Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Project

So the big thing we wanted to accomplish this weekend was to get our table painted. Ron had put it together for us, but left the painting portion to us. Oh boy. It turned out great though. I love it!
Thanks for building it Ron! It seriously looks just as good as the Crate and Barrel table we copied the design from. Now to convince Ron and Amit to build me my project table from Pottery barn...

Mount Pemigewasset

No warm, three-day weekend is complete without a great hike. Amit and Seth decided that they didn't just want to hike, they wanted to climb a mountain. We headed to New Hampshire bright and early thinking it would be a popular destination. Boy, were we wrong! The hike up was totally deserted and quiet, which was nice! Then we got to the top. On a sunny day you would have a fantastic view (according to our guidebook), but when we reached the summit it was still cloudy. The cloud cover did make for some great photos (and the dizzying feeling that you had no idea where the end of the cliff was).
Seth ready to dive into the clouds.
 Amit's summit pose.
Staring off into the abyss.
 Photo op!
 Our happy (and tired) family
  Emma's first mountain - a success!
It was a great hike! A short distance, but a great climb! Emma kicked our butts, a 2 paw hike in the book should be like a 4 foot hike for people! I can't wait until we try out our next hike and neither can Emma! She was obviously tired though, she spent all of yesterday laying on the couch!

The Month of May...

... summed up in two pictures.

Wow, I have been a total slacker!! I apologize! I think I have some pretty good excuses for not blogging, but it has pretty much been because I've had better things to do. Before I get into those details, let me share what we've been up to.

First - Amit's birthday! He turned 24 and we had to celebrate two things. His birthday and the opening of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Saugus. I think we've officially started a tradition. In honor of his birthday, we forced him to order 24 wings. The kitchen gave him a few extra so he ended up eating 27. Way to go!
Second - Hiking season is back in full swing! And so is my tripod use! It's the only way I'm ever in a picture! Lucky for us, our girl is bred for climbing (a fellow hiker said so). She is amazing and totally loves real hiking.
So that was the pathetic photo evidence of the fun we've had in May. The rest of the news don't have pictures to go with them. Classes are totally over for Amit. He's in the clinic full-time and has been enjoying a little more free time. It's great timing because I've decided to go back to school. I start on Wednesday and will be studying for my Master's in Moderate Disabilities. I am jumping in full-time and have a lot going on this summer, but hopefully we'll have some fun things to blog about.

Since I didn't have much in the way of photos, here are a few of Emma after we went for a run the other day. Let's just say neither of us were prepared for 85 degree weather!

Craft Day #2

Okay, so craft day totally came and went without a blog posting, but there is very good reason for it.
I'm addicted!!
Like seriously addicted. Craft attempt number 1 was so much work that we were going to try something a little easier. We chose jewelry making. I was a little hesitant because I'm not that great with little details, but I wanted to replicate a long necklace that I have in my Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts. This was going to be a very interesting day. We were so into the beading that we never really took pictures. 
We headed to the craft stores and literally spent two hours shopping. This is what I came away with:
Then came the repeated attempts to string (and subsequently lose) some of the beads, ties those crazy knots and get them inside the clam shells, and figure out how to space those knots. Let's just say I was getting very frustrated. The go-to "whine" for this craft day was "ALISON!" It all ended up okay though. This is what I made while at Angela's.
The only photo evidence of us actually "beading".
  Made these at home with my beads
 Mom got my first attempt at the knotted necklace for Mother's Day.
I'll make you an even better one! Promise!
And look what it started! More photos cannot be published until after Christmas this year. The finished products have to stay secret!
Since we all ended up being totally awesome at jewelry making, we decided that our next girls day needs to be something that doesn't cost money. Nature, here we come!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

April Wrap-Up

Here are some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks.

Emma's definitely been tired out by all the hiking in the newly warm weather. She's found new ways to sleep and try to cool off (or get a tan, I can't decide.)


Grillin' season is back in full swing! This is Emma's favorite spot when Amit's outside with the grill. Too funny!
Can't forget the Easter Bunny! He sent a package all the way from Chicago and we were super excited to get it!!
My inner Martha Stewart came back out during Easter weekend. After I had put one cake in the oven, I turned around to grab something and this is what I came back to. At least they know how to share!