light up the sky - nye 2011

for me, new year's eve normally ends up being extremely underwhelming.  i'm not so interested in paying a ridiculous amount of money to go to a hotel party with a bunch of strangers...or standing out in the freezing cold being herded like cattle (again with a bunch of strangers) just to see a sparkly ball fall from the sky.  just not my thing and i'm perfectly happy going to be at 9:30 most nights so the last night of the year isn't usually much different!

this year, we decided (the sister included in the 'we') that we were going to shake things up a bit!  we were going to plan something that would be fun and memorable.  it was way easier than i thought...just pick a place for dinner, invite some wonderful family members and friends, crank up the tunes and wham-bam-thank you ma'am, you've got yourself a great NYE!  donning mom's fur coats and coming home to dad dancing on a chair only added to the entertainment for the evening.  i was pretty darn pleased that we managed to have a non-boring night.

but then kara went and did something extra special...she ordered WISH LANTERNS!!  oh my gosh, i've seen these on youtube and on wedding websites (which i still stalk even though i was married 4.5 years ago) and i think they are just so fascinating!!  i'm so so happy she bought them (from some super sketchy website) for us all to enjoy.  i want them for all events and even the non-events...like 'woo-hoo, it's a 3 day weekend, let's send off some wish lanterns' kinda thing.  they definitely made our NYE magical.  just so glad no one caught on fire! ;-)

the fab sis also surprised me & mz with a super cute HD video camera which helped create this mashup of our wish lantern extravaganza at the uri bay campus.  make a wish!

have you heard: Gotye + Cover

i'm currently superbly obsessed with the song 'somebody that i used to know' by gotye (featuring kimbra).

one - it's mellow...but then fierce! and pretty different from the usual radio hits.

two - kimbra.  i mean come on, she sounds like she should be a member of jem & the holograms or something equally awesome.  and her voice is fantastic.

three - there's this cover of it that i cannot stop watching (thank you Alt Nation for telling me...and 27mm other listeners!)



need i say more?!

ps...i know the first link is not the 'official' music video, but the official one freaks me out a bit.

busy season + i might be a hoarder

mz's busy season has officially begun which means he's working saturdays for the next few months...which means i have lots of time on saturday mornings to myself.  sometimes that means waking up and watching some terrible movie or a disney flick, but other times (like today) it means busy season for me too.  busy with cleaning or crafts or projects or cooking...really anything i can think of to be productive so i don't feel super guilty when he gets home from a day of work and i've done absolutely nothing.

today i was tempted to read the hunger games all day (just started book 2 - SO hooked!!) but decided to tackle the basement instead.  in general, i'm not much of a cleaner but boy do i love to organize!!  our basement is small but it's got a whole lotta junk (and good stuff) down there and all of it seemed to move into the middle of the floor over the holiday season, so it was high time to find it all a home.  after 5 hours, 6 broken nails and about 2 tons of inhaled dirt/dust, it's looking really awesome.  there's so much space and i got rid of some old stuff (like the box to my first ipod...mini) so it was a great accomplishment.  and my craft table is finally cleared off so maybe i can start to actually DO some crafts!

while in the basement i finally admitted to myself that i might have a card/paper hoarding problem...not that i thought up a solution or did anything about it, but admitting it is the first step, right?!  i mean there are boxes upon boxes of postcards, letters, birthday cards sitting on a shelf...so if you've ever written to me, consider it saved and cherished.  it's not a new thing, i have cards from some of my earliest birthdays sitting in a nightstand in ri (sorry mom! clutter!!).  anyone have any good ideas on how to better store cards...or a method to eventually purge some of them??

i also have stacks of beautiful cards, paper and pens that i've picked up along my travels or that has been gifted to me.  i set a goal last year to send more letters but failed miserably.  i love writing and love sending/receiving mail, but sometimes i just hate to send my paper away!  totally nuts, huh?!  so i'm going to keep that as a goal this year and try harder...maybe if you heckle me and/or send me your address i'll start filling your mailbox!

hope you're having a happy (and productive) weekend!

9 days into the year and i'm already behind!

while all of my favorite blogs are posting recaps of 2011, setting goals for 2012 and moving forward with new and exciting projects, i've been in blog procrastination mode and am light years behind!  i was so wrapped up in the spirit of the holidays and enjoying time with my family that i kept all of my pictures safely stored in my camera and avoided blogger like the plague.  and then i pretty much got the plague.  or the flu, same diff.  so i decided that enough was enough, time to attempt to play catch up and get this year back on track!!  here are all of the things i meant to post many moons ago.  and since i'm still sick (aka have an excuse to be lazy) i'm going to be heavy on the pictures and light on the words for now...

oh dear!

jamestown, ri bridge

walk near rome point, ri after thanksgiving

poor mz, everyone wants a piece of him...or the ipad.

our skinny little tree.  probs would've been prettier with the lights ON!  i love christmas ornaments, they're my favorite travel souvenir.

random house in bridgeport with crazy decorations

kinda love the hokey signs that welcome you to our town.

our house!

we spent christmas in new jersey with the zonies clan and we took advantage of the beautiful weather by taking a family picture outdoors.  it was a wonderful christmas and a fabulous holiday season!

after christmas, we headed up to RI and at the end of the week some of our philly friends joined in on our holiday vacation craziness...

castle hill, newport, ri

the breakers

oooh nooo!!!  caution on the cliff walk.

i'll try to keep the procrastination to a minimum for the rest of the year!