back in the loop...sort of

I'm back! It seems like I have been gone forever but in actuality it was only a couple days. Weird how that works.

My sister's graduation weekend was a whirlwind of activities, ceremonies, receptions, dinners, sitting outside in the heat, fun, not much sleep and a lot of riding in the car. Especially yesterday, after 4 hours of graduation stuff and packing up the car with all of my sister's belongings we still had an 8 hour drive home. Needless to say I was thankful I didn't have to work today (no job remember?) and could spend most of the day asleep.

I hope you enjoyed the guest posts from Caroline and Ashley last week. I know I did. To everyone else who told me they would guest post: PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR POSTS AS SOON AS YOU HAVE THEM...so I can get them on the blog! Or if you didn't tell me yet and you still want to post, let me know. My email is curiosity.cee@gmail.com

I'll leave you with a couple pictures from the weekend...

little sis getting her dipolma

graduation in the stadium

Me and my sis (daddy in the background)

My parents and sis

back from NJ

I'm back from my weekend in New Jersey...sadly there were no Housewives sightings. Maybe next time.

Either way it was still a good trip. On Thursday night K and I had a hotel reservation near his brother's college so we ended up just ordering room service and watching "Shutter Island," which was really good. The room service food was good too...but over priced!

The graduation was Friday morning and we went to lunch afterwards with K's brother, mom and grandfather. Then we spent the rest of the weekend with K's dad and his parents (the other grandparents.)

I had never spent much time with that side of the family so I liked getting to know them better, especially his grandma who is really sweet. They have a very male dominated family so I think she liked having a girl to hang out with!

Now I am back at work for only three more days...a little scary but overall, exciting.

Easter weekend (in bullets because I am lazy)

OK the real reason for the bullets is because it's super busy at work today but I still wanted to be sure to post about my weekend.

• We left MD on Thursday as soon as K got home from class and got to my aunt's house in Pinehurst, NC at 3:00 am. It was a long drive but I was glad we got it done at night.
• Hanna was very good in the car both on they way there are on the way home. She used to barf on long car trips so I was worried, but there were no incidents.
• Friday night we had fondue which is always fun and yummy. This was actually K and my 3rd Easter in a row having fondue. The past two years we have spent it alone and always did fondue for something different and fun.
• Saturday we did some shopping/browsing downtown and went out to dinner at a really good restaurant.
• Easter was spent in the car. It took forever to get back home so when we finally did we just ordered pizza and got caught up on the dvr.
• I also spent the weekend trying to convince K we needed to move to the South. I love the friendly people, cheaper home prices, quiet and the warm weather. Not to mention sweet tea!
• Why is it after going away for the weekend I get totally behind in everything I need to do for the week? For example, I don't think I will cook dinner all week just because I didn't have the weekend to menu plan/grocery shop.
• As usual, I failed epically at taking random pictures to document the trip.

How was your weekend?

road trip! and muffins!

K and I (and Hanna) are leaving tonight to drive to North Carolina for the weekend. My parents, brother and sister (and Gryffin---their dog) are also going but they are leaving earlier today. We are all going to visit my aunt and my cousin and will probably eat too much, drink too much, enjoy the sunshine and relax. I'm especially looking forward to the fondue and martini night my aunt has planned.

I wanted to make something to bring with me so I decided on trying out two different kinds of muffins recipes and a cherry scone recipe I got off Weight Watchers. Last night I was literally baking from 6-10.

I'm looking forward to these...

Raspberry Muffins

3 POINTS each, makes 12 muffins.

You'll need: 1 1/2 cup(s) whole wheat self-rising flour OR If you cannot find whole wheat self-rising flour, mix together 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour with 2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
4 Tbsp margarine, softened.
2 cups ready-to-eat crisp rice cereal, divided
1 1/2 cup(s) raspberries, divided
2/3 cup unpacked brown sugar, divided 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cups buttermilk

How to make them: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a 12-hole muffin tin with cooking spray or use liners. Place flour in a large bowl and rub in margarine with your fingers. Stir in 1 1/3 cups of cereal, 1 cup of raspberries and 1/2 cup of sugar. Combine eggs and milk in a small bowl; stir into flour-fruit mixture. Pour mixture into prepared tin; sprinkle with remaining raspberries (I put one whole raspberry on top of each muffin), cereal and sugar. Bake 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before flipping onto wire rack to cool.

I hope you have a very nice Easter weekend!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Today makes me nostalgic for college. Green beer, decorating T-shirts, random kissing, being drunk. This truly is the perfect college holiday. Maybe not what St. Patrick had in mind, but oh well.

Since I am no longer in college I need a new way to appreciate this fine holiday. I'm thinking a trip to Ireland might do the trick.

(image found here)

Sigh. Maybe someday. For now I'll just wear a green cardigan.

In other exciting news my fabulous real life friend, JM, started her own blog called DC Food Love. It's going to be all about food, wine, and entertaining. Check it out!

all the crap I did this weekend (featuring pictures!)

I went to Philadelphia with my best friends! I had never really been to Philly, except for the airport, so it was nice to see it. Except a lot of the places we were seemed kinda dirty...maybe it was from all the snow?

But before I went I had my interview at School #1. After careful consideration of your advice this is the outfit I went with. I think it worked and I didn't feel overly formal. It was a pretty laid back interview which seemed to go well, hopefully I should know something soon. Please ignore the creepy expression on my face...I was concentrating. K was supposed to take it for me but he was walking the dog and I had to get going.

While in Philly we hit up Geno's for OFFICIAL Philly Cheesesteaks. As a true Cheesesteak fan I was excited for my first and had pretty high expectations.

Here I go. My first bite. And I must say, while it was good, I have had better. In fact I'm pretty sure this pizza place by my parents' house has better Cheesesteaks. And it's in Maryland...take that Philly.

That night I came out of the blog closet under this very creepy chandelier. What is this, seriously? It looks like something from Jurassic Park.

Then I got pretty wasted. No pictures of that...at least none I am posting.

The next morning I got up early to drive home because my parents had given K and I tickets to see a show, which was at 2:00. I literally barfed the entire way down I-95. I couldn't stop when I got home...so we had to miss the show. My mom was a little mad...but she got over it and invited us to dinner. By then I could eat.

And that was my weekend!

escape from the snow

My brother is in the process of auditioning for musical theater programs at colleges (he is a senior in high school.) Saturday he has an audition at Emerson College in Boston which is one of his top choices. Since my parents have been taking him to most of them somehow it was decided that I would take him this weekend to give them a break (and get a free weekend trip.) Our plan was to fly to Boston on Saturday morning, go to the audition, spend the night with my sister (she goes to Boston College) then fly home on Sunday.

HOWEVER, a mega blizzard is supposed to hit Baltimore tomorrow and go through Saturday so there would be no way we could fly out Saturday morning and make the audition in time. My mom decided that she would just leave tomorrow morning and drive my brother so they could beat the snow. Since I was planning on being away this weekend she asked if I wanted to go along for the ride.

We are going to leave tomorrow morning and I am going to call out sick from work. I was planning on calling out sick on Monday anyway because I have my interview at School #1 (so it will be a long illness.) Ha. Gotta use those sick days before I quit!

Hopefully K and Hanna will be ok snowed in without me. He is going to go shopping tomorrow for frozen pizza and beer survive the storm. What else do guys really need?

I hope you all have nice weekends and if you are in areas that are getting snow you are prepared with your own store of food, alcohol, and lots of shows on your dvr!

Back from the beach...

Don't you hate it when vacations are over? Now I have no more trips to look forward to for the rest of the year...which is totally lame.

Spending a week at the beach however, was completely awesome and relaxing. Of course I ate too much, got a little sunburned and now have a ton of laundry and apartment cleaning to catch up on...but it was well worth it.

Right now I am catching up on my blog reading and facebook stalking!

Vacation All I Ever Wanted

Well...it's not exactly all I ever wanted but for now, it will do. And, yes I do enjoy the Go-Go's from time to time.

Starting tomorrow I will be at the beach for a week and thus absent from the blogging world. I'll be spending time with my family, relaxing, eating, tanning, boating and trying not to over think all of the big changes I will be starting to work towards when I get back!

Thanks for all of the book recommendations, I bought a huge stack of new books last night (including "The Help," which I got an excellent Barnes and Noble member discount on) so I am all set for loads beach reading.

Hope you all have lovely weeks, catch you when I get back!

Boston Recap

We are back! The trip to Boston was awesome, it was so great to get away and have some fun. We packed a lot of activity into just a few days so I am wiped out and dreading going back to work tomorrow (but looking forward to catching up on my blog reading.) We also ate at so many awesome restaurants so stepping onto the scale is a scary prospect.

Here is what we did (the basics):

Thursday---arrived basically on time and ate dinner with Sissy at Zocalo.

Friday---went out to breakfast with K and Sissy at Zaftigs, toured part of the Freedom Trail, hung out at Faneuil Hall, had dinner in the North End and stayed up late hanging out and eating cannoli.

Saturday---K, Sissy, her boyfriend, R, and I went to the Sam Adam's Brewery tour, ate a big lunch at Parish then went to the Red Sox Game (we tried to go to Boston Beer Works but it was too crowded.)

Sunday---drove out of visit my grandparents and spent the day hanging out by their pool and showing K around Essex and Gloucester, Mass then went out for seafood.

And now for some pictures...in no real order:

View of the Boston Common from R's office

Old vrs. New

Sam Summer Ale

Fenway Park

K and I in the North End (not the best pic...but now you know I am a real person!)

Old Granary Burying Ground---I took a ton of pictures of headstones

On the plan on the way there

A Bunch of "B"s

I'll be taking a brief blogging break while I am in Boston, having a blast enjoying

beer, baseball, and the war against the British (from a historical standpoint, of course.)

I'll be back on Monday, hope you all have banging weekends!

(was that super cheesy?)

I Wish I Could Go Back to College

Has anyone seen the musical "Avenue Q"? If you haven't I highly recommend it, it is seriously one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I love it so much I actually saw it twice, once on Broadway and once in D.C. (the National tour.) Anyway, I bring this up because there is one song in the show that totally sums up how I feel right now (see below.)




My girlfriends and I went back to our college for the weekend because the the last group of girls who we were close with in our sorority are graduating this semester. We had a great time but being there is bittersweet. I miss the laid back, lack of responsibilities, and getting to be with my friends all the time but I do not miss the DRAMA that comes with going to a small school. There is also no way I could stay up and party that much anymore!

This was probably the last time we will go back to visit and actually know people in school there that we can hang out with/stay with... and that makes me feel old. As if the inability to stay up didn't already make me feel old.

I had such a positive college experience; I loved my school, my sorority, made amazing friends and met K, but I was ready to move on after 4 years. And somethings about being a "grown up" are great (even if I complain.)

It's fun to look back and think about those days...and I so love that there is a song that describes my thoughts so perfectly.

UPDATED: Just a warning...there is some naughty language in the song so be careful playing it!

Snow Day and NYC

I am at home today for a self-inflicted snow day. I have felt a little under the weather the past couple of days and the six inches of snow we got provided me even more incentive to call out of work. I slept all morning and feel much better now.

The trip to NYC was a lot of fun, unfortunately my friend, H, ended up having to work all day on Saturday so I didn't get to see her. Instead, I hung out at the open house for the school with my parents and my brother. Then we went to Times Square and got half-priced tickets for "Chicago." We have all seen a lot of musicals but none of us had ever actually seen "Chicago," (except for the movie) so it was a great choice and we liked it a lot. It also seems to be easy to get half-priced tickets for that show, so if you are ever looking for a show in NYC, I would recommend it, it's a classic!

Before the show we ate a fabulous dinner at "Carmine's." Normally when I go to NYC I try to avoid eating a touristy places near Times Square, but "Carmine's" is amazing. Everything is family style and it it simple Italian food, done perfectly. We had Caesar salad then Penne alla Vodka and Veal Cutlet Parmigiana. Everything was great but I would definitely recommend the veal if you eat there, it was by far the best veal I have ever had, really tender and flavorful. It wasn't a good meal for my weight loss plan, but it was worth it!

Start Spreading the News, I'm Leaving Today...

Is this title totally cheesy? I'm not sure, I love Frank Sinatra, so I think it is ok. Anyways, I am going to NYC tonight until Sunday morning. My parents and my little brother are going to look at a college (he is a junior in high school) and I am tagging along for the free trip and so I can visit my friend, H, who lives there. New York is by far my favorite city, I actually thought I would live there "when I grew up" (I think it was the result of hundreds of hours spent watching "Sex and the City") but after I spent a summer during college there I decided I prefer to live in the suburbs and visit the city at least a few times each year. This is a picture of near where I lived (Amsterdam Ave. and 120th St...a Columbia University dorm) during the summer of 2006. I was interning at the show, "Sesame Street," and had two part time jobs as well. And I still think I made no money! It was definitely a life changing experience...after that summer I completely changed my mind about what I wanted to do and where I wanted to live. And I never would have figured it out if I hadn't tried, so it was time well spent. Plus now I am very comfortable getting when I visit NYC!

Trip to Boston

I'm back! The trip to Boston was great...cold...but great. It was nice to get away from work and spend some time with my mom and sister. We left as planned on Wednesday afternoon and got to Boston around midnight, the only traffic we ran into was getting out of Baltimore, it was smooth from Delaware on.

Thursday morning Mom and I walked around our hotel area in the morning then went over to meet Sissy for lunch at her college and drop off her presents. We went to the bookstore while we were waiting for her to get out of class and I was mistaken for a high school junior on a college visit. I was not sure how to take that one. If I had looked like this at 16 I probably would have been unable to look in the mirror let alone fit into my American Eagle outfits. Anyways...Sissy had another class in the afternoon so Mom and I decided to go to the movies. The theater was empty, there were 5 people total...and that includes us. We saw "Taken" which was basically "24" with Liam Neeson, it was nothing amazing but held my interest. It was the weirdest movie theater I have ever seen. Very steep and narrow and since no one was there but us for a while I took a few pictures.

I thought it looked kind of like a stairway to heaven...or maybe hell, especially with the weird red light created by the exit sign in the back.

Just wanted to prove that it was indeed a movie theater.

After the movie we met up with Sissy again and took her and her roommates out to dinner at a cute restaurant near the campus. She came back to our hotel with us so we could go out and do some Boston things the next day.

On Thursday we went downtown and wandered around the shops on Newbury Street, then we met my cousin for lunch at the Parish Cafe. If you are ever in Boston you should check it out, the menu is mostly sandwiches from the chefs of other top Boston restaurants. I had this amazing roasted pork sandwich with lime and green curry. They also make some mean cocktails. We walked off our lunch and then went to the Top Of The Hub for more drinks. It's a little pricey but you can't beat the view, especially at sunset.

The ducks from "Make Way For Ducklings"

Boston Public Garden

Cool old buildings in Beacon Hill

The Top of the Hub sign...pretty obvious

Amazing view, Sissy told us the restaurant rotated...which it didn't seem to be doing...so we asked the waitress and she told us it only does after a few drinks. I have a feeling she uses that line a lot.

This church was right below us.

Sunset over Boston.

As if we hadn't eaten enough during the day we went out to dinner with Sissy's boyfriend that night in the North End, which is basically the Boston version Little Italy. I had the best lobster ravioli of my life! Then Mom and I headed to my grandparents house where we relaxed, went out for seafood (they live in the steamed clam capital of the world) and spent time with my Nanny and Pop.

Like I said, it was a great time, and after all that food I am totally ready to get to work losing weight! Back to work tomorrow :(

Off to Boston

My mom and I are driving to Boston as soon as I get out of work tonight (it will be a long night) so I won't be posting for a few days. I'm going to try to take lots of pictures and will tell you all about the trip when I get back. Have a good rest of the week and a nice weekend! Happy Valentine's Day!

The Fire

Here are a couple of pictures we took of the fire (I was waiting for one of my friends to send them to me since they were on her camera) which is why they were not in the original post. The house in these pictures was completely gone the next morning.

We came, We ate, We called 911

I arrived home safely yesterday from my trip to visit K.T. Just as I predicted we had an awesome time. Most of the weekend was spent hanging out in our sweats, drinking box wine and champagne punch, watching "Greek" on DVD and of course eating. K.T. is very domestic and she kept making us tons of yummy food. In fact I think I have to starve myself this week to lose the 5 pounds I gained this weekend.

One of the things I love most about my friends is that we don't have to "do" anything to have fun. Some of my best memories are of the times when were just sitting around talking. My sophomore year four of us lived in a suite on campus and everyday after class and before we went to dinner we would sit around and have "do nothing time," it was always the best part of the day. I miss having them around all the time so much.

So all in all it was a pretty chill weekend, however we did have some excitement on Saturday night. We were all in K.T.'s living room when I happened to see something out the window, the blinds were down so I am not sure how I even saw it but I jumped up, threw up the blinds and saw that a house on the street over was on fire! We called 911 and found out from them that 2 houses were on fire and they were on there way. We watched for several hours as the flames overtook the neighboring homes. We found out the next morning that 15 home were affected in total. Luckily, no one was injured but I can't imagine the devastation you would feel if you lost your home and what those families are going through today.

The scary thing is that the fires were set by gang members, none of who have not been caught. The town has been having a lot of arson due to this gang in the past few months and Saturday's incident was the worst so far. It even ended up on the national news.

I have to that I have never seen a fire that close before, and I was in awe of the firefighters, it is a small town so they are probably volunteers, but they were there all night working to put out the fires and save the homes. It was crazy to see them up on the roof of a burning building and walking around a house that could have collapsed at any second. They have such dedication and thank God none of them were hurt either.

So that was pretty exciting and really put into perspective what I was creeped out about on Friday...which was...sleeping in a funeral home. Yes, K.T. is a funeral director, or at least in the process of becoming one, and is taking over her family's funeral home. She lives in an apartment over the funeral home, which is a huge old house. I had been to her funeral home before when I visited her during college, but we had slept in her parents house which is a few minutes away. So my overactive imagination was going crazy on the drive there as I planned out how I would slay a zombie if the need arose (K.T. assures me they have never had a zombie attack.) But, after witnessing the other events of the weekend, logically speaking, gang related arson is much scarier then sleeping in a house a morgue in the basement.

Off to Pennsylvania

Right after work today I am driving Pennsylvania for a girls weekend at my friend K.T.'s. I am super excited to see all of my best friends. We went to college together in Pennsylvania and now are all scattered around. Usually when we plan something one or two of us can't come but as far as I know we will all be there this weekend and I know it will be a great time. I am a little creeped out to be spending the night in K.T.'s apartment...any guesses why?

In other news I started a new book last night, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. It's very good so far...I didn't want to stop reading and go to sleep (decided being exhausted all day today and this weekend would probably be a bad idea though.) I have always been interested in World War II and it deals with a horrifying situation during the French occupation called the Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv, a raid aimed at sending thousands of French Jews to Auschwitz in 1942. I had never heard of this "round-up" before and apparently it is an area of French history that has been somewhat glossed over. Anyways, not to be depressing...I will let you know more about the book when I finish it.

If you have any guesses as to why K.T.'s apartment is creepy leave me a comment!