and Amit pigging out on some quality ribs. After lunch we walked around the Arnold Arboretum. Some of the flowers were blooming and we had a little impromptu photo shoot with Annie. She loved it!

No post is complete without a picture of Emma. Weekends are for laundry. After we came back from our walk and started to fold laundry, she got tired and decided to sprawl out on the floor next to the basket. She cracks us up!



Thursday, April 7, 2011

A Smashing Saturday

So my girlfriends and I, trying to figure out something more to do together besides shopping and eating, came up with a crazy idea. Wouldn't making broken (more like smashed) plate mosaic pots be fun?? Heck yeah! It wasn't just fun, it turned into a day-long adventure. Leave it to the four of us to pick the most complicated first-annual craft day project ever!

We started with our plates and tiles. 
I went with matching ones (can we say Martha Stewart?).
 How did we smash the plates? With our hammers!
Me, Alison, Angela, and Kara
So when it came time to smashing the plates, we started in the backyard. Probably should have thought a little harder about that one. The damp ground plus Kara's scary super strength resulted in big holes in our paper bags and plate shards all over Emma's yard. After scooping up the shards, we moved to the driveway. Much better plan! 
Check out those pieces!
 We smashed them in the bags and then sifted through the pieces to find our favorites.
I'm telling you - if you have any stress or frustration in your life - you should totally try plate smashing!
Another thing we learned? 
Plate shards are sharp.
Blood also makes for very nice plate decor.
(Thank goodness we had the Dr. inside to fix her up!)
So after a lot of laughing and smashing, 
you end up with this:
By now we were freezing, so thankfully we were done with the smashing part. We did this project on a whim, so we really didn't have a plan. We knew we had to get the plate pieces to stick to the pots, cover it all with grout, and then wipe the grout off the tiles. In reality, it turned out to be so much more difficult than it sounds.
Can't wait to decorate our pots!
 We covered our pots with adhesive and tiles.
 After making the grout that Ron helped us find and trying to put it on the pot, we realized we needed fancy craft grout. So we headed to Michael's while we waited for the adhesive to dry. The white craft grout looked great, until we started to apply it. Did you know that your best tools are your hands? We did! Another hilarious highlight of the day? Any time we had an oops or a problem, guess what we yelled? "AMIT!!!" He'd come over, look at us like we were crazy, and then pick up the cameras to take pictures or try to help us figure out what to do. (He drew the line at helping me clean off the pots, which is why the tile one worked out and the pretty flower one ended up getting too hard and got thrown out. Like I said, hilarious adventure.)
We got messy!!
 After about an hour of grout drying and two (or more??) of trying to get the grout off, this is what we ended up with.
Now, it even has a plant in it!!
So after an 8 hour marathon of a craft session, it actually turned out alright. One thing we decided was that the next craft day will involve a much easier project. But seriously, I love these girls. (Obviously, if we can tolerate each other as we slowly run out of energy rubbing the grout off the pots.) Somehow we all ended up in the same place at the same time and came out with a great friendship. Now we even have the mosaic pots to prove it.


Monday, April 4, 2011

Family Hike

On our last full day together, we decided to take the crazy dogs for a walk in the woods. Amit and I love hiking at Wilson Mountain Reservation. It's super close, a relatively short loop, and Emma's favorite place to meet other dogs. Oh, and we had a Groupon for our favorite cupcake place, but you can't have one of those without some exercise! (At least that's what Amit says.)

Enjoy some pictures from our chilly March hike.
Sitting on Daddy's lap because she's too good to sit on the floor with the other dog.
 
 
 
 
 
 Max tried to climb the rock with his big brother.
Crazy dog.
 

It was so great having them here for almost a week. We miss having them around, but we did have to recover from all that excitement. Can't wait for the next time we're all together again!