Kian & the Tent Bed

Andrea and I had a silly conversation about putting Kian's bed into his tent to make his room more fun. We laughed through putting it all together and it turned out pretty awesome! 

Today was my last day in Colorado for this trip, so Kian and I took a few selfies, as tradition dictates. But I couldn't let the tent bed go undocumented!

Baseball Star

I have seen Kian play baseball via FaceTime, but this was my first time seeing him and the Nationals play in person. Just in time, today was their last game. 

Minecraft Birthday

Kian requested a Minecraft cake. I have seen him play on rare occasion, but I wasn't entirely familiar. My sister send me a few photos for inspiration. Kian said green icing for the grass.

I saw pixilated graphics, so I thought wafer cookies would be a great way to shape out the characters.

We used the candle for the wick on the TNT. 

He was happy with the final results. 

Doggie Love

I sat on the outdoor couch early this morning when I woke up. Stang, short for Mustang, my sister's dog sat on and near me for hours. I was checking my face to make sure I wasn't getting a tan like from my sunglasses, and saw a cute photo including Stang... Yawning!

Best Arrival in Denver

I landed in Denver for Kian's birthday and was alerted that I'd been tagged in a Facebook post. 

Isn't my nephew the bestest?

Afternoon Tea

It's been a long time coming, but today we made it happen. 

Auntie Evelyn, Christine and I had Afternoon Tea in The Palm Court at the Plaza. 

We had tea, towers of tea sandwiches, scones and desserts. We had a birthday celebration. We had a nut job to watch at a nearby table. We had a great time taking photos around the Plaza.

A fun way to kick off celebrating my birthday (and catching up to Christine's from November!!)

Summer Hair

I went for a haircut, I asked her to cut about an inch and put in long layers. She cut 3 before starting the layering, so my hair is about 6 inches, if not more, shorter. 

It looks cute for summer & all it does is grow.

Happy 30th, Andrea!

There is always a lot of lead up to a birthday for my sister. We have our weird family traditions, I tried to incorporate each one, since this is a milestone.

I won't get to Colorado until midweek, so photos via text message were the compromise...

Super Moon

Jonathan and I took a walk in east river park to check out the super moon. It was a beautiful night, perfect weather, a bit of a breeze near the east river. We walked with our crepes, I was very careful not to get melted Nutella all over my dress!

The Start of Something

I am starting a new painting. Hopefully it's interesting enough to post something finished another day.

Not So Superfood

We have a lot of conversations about superfoods. I grabbed a pomegranate black pepper drink and read about capsaicin being a superfood. It was awful. Not only awful, but super awful!

Nice to try new things, but I'm thirsty again just thinking about it!

Unreal...

I posted this amazing photo on Instagram of one of my favorite spots in Central Park. Perfectly lit with the setting sun, boats on the water, weeping willows gorgeous in the foreground and buildings in the background.  Cindy commented, "unreal..." Seriously. Like a fairy tale.

Alien Baking

It was our friend Nik's birthday this past weekend, so Jonathan and I baked a cake. Butter cake with stawberry/blueberry preserves & the same mocha mousse icing as I made for Lauren's birthday. 

We were putting sparklers in & Jonathan decided they looked like antennas. So we made an alien face. I wanted to take a photo. Of course, Jonathan decided to wear a colander on his head to take the photo!

Nap Time Fury

Apparently staying awake for 36 hours doesn't suit me.

I woke up at 7:30 Sunday morning and didn't get to sleep until around 4:30 this afternoon. Needless to say it was a crazy 24+ hours of work. We were meant to finish out upgrade at 3PM Sunday, but it didn't finish until 1:45AM. We worked, waited, and called the vendor for help. All said and done we were back in production at 3:30 this afternoon. 

I woke up from a nap and my bed was a wreck. Pillows everywhere, sheets barely on the mattress... Can't wait to get back to sleep! Goodnight!

Hello Old Friend

I spent some time this morning finding and cleaning my nebulizer. It's actually not good news when this old friend is reintroduced... My breathing has been terrible, so here we are, again. 

Afternoon Stroll in Central Park

I joined Jonathan on a walk through the park. He ran around the reservoir, I took photos. Then we walked down & around. It was a nice day. Sun shining, not humid. It was a great time.

Perfectly Timed

Tom & I walked out of the office perfectly timed to see the sun setting like Manhattanhenge. It was amazing because other than a taxi and a few people crossing the street, there was little activity outside the office and made for an amazing photo.

CREST in Production!

It's been about 5 1/2 years since I started working with our clinical research system. Today, we moved into production. We worked on one system for several years, started over, the new company got acquired, we changed leadership, twice, and now ... Finally ... Have gone into production with CREST! Here's Tom & Dan toasting our success after working long nights for more than a week to make it happen. 

My Favorite Toilet Seat

Scott, Luke and I were wrapping up our lunch. When I stood up and announced that I was going potty.

The ladies' room was locked when I approached, so I returned to our table to wait, recalling that this restaurant had my favorite toilet seat in the neighborhood. 

They laughed. Obviously it was not only an odd conversation to have at a restaurant, but especially to have with one's boss/former boss.

I took a photo so they could see what I was prattling on about without entering the ladies' room. 

Pretty rad, eh?

Coloring Crafts

I got a coloring card. Over the last week, I've colored a bit of it every day. It's a finger monster, tentacles, one bloodshot eye, made from jelly beans!

All Clean

There is something to be said for the little things. A dishwasher is a little thing, but it's such a victory to come home after a day of work and have all of the dishes from last night's party all clean!

Motown on Tony's Day

Lauren really wanted to see Motown for her birthday. We saw today's matinee before hosting our Tony's/birthday celebration dinner party. 

I didn't love it. The women who played Mary Wells and especially Diana Ross made me crazy. It certainly didn't help that it was a ride matinee audience & they ran out of magnets!

On a related note, the Tony Awards were fun. I totally love NPH!!

Murder Ballad

We got comp tickets for an off broadway rock opera. It wasn't the best show I've ever seen, but it was well sung and with 3 actors that Lauren and I both really like. 

And hey, it was free!

Kinky Boots

Lauren's visiting for her birthday. Her parents bought us 2nd row tickets for tonight's performance of Kinky Boots. It was great. The Tony judges were not wrong with all of their nominations of this show.

I still have a crush on Stark Sands and have decided no matter what he is singing he sounds extremely distinctly from anyone else. He is very talented as is the balance of the cast.

PuzzleJuice

There was a free app card at Starbucks. So like the word game nerd that I am, I went back to the office to download it and have been playing incessantly since!

It's a Tetris meets Boggle game, to quote a wise man, Scott Brown, who downloaded it from the free Starbucks code, too.

PMO Retreat Day

Team building at Bowlmor after a day of stress release, group presentations, fiscal year review and planning for the upcoming year.

It was a fun and interesting day, culminating bowling. My team was not great. I did not bowl well, but we had fun being terrible!

Mango Cheesecake

I made my basic cheesecake recipe but added the cheeks of 4 fresh mangos. We'll see how it turns out, tomorrow... But for now, it looks good... No cracks!

Moments After the Rain

I love the moment that the rain stops. Everything is so smells fresh & looks clean. I was walking home from work and experienced the rain stop. I looked to my right & there was a patch of flowers that had raindrops resting on the petals. It looked so beautiful that I had to stop & take a photo.

S'mores Brownies

Making bribes for work... 

Brownies with a layer of graham cracker crumbs baked on the top and a layer of marshmallows toasted under the broiler. 

The first layer of marshmallows got too burned, so I scraped them off and started again!

Nothing like using the broiler and baking on a humid day in the 80s! Yuck!

Street Fair Just Under My Nose

Today was the June soup kitchen. Which is typically the most noteworthy event of the day. But today's photo demonstrates one of my favorite summertime traditions outside my front door. 

There was a street fair waiting when I arrived home from an 8AM-4PM shift at the soup kitchen. Jonathan and I walked through it for the last hour.

He saw a goofy chef on a food truck and wanted to pose. I loved having the steer fair at my fingertips.