What's up with this weather? + Danny is fantastic.

Spring apparently has decided to skip out this year, which means Eastern Pennsylvania has now officially gone straight from fall to summer.  Winter?  Nah, overrated.  Spring?  Too much work.  I enjoy spring, so I'm a little dismayed, but as I can't control nature it's best to just suck it up and get the garden in order.

I've been steadily cleaning out the flower beds, making room for new growth and trimming things back.  Mulch is the next step, although I'm hung up on what color to get.  Does black seem too depressing or neat?  Does brown look uncultured?  Definitely not red--red incites anger.  I could just take a trip to Home Depot and play eenie meenie, see what happens.  Yes, that's the laziest most efficient way to do it.  SETTLED!

In other news, this weekend has been busy.  Friday I took the day off to spend time with my friend Mary--she lured me all the way to Levittown, PA with a Danny Briere appearance.  Of course I wanted to see her, but I never pass up an opportunity to see Danny in person.  It was a successful day, but a very tiring one, and I didn't get into bed until 1am.  Saturday was slightly less emotionally charged, but not by much, as the Flyers played the Canadiens and beat them 4-1 to clinch a Playoff spot.  Oh, and did I mention?  Danny scored two goals, including the game winner.  He's awesome. 

Anyway, here are some photos of the latest goings on around the house.  Plus a few of Danny, because I can't help myself.  We're going to the game tomorrow, and I am feeling amazingly blessed to get to see him up close twice in less than a week. 

 

New sconces in the bedroom!  Put them up myself today.

 

Geocaching again!

Hallo there!  What a day Jeff and I had.  First we got up, turned the clocks back (thank you, fall!), and made some eggs for breakfast.  After cleaning up, I then asked Jeff to come geocaching with me.  We'd done it on my birthday but didn't find either of the caches we set out to find.  Today we went to one new place in Downingtown, near where Jeff works, and that one took about 20 minutes to find, and finding it restored some confidence in our finding abilities.  Then we went back to the two locations we'd been to on my birthday and tried them again.  What's wonderful about these two spots is that they're only a few miles from where we live, and they're out in scenic horse country.  Even if you don't find them, the ride is enjoyable enough that you don't care much!  

Anyway, the first one, called "Big Springs Road," took us an HOUR to find, and Jeff was the one who found it.  I was so proud of him!  The cache was off to the side of a gravel maintenance road that runs behind some horse farms, and the scenery back there is wonderful (see photos below).  We then hit up the other spot, which is near a very busy tavern/restaurant.  It's hard to find parking, so we parked along the road and started hunting.  Again, Jeff found the cache, hidden behind a part of the bridge railing that is near the tavern.  Way to go, Jeff!  

So we found 3 caches today, and it was a beautiful fall day, perfect for hunting.  I'm glad we got out of the house so much this weekend--we had the Flyers vs. Blue Jackets game on Saturday.  Flyers won, 9 to 2!!  I got some pretty good shots there, and it was an amazing hockey game.  One of the most exciting I've seen in a while.

Well, off to play some Sims!  I won an award recently on a forum I belong to for a picture that I posted.  They liked it so much I won the "Photograph of the Week" award!  Woohoo! *nerd* :)

___________________________________________________

Photos (click on each one to view the original!)

Amy & Mike's Wedding, 9.10.11

We all survived the wedding!

Here are some of my favorite shots from Amy and Mike's wedding yesterday.  Enjoy!

A short post.

Here are some things I've done lately:

1)  Some A lot of mental shopping.  Here's my shortlist!

Owl Pplate from Poppytalk Handmade

Tote by Maptote

Anything at this Etsy shop. 

..............................................................................................................

2)  Tweeting, which I swore I'd never do.  Curse you, Flyers players who have Twitter accounts and post regularly enough to make me keep checking back often to see what you're doing this summer (which apparently includes beefing up, going home to Alaska, and recovering from wrist surgery).  You have earned my eternal lovehate.


3) Working overtime and gaining many, many gray hairs.  Also watching Playoff hockey, which piles on more gray hairs.  That's why I'm far away from the TV right now.  Damn you, Boston, enjoy it while you can...


Fun picture from Rockford!

Flyers Regular Season is OVER! On to the play-offs...

That's it, no more regular ol' hockey games this year!  Now it's play-off time.  The Flyers are up against the Buffalo Sabres in the first round, pretty exciting.  Megan will at least be pleased, getting to watch her #1 goalie hockey beau Ryan Miller play.  I'm signing up for the Beard-a-Thon, which looks like it will be interesting...ly hairy.  Come on, don't you want to make a pledge based on the fullness of a hockey player's beard?  Eh?  Ehhhh?

Pictures from last night down below.  I didn't get too many this time around, because I vowed I was just going to watch the warm-ups and not take pictures.  How long do you think I held out?  About 2 minutes.  Then Danny skated by and I couldn't help myself any more.  At one point he slowly went by and the little boy in front of me banged on the glass, which got Danny to turn and smile at the kid.  I nearly lost it, I don't mind telling you.  The adorableness of it all!  The Flyers gave out their annual awards before the game, too--Danny got the Toyota Cup Award for the most team points, Giroux got both the Gene Hart and Bobby Clarke MVP awards, and Meszaros and Nodle both got awards too.  After a whirlwind game, the Flyers came out on top 7-4.  The first 2 goals were scored by Hartnell and Timmonen in the 1st period before the first minute of the game had passed.  After that it was a roller coaster, but very exciting and entertaining.


I really want to get out and garden!

_______________________________________________________

SPRING!

I am such a slacker!  First off, I said I'd try to keep this blog active and current, and here I haven't posted since last October.  SHAME on me.  Secondly...well, there is no "secondly." But I do have some updates:

1.  I'm going to be an AUNTIE!  Just found out yesterday, my sister-in-law is 5 weeks along already.  I can't wait to send her horrific maternity clothing as a joke.... What should my aunt-related nickname be?

2.  Jeff and I have been to many, many hockey games since October.  The Flyers started going through a.....let's just say they've been in and out of a slump since the All Star break, which was in January.  They were the first NHL team to get a confirmed Playoff berth though, so all is not lost.  Also, we went to the Flyers Wives Carnival, and that...was...SUPER.  It's a long story, but in short I got a photo with two of the Flyers and got my Briere jersey signed.  BY BRIERE.  Super.  (See photos below!)

3.  I am just now getting over the last of a cold that I got back in February.  Yeah, that's a long cold.  My doctor?  He said it was allergy-related.  Let me tell you something: I'm not a doctor, but I know that cold wasn't allergy-related.  I had a wet, phlegm-filled cough for weeks.  I'd cough so hard that I'd have the urge to vomit, and most of the time did.  What allergy do you think causes that?  Hm?

4.  My garden is coming back to life!  AH!  Slowly but surely.  I cannot wait to spend some time outside getting my nails dirty.

5.  My boss situation still stinks.  She's never going to respect me or treat me like a fellow human being, so I'm going to complain to her boss the next time she makes me feel like a mentally retarded child in front of the whole office for no reason.  (That kind of thing happens on a daily basis, by the way--and for the record, I'm neither mentally retarded nor a child.)

Phew!  Enough of that.  I have many photos to share, the first few of which are my newest batch of cupcakes: lemon cake with home-made vanilla frosting and strawberry slices on the top.  SO DELICIOUS!  

________________________________________________ 

LOTS O'PHOTES!

This man (Ian Laperriere, #14) regularly stopped pucks with his face--his FACE. And never thought twice about it, because he cared so much for his team that he'd do anything to keep the other team from scoring. He is AWESOME, and I was so happy to get to meet him!  He hasn't even played at all this year, and the line of people waiting to meet him was the longest one when we got there. It was worth it.

DANNY BRIERE!!!!!!!!

Looks kind of lecherous, doesn't he? :)  This is one of Megan's many hockey beaus, Ville Leino, #22.

FALLLLLLLLLL!!!

I love Fall! 

It's definitely Fall around here.  The trees are looking pretty bare (most of their leaves are in our yard, in fact), the smell of wood fires and decaying foliage is strong in the crisp air, and the windows are shut tight.  BEST. TIME. OF. THE. YEAR. 

This morning I got up around 10 and went for a long walk.  On my loop back to the house, I saw a vine with some berries attached to it dangling from a low tree limb.  I thought, "my, that would look just precious strung around the bowl on my dining room table!"  So I pulled, and pulled, and eventually got most of the vine, which I then had to carry with my all the way back home.  It was worth it, because it looks so rustic and awesome.

On my way to a nice, warm shower, I picked up the Comet cleanser and some rags.  I scrubbed that shower nice and clean (it badly needed that) and now I almost want to take a bath in there.  But not quite--I could not get the bottom clean, no matter how hard I scrubbed.  My next step is to caulk every nook and cranny, because I'm tired of dark, icky things creeping out of the seams in the plastic.

After my shower, I did some minor cleaning around the house (vacuuming, dusting, lighting candles.....that counts!), and then I put up some white sheer IKEA curtains I'd bought a month ago.  I wanted to just brighten up the room, and add a little something softer to the windows.  I think it came out nicely!  Now I am going to have some lunch, and take a nap.  I have Monday off, so I'm trying to get everything done around the house before then so I can actually enjoy the time off. :)

____________________________________________

See that awesome red splotch in the lower right corner with hydrangea coming out of it?  That's an authentic, vintage Dansk pitcher that I got for an extremely low price on eBay, and I LOVE IT.  Here's what they look like (and ignore the prices on that page--I didn't pay anything near that for mine!).

Fog on my way to work the other day.  Spooooooky!

Flyers v. Toronto Maple Leafs = WIN!

THE FLYERS WON!  5-2.  

Goal scorers: Blair Betts, Mike Richards (the cap'n!), Scott Hartnell, Ville Leino, and DANNY BRIERE!  WOOO!!!  Took lots of pictures tonight, although due to the traffic trying to get into the Phillies game (#6 of their series against the San Francisco Giants), we arrived too late to see most of the practice--which is my favorite part because I can get close-ups.  Anyway, a fantastic game, and not one of our regularly-scheduled ones either.  We're going again next Saturday so we have to dress up, but I'm not sure as what yet.  I have several wigs, but nothing that looks like a costume.

____________________________________________

PICTURES!

More geocaching & birthdays.

Yesterday was my birthday, and It. Was. Awesome.  Abby and Ben came to see the house for the first time (we moved in almost a year ago!), and loved it.  I had made some more pumpkin cookies before they came over, and they ate half of them before we left to go find another geocache.  It was another cache located in Hibernia County Park, which is where Jeff & I found our first one.  This was kind of outside the park, and we walked a mile to get there because we didn't know there was parking right next to it, but it was worth it.  After walking down a beautiful, leaf-covered trail surrounded by trees and Brandywine Creek on one side, we stopped to check our GPSs and read the clue: "if you don't see it, TRI again."  Well, obviously that wasn't a typo, and we were still trying to figure out how much farther we had to go when Ben said, "'tri'...like three tree trunks maybe?"  We all looked up and to our left, and right there was a tree with three trunks.  Can you believe that?  Without realizing it, we had stopped right where we needed to be!  We found the cache, left our names and a trinket (a temporary rose tattoo), and then, because it was getting dark, we turned around and headed back to our cars.

We then Chili's for dinner, which was very nice.  Against my strict instructions not to do it, Abby and Ben somehow gave our waiter "the sign" and I ended up being sung to.  EMBARASSING!  But I'm glad they did it.  Abby got me an awesome set of porcelain measuring cups that are red with a stitch pattern around the outside (I badly needed those!), an amazing "winter berry" candle, and a bad of Starbuck's Cinnamon Coffee.  I haven't tried it yet, but I know it's going to be delicious--especially with caramel apple creamer.

Today it's beautiful again--cool, windy, sunny.  I'm going back to the trail at Hibernia while there's more light out, so I can get a bunch of photos.  Here are a few from yesterday!

Jeff playing with the new candle.

 This young man, named Cody, had left what looks like his senior portrait in the cache.  Weird?