2011 in Review with BF part 1

I really don't feel like I've been on my blogging-game this year. But that's okay, I've been more busy living life than talking about it. But it's been a pretty awesome year. Probably the best year ever if I'm being perfectly honest. I put together a book for bf for xmas of our past yr together (our 1st date was in January of this year). and I have a folder of all the photos from that book which tells our story pretty well. Here's a really quick recap of us...

Actually...

Ok let me back up before then to last year (2010) kind of a good/bad year where I separated from Gav's dad, and lost my fav kitty ever. You can read a little about that here. But don't get too sad, Gav and I had a ton of adventures like this one where we he got to travel with me for work (and eat ice cream for dinner! and get a build a bear!). Here is my post right after that where I talked about getting Patti Stanger's book (you know, millionnaire matchmaker from Bravo). Um yes this book is AMAZING and I recommend it to not only all my singal gals but married ones too. it's old-school relationship advice. ... and I though I'd try it out on someone I'd had my eye on.

1996                                                                                                   2011 

Thanks to fb, (and MySpace before that, yikes!) I've gotten back in touch with so many ppl from my past. Even way back to high school. Namely, soneone I remember from 10th grade math class in HS who was always posting about awesome things, trips, adventures, etc. But I remember him in HS talking about awesome things, his parents, etc. So I figured he'd be a good person to try out my new-found Patti Stanger learned skilz on. Granted, I'm super awesome to begin with and what dude wouldn't want to date me, lets be for real. But it's the right steps to get that 1st date, the air of mystery, the communication and lack-of. Self-improvement and self-promotion, just little things I had picked up from this book.

Anyhow, my fb interactions with him turned to us tweeting, which turned to gmail chat, turned to txting which turned to actual phone time (he called me!). Somewhere around gchat I brought up Patti Stanger (I am really bad about keeping secrets, even when they are about myself and self-help HAHA!) and he mentioned his ex gf was on an episode of her show. I was like wait... you mean you seriously dated a girl who was in the pool of girls at the mixer? He's like no, the girl I dated  was the girl picked for the date. I was like WOW! um, amazing. Then I found out his ex was the date on the season finale! He dated her right before she moved to NYC where patti's crew discovered her and asked her to be on the show. I of course (thank you FB) stalked his photos and sure enough, there was the gorgeous blonde and him hanging out, rock climbing, etc. in his pics from a year before.

Pretty crazy, right? so I guess our first faux date was us on the phone watching his ex on millionnaire matchmaker. They play the reruns of that show all the time and I was able to get some cell phone pics.

I seriously love reality shows. And this put the BF into rockstar level celebrity status for me. So thanks to patti's book (and her show, what!) I was super extra excited about going out w/ bf. But I also knew I should play it cool and not geek out too much on the reality show part.

Anyhow, so in January (I think 14th? I should really look that up!) Gav and I came to town (bf's house is  in my hometown where my parents live still too). And he cooked dinner for gav & me, then the next day Gav, he and I went to the nature museum and walked around the park, then my mom watched Gav and he and I went on our 1st real date to Soul.

And I cried. Not because I was sad, just because I was like omg this is so awesome/this dude is so awesome/my life went from not-so-awesome to celebrity-status hahah. BF handled it pretty well. And it was probably good for him to see sooner than later (ok wayyy too soon) that I am kind of  very emotional/dramatic.

Ok so ff to the next week he came to see me, then the week after that I came to see him, and then we decided to take a trip to DC.

And then it was my birthday and then we took a trip to NYC. And I didn't say it in the post but bf asked me to be his gf awww! that happened at Barcade in brooklyn

barcade

 Then we had this crazy-delicious dinner at a beer garden.

 I looked soo tired. But happy.

Then we watched the sun set over NYC and listened to the silver spun pickups and it was all epic

 then we hung out in williamsburg brooklyn w/ all the real hipsters and walked across the williamsburg bridge back to manhattan. Somehow after that we got on the subway, totally missed our stop and ended up in jamacia queens, but it was all good.

we got back on, came back into the city and the day ended with us sitting on those red stairs in time's square at midnight.

Here's a pic i edited of our feet on the red stairs that night. I had this blown up and on canvas and gave to bf for xmas.

Ok this post is getting long and we are just now in May! Post 2 coming soon!!!



Tanglewood ... Festival of Lights

Last night Lauren, my mom, Gav & I drove to Tanglewood's festival of lights. I hadn't ever gone, but if you ever get a chance it's awesome!
  And it's totally worth it! (just pack as many ppl as you can into your car before you go)

So here we are in the rain, going up to the place where you pay (yes, this stuff isn't free). But it's cool because Tanglewood Festival of Lights Outreach Program benefits over 12,000 disadvantaged adults and children from the community.

 Oh, and bring a child if you know one, everything's so much more magical w/ a kid! Plus Gav said the most hilarious things like "Oh look it's a yack running" (well... it was a light-up something not a reindeer so maybe). and "It's a turkey!" (wrong holiday, it was a peacock, but close!)

 Oh, and TMI but Gav had his first 'pee in a bottle' experience. I brough him some juice because I didn't want him to be all thirsty as we were going through the lights. That idea was awesome until he had to 'go.' I think his exact comment was 'IT'S COMING OUT!" but my mom was in the back seat with him, dumped out the apple juice and they somehow manuvered the peeing in a bottle. way to go mom/gav!

  This was probably my favorite part, they had lights going up these trees (my mom kept saying 'these trees are old. I know this') and so it was like you were going through an enchanted light forrest. This picture does it zero justice, but trust me it was awesome.

 What's better than like a million zillion bajillion lights? the lights reflecting on a lake.

 OOh i need to post the video of this one, if you roll down your window, you hear bells! it's magical!

 so ofcourse this place is smart and offers a stop in the middle with a bunch of port-a-jons, a big inside market with holiday crafts and a big fire for roasting marshmallows. Lauren hooked us up!

 Gav liked roasting them, but he will 'only eat the white ones.' hahah

 this was so fun! and it was like 65 deg outside which was not very festive, but comfortable. Oh! and the rain stopped just in time! :)

 We've got Mary, Joseph, some Wise Men, Angel and Baby Jesus a Bee (?)

Ok so back in the car and onto more lights. this was a real train, but w/ lights

 And Tanglewood park has all sorts of races, so a lot of the displays were about what they have there (marathons, triathalons, equestrian events, etc).

We got home ummm... ok after midnight. And Lauren & I had to work this morning early, but that's okay because it was a blast! So glad we went! 

Happy Holidays!

(PS thanks Lauren for the use of your cell phone pics along w/ mine!)

Writer's Workshop - The List

My friend Sara from unofficial mom is such a fab writer and all the time linking up w/ cool prompts. I have been wanting to do that too for a while, but i never do. Well this prompt is good. I really couldn't help but write about it. It's
If you HAD to marry a celebrity...who would make your top five list and why? (Let's just pretend you're not actually already married mkay?)

So here is my obscure list (in random order, so I don't hurt their feelings b/c I know they all read my blog):

Tom Everett Scott 

I first saw him as Guy Patterson in That Thing You Do! but I also saw (just to see him) the crappy movie An American Werewolf in Paris. He was on Grace Under Fire (yeah not sure he's done much since the 90's except for be on ER and Saved for a hot minute). I like to think of him as the guy John Krasinski (you know, Jim from the office) wanted to be WAYYY before the Office even thought about crossing the Atlantic. Totally quirky/adorable/the best friend you end up with.

Ami James

We'll call him the 'bad boy with heart.' He's a jewish tattoo artist which is very conflicting, but he seems spiratual enough to make peace with it. He has ADD big time, and you can tell he got into drawing/art/tattooing to calm himself down and get focus. He is a genuinly nice person who has to deal with a lot, but at the end of the day always does the right thing.

Chris Lambton

Ok, lets be for real. You all know he's really my #1 choice. I technically don't need anyone else on the list but him. Where do I begin with how perfect he is... oh! well first of all, if you somehow don't know who he is, he was on Ali's season of the Bachelorette. And no he didn't win. And yes technically he's engaged now to stupid Peyton from Bachelor, but we'll just hope they break up. Anyhow, Chris L is so great because he was a science teacher in NYC then his mom got sick and he moved home to Cape Cod, then she died and he now works with his family on their landscaping business. Basically he's a really genuinly good person who's all honest w/ his feelings and is super-duper hot. More photos of why Chris L's so great:

He likes to lay in the grass? I like to lay in the grass!

He likes to hang out on the front porch and wear cool shoes? So do I!

He got some oil poured him in Turkey. Idk, just he's hilarious.

“There are 4 of them. 4 of us. We’re in a place that looks like arena. I don’t like where this is going.”

"What did you guys do in Turkey? I got naked and wrestled with another man.”
“Usually what I do with olive oil is dip bread in it…”

Ok moving on!

Apolo Ohno

I first saw him in the 2002 winter Olympics. He's super adorable, but I also really liked all the back stories they did on him with how he was raised by his dad and and worked so hard. Anyhow he's won 8 olympic medals and is just super talented. In one of the more recent back-stories for the 2010 olympics they said something in his brain allows him to think quicker and plan better than the average person. So basically he's a genious. He was on Dancing with the Stars (which I didn't watch, I was too embarassed for him, except he did win. therefore he's awesome). He just seems very down to earth, humble, nice and like he'd be super fun.

Jared Leto

I know, I know, he probably really deserves to be down in the honorable mention place below because he's prettier than anything else. But what landed him up on the actual marrying list is that he's constantly keeping it current, mixing it up. I first saw him as Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life. Then he showed back up in Fight Club, and now he's like a really good vocalist for 30 Seconds to Mars. He keeps reinventing himself and i dig that. Ok and he's just really really pretty.

Honorable Mentions (more of eye candy. I wouldn't actually marry them as I would the above boys. But if they wanted to date me I wouldn't be sad about it):

Paul Walker

Ryan Philippe

Jude Law

Ok so that's the list. I technically could have gone on and on, but that's it for today's writing prompt.

So remember last yr when I was all up on Patti Stanger (millionnaire matchmaker?) and using her tips/creating my own non-negotiables? So funny enough, bf has a little of all the traits from all of the above dudes.
Example- like Jared Leto, he's constantly getting into new projects. from home-improvement to self-improvement. mastering everything he tries. Like Apolo Ohno, i think he might have that think 5 steps ahead skill. Like sometimes his ideas are alittle out there, but i found when i go w/ them, it always turns out for the best, I'm too stuck in the present to see the future. Like Chris L, he's super close w/ his fam. Hes also taken me to lay around for hours in central park (hours and hours), he has cool shoes, and is pretty hilarious. Oh and he's been to turkey. Like Ami James, hes got that kind of look (minus the ink), and for sure has ADD like me, but can focus it into projects and get stuff done. And like Tom everett scott, he's totally the good guy, a little quirly and whos' everyone's friend.