Once in a lifetime 4th of July

Adam and I had the most wonderful 4th of July.

For 6 years we've been in RI we've talked about going to Boston for the 5th - I know crazy.

Well Adam snagged us Red Sox tickets for the 4th and so we decided in January we'd make a long holiday weekend of the game.

We arrived in Boston on Friday - no traffic - easy ride up. Great hotel which we both swear we stayed at on our first trip in to Boston 6 years ago.

Friday we decided to walk over to the Hatch Shell to see about getting in to see the Pops practice concert that night- FUNNY! I think peole had to be lined up at like 9 am to get in to the Hatch Shell. We quickly decided it was so NOT worth it to wait in line and not see the show. So we walked around the Esplanade and tried to come up with a game plan for the 4th. We strolled around Newbury street too - and I finally got to go to Lill - I had so much fun trying to decide what purse to make, but Adam was quickly bored and we left - now I have an excuse to go to my friend's party in the coming weeks!

After a quick trip back to the hotel we decided we'd take the T over to the North End for dinner - since that is our favorite part of the city. We found a great Italian place and had the most wonderful dinner - great salads and awesome woodfired pizzas. The Sangria wasn't half bad either!

We spent the evening strolling around the city, Feuniel Hall, watching the street performers and enjoying the wonderful weather on our walk back to the hotel.

For the 4th, we initially thought we'd get up at 8 and go to the hatch shell to get wrist bands to go back in after the game, but after the insanity that was the practice concert - we decided getting there at 8 wasn't going to cut it and that arriving after the game we'd still probably be without a spot. So we slept in and took our time strolling the city to get over to Fenway.

The game - despite the loss - was a great game! We had excellent seats, delicious Fenway Franks and ice cream helmet treats and were so thrilled to be in the Grandstand under the balcony and out of the hot sun.

The game was Veterans and ALS Day and Curt Schilling came out to read Lou Gherigs's Greatest Man Alive Speech before the game started - that was so awesome to see Schilling - he's one of my favorite players.

After the game, we headed back to the hotel to cool off and decided we'd give going to the Esplanade our best shot.

So glad we gave it a shot instead of just going over to MIT. We had a great spot on the lawn in direct view of the barge.

We had MANY hours to wait though, and chatted with those around us and enjoyed the people watching. We saw some beautiful dogs that had on red white and blue bandanas and little patriotic top hats - doggie size - kid you not - it was awesome! We watched the boats on the water - and even watch a small sail boat loose two of it's three sailors and have to swim to another boat. That boat seriously had some issues!

We snacked on over priced vendor food and hung out waiting for the concert to start at 8:30 and be piped in to the Esplanade. The cocnert was great, even if we couldn't see it. We sang along to Neil Diamond and the All American Sing Along. Then it was time for the reason we were there.

The fireworks were WONDERFUL! Seriously some of the best fireworks we've seen. It was so worth it. We were so close actually we both got ash on us and paper from the firework shells... yeah nothing says you had a good fourth unless you're covered in shrapnel when you leave!

After the fireworks we strolled back to the hotel and called it a night.

It was by far one of the best Fourth of Julys I've ever had in my life. Very cool - I've always wanted to go to Boston for the 4th - and now that I've done it, not sure I need to do it again - but maybe a few years from now who knows.

Pictures of the weekend are below - Enjoy! I'll try posting a video clip too!

More Movie Reviews

Saw a TON of movies while home with mom.

Reign Over Me: interesting, thought provoking, dont' need to see it again though but great acting by Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. Good rental though.

Lucky You: Interesting, deep, exciting if you like poker and vegas - Drew Barrymore was great and so was Eric Bana - a good rental.

No Reservations: LOVED IT! Major Chick Flick. Oh I can't stop thinking about how wonderfully loving, fun, and romantic this movie was - made me majorly crave spaghetti though so we had to go out for pasta after we watched it. CUTE MOVIE!!

Enchanted: Oh my mom was right, it's so a Stephany Movie - girly, fun, princessy, all me wrapped up in a ball of fun. And who doesn't like to watch McDreamy?!?!

So Funny I Thought I'd Pee my Pants!

I took mom to see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee musical while I was home.

Seriously, could have peed my pants. If you can catch it at a local theater or even in NYC or something - do - it's so funny!

I'm a huge fan of the National Spelling Bee and this certainly picks up on some of the quirks of the spellers and such.

Hysterically funny!!!

Well that wasn't how it was supposed to end!!

I just got back from Chicago from visiting mom and we took in My Sister's Keeper while I was in.

I went in with low expectations - since movies based on books I've read and loved often disappoint me. The only movie I've enjoyed as much or more than a book was The Notebook.

The start of the movie kept the same tone as the book, so I was thinking, well this could work.

Then then ending came and in the middle of the theater I leaned over to my mom and said "Um that's not how the book ends at ALL!!!" other ladies were commenting at the same time. VERY DISAPPOINTING.

If you read My Sister's Keeper and loved it - skip the movie -you'll be so angry you saw it based on how incredible that book is!

Nom Nom Nom 4 Fud

Adam found this new game online and we have been playing it for a good portion of the night.

If you're a cat lover you're going to really enjoy this!

Nom Nom Nom 4 Fud

Bashy gets a pizza strip!

So, if you're a RIer or have been here to see us we may have introduced you to Pizza Strips.

These have quickly become a favorite in our house and we try and pick up a tray over long weekends so we can enjoy them.

Essentially they are pizza dough with sauce baked on and that's it. You can get white strips, which have cheese, but we prefer the ones with just sauce.

Well I brought somehome from work the other day and Adam and I had one while we were cooking supper (they are small squares people so it's not like eating a piece of pizza before dinner).

Well Bashful got to be Mr. Jealousy over this so we decided to let him sniff it out to see if he liked one - since it was the last one, we let him take a stab at it.

Well not only did his nose go insane, he went CRAZY and had to have it. It was seriously like he was going "Oh Pizza Strip, get in my belly!"

Here he is licking it to death and trying to bite the cheese and dough.

We couldn't stop laughing.

Sunny Kitties!

It's the best time of year where we can keep the storm door open and the cats and sit and sun themselves.

They fight over the rays of sunshine pouring in the door and eventually they both get over-heated and fight over the shady spots as well.

The sun makes Sneezy very tired and does the opposite for Bashful - it makes him Crazy!!! Like fierce you don't know what came over him crazy!

Bashful has disturbed Sneezy
Bashful loves to roll in the sun!

What Mama??

I so tired... Sun makes Sneezy Sleepy!!

Can you seek her tongue hanging out because she's so overheated??

A Little Old but...

I just came across these pictures from Easter.

We had a quiet Easter at home just the two of us - Adam got me this beautiful lilly for our 1,000th day of marriage - and we colored eggs and had a ball!

We had so much fun coloring our dozen eggs that we broke out the raw eggs and colored those as well - not recommended for children!

We found these new Pas Q-tip dye sticks that you break and the dye goes to the cotton tip. They are concentrated dye, so they stain really well. But you can do some pretty cool patterns with them. 99 cents at Walgreens, look for them next year.

Finished Eggs, Dots, Humpty, all sorts of fun!

We even got baskets from the Easter Bunny!

Crack Here! This was a raw one, so I did crack there!

Adam was very proud of his Humpty Dumpty

Even Miss Sneezy got in on the action. She was a big fan of the Pas dye sticks, probably has something to do with her love of actual Q-tips to carry around the house and bap around. Was a chore to keep her away from these!

My beatiful lilly from Adam - I love how he remembers the little things I never remember or know about. Who knows when their 1,000 day of marraige is?? My husband does!!

Staycation

Adam and I had planned to take thispast week off of work and go away. We were between NYC, a cruise, a low cost trip to Vegas or Disney.

However, we decided to save the $ at the last minute and just take the time off and be home.

We had a workcation/staycation.

It was the most beautiful week to take off as well - such perfect weather.

We spent Saturday and Sunday doing gardening. The veggies are in, the annuals are in, and we planted a new tree in our yard as well - a crabapple that has just the most beautiful flowers. Adam even helped me out by digging a whole new flower bed near our mailbox - the area that never grows grass.

We got everything in the ground and mulched as well.

We spent monday closing out our storage unit that we had for almost 3 years - it was full of stuff that was in the basement that we had to store when we completed the basement a while back. We took stuff to salvation army, tossed a lot of stuff, and well, the rest is sitting in the basement waiting to find a home and go through it.

Tuesday we had planned on heading up to boston, but decided we'd scratch that trip since we'll be up there for the 4th. Instead we spent the day relaxing a bit, and then headed up to Federal Hill for lunch and shopping and then a stroll through the zoo - unfortuantely we only had an hour before the zoo closed for the day.

Wednesday we went down to Wakefield, which we've never been to before and saw some cute shops. We also went to see Kenyon's Grist Mill down in South County and saw how they grind the corn. No tours or anything but it was still a pretty place to see. We also went to Crazy Burger in Narragansett for lunch that day since I've always wanted to try it. We ended the day with Pub Quiz with our good friends and got our asses handed to us - stupid cheaters using I phones!

Thursday we relaxed headed to the wineries in CT and checked out Jonathan Edwards and Stonington Vineyards- we had some great wine tastings and bought a few nice bottles as well. We ended the day at Foxwoods - and we did great not gambling! We walked around and enjoyed the shops and dinner.

Friday we relaxed around the house all day and it was a wonderful treat to just be lazy at home.

Today we got to meet some new neighbors and do laundry and grocery shopping - oh so exciting I know. And tomorrow we'll relax before going back to work.

It was a nice staycation. A good way to save money, eat out at some new places in our area, and just relax and take a much needed break from work for both of us.

I highly recommend staycation - it's a great way to explore your own area! I feel more versed in things RI now because of our time we spent exploring our own little state.

Sneezy has a new trick!

Not one we're encouraging by ANY means... but it just happened and well it was too funny not to take a few pictures of.
Greg and Sandy this one is particularly for you!!
And yes, don't worry, the shelf was cleaned when she got out!
While unloading the dishwasher the other week, we had the door open to where we put the dishes and the shelf was empty, so we turn around and find this!