Weekending it

All last week I was becoming increasingly annoyed by the caulk around our bath tub.  Remember when we first moved in and I went to town trying to re-do it?  Yeah, well apparently I didn't do a good enough job according to YouTube.  Even though we are renters I refuse to stare at disgusting caulk without doing anything about it.  So Friday night after getting home from work I decided to take-on two large projects at 7 o'clock at night. Why oh why?

One, make a bunting for the kitchen.  Cousins Kourtney and Kaleigh are moving to their new apartment this week so I needed to get a good start on the sewing projects I was dreaming about so that they could help me.  Kourtney pretty much made the first bunting on Friday night (well I did the cutting and the pinning).  I was so glad she was there to help because my machine has some unknown tension issue and she was able fix it for me.

I'll be sharing the the full coordinated line of kitchen decor a little later after I finish everything. 

Two, I put this magic 3M serum on the bath tub caulk around the tub bottom and floor.  It sat for two hours and then I just scrapped all the old stuff away.  It was SO much easier than my first attempt.  Also super satisfying.  Trust me, it doesn't look good but I removed like three layers of old caulk, one of which was a disgusting yellow color (and that's a crack between the floor and the tub, not mold). 

The next morning Dan did the laundry.  I'm so grateful for his willingness to help with chores like these.  We watched the office while folding the giant pile.

Then we took Kourtney and Kaleigh out for brunch at a local place called The Brooklyn Beet Company.  Now, you should know, Dan and I are NOT fans of beets but K&K totally are and have been wanting to try this place out since February when they first arrived.  Dan and I decided to take them there for a little farewell treat for staying with us the last two months in our little corner of Brooklyn.  They are moving on to bigger and better places and people in Greenpoint Brooklyn but maybe they'll find there way back to Bay Ridge...for the beets...and maybe to visit us.

We all enjoyed our meals and who doesn't love beautiful food.  Mine was basically dessert and might or might not have contained a half a jar of Nutella :o|

After lunch Dan watched basketball and I attempted bunting number two, unassisted.  It was a success and Kourtney was very encouraging along the way.

Is this day over yet?  Nope.  That afternoon, K&K headed to IKEA, Dan took a friend to see "Get Hard" for his birthday (he said it was as inappropriate as you would expect for a Will Ferrel movie), and I applied another round of magic caulk remover around the tub and then walked up to 86th street in search of bath mats to replace our mangy looking one.  Later that night Dan and I rented "The Judge" on Amazon prime.  It was really good but rather predictable.

Sunday was our usual church gig. I have to include a picture of this cute little monkey in my pre-k/kindergarten class.  My sweetheart teen helper told her to tell her dad, "look Daddy, I got a nose job." It was hilarious.

After church Dan and I made a trip to the real grocery store which is a subway ride away (I call it "real" because it has more than 5 aisles).  It requires two people, a granny cart, a lot of patience from Dan, some restraint from me, and a necessary purchase of Little Debbie Honey Buns.  We hadn't been to the grocery store in nearly two weeks so it was a big trip. This is how we feel most Sunday afternoons...exhausted.

This picture kind of creeps me out because we could totally pass as siblings

That afternoon I made a quiche dinner for a church family and we delivered it to them hot.  Then we came home and I made us meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.  I also struggled through the new "Annie" which I rented on Amazon prime.  Guys, it was not good.  I had heard great things about it but I didn't like it at all.  Super corny and I much prefer the classic. 

And with that we wrapped-up the weekend.  This morning started off grand with train delays and having to sort out fraudulent charges on my debit card.  Monday, oh joy.

Spring Cheer is Here!!!

Our Spring Cheer package finally arrived!!! Keri at Living In This Season blog sent us a lovely little bundle of happy and it's delay made it all the more exciting.  Linking up with Astleigh and Rachel for the Spring Cheer Exchange.   Well, I can't technically link-up since the link button is gone but check out that link to see all the exchanges.

Keri and I aren't sure what caused the delay since she most definitely sent it on time.  All I have to say is the mail carrier for this package was Don/Ron.

Anyways!  Keri was super sweet to offer to send another package but fortunately the original arrived just in time!!!

Dan and cousin Kourtney were smelling the package before I opened it and guessing what the aroma was.  Kourtney was right - lavender.  Here is all the cheerful loot:

Lavender mineral bath salts - I've used these before and they are truly relaxing can't wait to use these ones.  Burt's Bees Tropical Mango candle - smells so good!  Wanna take a bite out of it.  And I did take a big bite out of the tube of M&M mini's.

A really elegant pink nail polish called "Cute-ture" which dried crazy quick.  I haven't painted my own finger nails in a long time but I don't remember them ever drying that fast.  Ideal and perfect color for spring!

A cute little notebook which I am currently using to meal plan for the week.  More on that later.  And my most favorite thing of all is the EOS lip balm.  I love these and I have one in my purse, one in my make-up drawer, one in my night side table, one in the backpack, and one in my desk at work.  Can't get enough of them and I've never tried the Lemon Drop flavor.  Yumm!!

Such love and cheer wrapped-up in springy tissue paper.  Thanks so much Keri!!!!! 

"You paid a whole dollar for that?" - a PoV post

kudos to anyone who can guess where the title quote is from.  comment below if you know :o)

This is my point of view: 

I am by no means a fashionable person, at least I don't consider myself to be.  I shop semi-frequently but frugally (old navy online, gap factory, and tjmaxx are my go-tos) and I have a strict get and give policy.  If something new comes into the apartment, something old gets donated.  This policy works well for me because most of my clothes start out cute and I like them but then after awhile they end up in the "frumpy bag" in Dan's closet.  It's a big bag where I place clothes that no longer fit well (likely because they shrank) or they don't fit like I like (pants get stretched out or sleeves are not long enough, etc). At the end of the month the bag goes to the local Salvation Army.  Because I didn't spend much to begin with there is always bound to be a shorter life span for my clothes and since I donate them it minimizes my buying guilt.

Anyways, the point of this post is to tell you about the best darn article of clothing I own.  It's not my favorite, I don't wear it that frequently, and isn't high quality.  But it's cute and comfortable and is the sole article of clothing that without a doubt gets compliments and attention whenever I wear it.  People who have seen me wear it before continually comment on it.  Last night's dance class was stopped because my teacher and another girl in my class were raving over it.  I like the shirt but it completely confuses me why everyone else thinks it's the best thing ever.  It's just a t-shirt and Mandy gave it to me last year having purchased it at the dollar store.  That's right, the best piece of clothing I own is a t-shirt from the dollar store. 

Exhibit  A:  The giraffe shirt

I am documenting it here on the blog because I want to remember it always and to me it represents the craziness of a style and fashion obsessed world.  Some men/women spends hundreds of dollars on one piece of clothing.  They post their outfit choices wildly on social media. They have clothing spilling out of their closet and still go shopping every week.  I regularly get frustrated with my wardrobe and I am a total supporter of retail therapy.  I envy other women at work with cute outfits and I day dream about being a confident dresser.  Even when I spend forever putting together an outfit that I think is cute and I wear it out I usually feel disappointed that no one said anything or that I can never compare to others. 

And then there is the giraffe shirt and I am reminded that it's all just so silly, gangly, and awkward.  None of it really matters.  God probably looks down at all this pinterest, fashion magazines, wiww, and other clothing crazes and thinks: "really? just put on the dollar store giraffe shirt and start caring about something that is actually important."  And yet, I still fuss over my wardrobe, no matter how drab and frumpy, and wish I could rock the mantra of the giraffe shirt daily.  Maybe you can?

Boston Conference

I was in Boston from Thursday night through Saturday night for a conference of regional archivists.  I went because although I graduated with a MA in Archives I am technically not part of that field professionally since I work as an object cataloger at a museum.  The institution I work for is not very generous with professional development opportunities so I went on my own dime using vacation time.  Given that expense, I had hoped the conference would be really great.

My evaluation:  it was okay.  It was nice to see some people from grad school and spend some time with an old classmate (we roomed together) but other than that I was disappointed.  The sessions I attended did not meet my expectations and a large majority of them ended up being discussions about topics that were not well described by the session description.  Like you attend a session that was supposed to be about combating professional complacency and it ends up being a bunch of new graduates talking about how to find a job and one presenter who went on a tirade about global warming.  Yeah, I was confused.  Out of all the sessions I attended only one wasn't super boring.  I left not having gained any practical knowledge.  That being said, I'm not totally disappointed that I attended.

I got to stay in downtown Boston which was cool, even though I had no time to explore the city beyond the hotel.  I was able to practice my social skills by being forced to walk up to random groups of strangers and try to start a conversation.  This is no easy task for me and it took a lot of courage to do so at the reception on Friday night when I was flying totally solo.  I joined a table and introduced myself and chatted with a girl in graduate school.  I then joined a team for trivia.  We failed miserably but I did get a few of the answers right.  It was fun.

Rather than going back to the hotel room and enjoying cable TV for the rest of the night (which I really wanted to do) I forced myself to go with a friend to a bar and "watch basketball" with another colleague in the profession.  It wasn't half bad and I got a free Shirley Temple. 

I was super glad when the conference was over and I was headed back to Brooklyn.  I'm a home body and I missed my Buddy.  I was so happy to get home and end Saturday night with a nice warm dinner Dan made all by himself in the crock-pot.  What a guy. 

I would love to return to Boston but this time with Dan and with no professional obligations just touristy fun - now that would be worth my time and dime.

And here is some proof that the snow accumulation is Boston was real.  

Weekending it - what weekend?

I didn't really have much of a weekend which has made this Monday pretty difficult.  I got back from Boston late on Saturday night (more about that later) and woke up Sunday to a jam packed day.


After church, Dan baptized one of the teenagers in the youth group (can't say his name for privacy matters) and it was so great to have such a positive event happen on a crummy day.  It was especially great since Dan played a big part in that teenager's spiritual development and I was proud of both of them.  It means so much to see the fruit of so much planting.  But of course, the glory belongs to God and we just enjoy to witness God work.

Yes. We use a baby pool for baptisms.  God doesn't care about fancy - this is Brooklyn!

The baptism was followed by a homemade pizza party at his house which was super delicious and fun but meant we didn't get back home until 5 pm.  Day gone. 

That night I finished decorating for Easter.  Check back Wednesday for details!

Dan's Most Embarrassing Moment

This is a follow-up post to share my most embarrassing moment since Steph shared hers back here.  So sorry this is a few days past due.  I'm not as on-top of writing as Steph is.

One of my most embarrassing moments comes from high school.  I was on a mission/service trip to Piedras Negras, Mexico.

This was a great trip and the first time I had been out of the United States.  I went down there with my church to work with a local mission and did some work on the church and the pastor's house.  The majority of my time was spent working at the house for the pastor.  A friend of mine named Kyle, two other teenagers, and I worked mainly on digging a hole for a septic tank.  It was hard work.  We only had shovels and a pix axe to use no backhoe or anything.

Anyways, after a long day of working outside digging this hole in the hot summer sun we were all exhausted and went back to the church where we were staying.  I decided I was going to lay down and take nap to recover.

To understand the embarrassment of the next few moments, there is one thing you piece of information you need to know for context.  This was the summer of 2002 (I think) and the United States and Iraq were not on good terms and there was a lot of talk about the United States going to war with Iraq.

Anyways, I took my nap in the room where we were staying.  I was out cold and in deep sleep.  I remember being shaken awake by my friend Kyle.  I did not know what was going on.  Kyle shouted, "come on we have to go!  Iraq is bombing the border."  I was confused initially but he said it again so I decided to get up because I didn't want to be left behind and I followed him out of the room and into the large room at the church where several other people from the trip were hanging out.   At that moment they all started laughing and I realized that it was all a joke.

Soon after that realization, I found out why they were laughing so much.  In the rush of being woken up and having to leave because of the "bombing" I only grabbed the pillow I was sleeping on and my deodorant to escape back to the US.

I have no idea why out of everything I would have grabbed it would be my pillow and my deodorant. I was a teenager but I swear I didn't smell that bad.  It was very embarrassing and I got reminded of my decision of what to bring throughout the rest of the trip and even when I got home.

Below is a picture of our group working on digging that hole for septic tank.  I'm the one on far left with white shirt, red visor, and super blonde hair (Steph liked the blonde hair when she saw this pic).  Kyle is the guy in middle with the white shirt and blue shorts and looking into the hole.

Tidi-bits

Well this afternoon I'll be on a bus on my way to Boston.  I'm headed to a regional archivists conference where I will pretend like I know what I'm doing and haven't been out of the loop for four years.  It's all about confidence right?

Anyways the plan was to link-up with Astleigh at the Hill Collection and Rachel at Floral and Fudge today for the awesome Spring Cheer Exchange.

They put together this great idea for bloggers to exchange boxes of spring themed cheer via snail mail.  I sent a box to Whitney over at Work-it-Mommy.  Check out her review over here.  I think she liked it :o)

We haven't gotten our box yet but if it arrives while I'm in Boston Dan has specific instructions to rip it open and take pictures so I can link-up as soon as possible.

We've had a few hints of Spring but with the first official day of Spring arriving tomorrow our area is expected to get 2-4 inches of snow.  Awesome.   You guys, I am so tired of wearing pants.  In fact two pairs went into the frumpy bag yesterday and I cannot find replacements because the retail world thinks it is June.  Ugh.  My duffel bag is packed for this "work" trip with skirts, dresses, and sweater tights.  I refuse to wear pants again until October. 

Check back later to see if our Spring Cheer box arrived. 

Show and Tell Tuesday: Embarassing Moments

Today's Show and Tell Tuesday link-up with Andrea is most embarrassing moments.  Yikes!

Well, my life is 25% embarrassing on a daily basis so I have a lot of material to choose from. Usually when people ask this question I immediately think about this particular boy in my elementary/middle school days.  The kid was the sole witness to many of my embarrassing moments.  It was uncanny how many accidental moments he was present for, so much so that I considered him "unlucky" and I feared the inevitable whenever I was alone with him.  I won't share his name in case he ever stumbles upon this blog (that would be embarrassing) but for the sake of this post we'll call him JP.  Now, I don't have all day to share all moments this kid witnessed but I will say they took place over the course of several years, all different scenarios, and every time I think about any of them I cringe and wonder how I survived.  Everything seems worse in hindsight.  Also, because I'm sure some of you might wonder, I did NOT have a crush on him.  He was a wee little boy about a foot an a half shorter than me and part of the popular crowd.  I on the other hand was above average height and a loser.  It was middle school what can I say?

The moment I will share took place on a Friday afternoon in sixth grade.  It was English class (also known as language arts) and we had a substitute teacher.  Her name was Mrs. Brand.  I was sitting at my normal table with three of my friends and the whole classroom was a little rowdy with it being a Friday afternoon.  We were being administered our weekly spelling test.  Now, we had spelling tests on Monday and if you passed (which I never did) then you got to skip the Friday test and didn't have to do the weekly spelling homework.  Since I didn't pass the Monday test, I had to take the Friday test (as usual).  My friends and I were goofing around and I grabbed my friend's test paper.  The sub assumed I was taking it too cheat and called me out in front of the whole class.  Embarrassing yes, but it gets worse. 

Mrs. Brand yelled at me and said I had to go out into the hall and re-take the test alone.  One of the students who had passed the test the Monday test would administer it.  That's right, me and JP alone in the hall while he read the words allowed and watched as a miserably failed to spell them correctly on my paper (I was a terrible speller - I never even tried to study).  You guys, I'm sweating right now as I write this thinking about how embarrassing it was.  Ugh!  Then I had the walk of shame coming back into the classroom while everyone was watching and JP handed my failed test over to the sub as she continued to scold me for "cheating."  It was the worst.

As a bonus edition: Many many years later long after middle school and high school and I considered my life free of JP, I was working at a gelato shop as a summer job while I was home from college over break.  I was a scooper and it was the best job ever.  Anyways, one night guess who walks in?  JP.  I froze. We recognized each other and I seized up in terror.   As I was scooping his order the gelato slipped out of the scoop and flew through the case to land in the container of another flavor.  I had to stop and clean up the mess before successfully giving him his order.  Yet another embarrassing moment witnessed by JP.  I hope I never see him ever ever again.  

Now here is a picture of me in the good old Middle School days.

Jess, me, and Mandy circa 1998

Come back tomorrow to hear about one of Dan's most embarrassing moments. 

Weekending it

This weekend was pretty low-key, at least for me.

I got to sleep-in on Saturday (heaven) while Dan got up early to go to a soup kitchen and serve with a mission group visiting from Kansas.  He returned late afternoon.  I spent the whole day doing laundry and spring cleaning a bit.  That night I made chicken corn chowder and we played Settlers of Catan with Kourtney for two+ hours.  It was a lot of fun.  I won twice, and Dan and Kourtney each won once.

On Sunday there was a big dodge-ball tournament for the teenagers at church.  Dan loves this kind of stuff.  I hate the game.  I refuse to play games where "balls fly at my nose."  Mandy or Jessy did you catch that quote reference???

After church we went out to lunch with the Kansas group and returned home for naps.  Dan slept while I watched Property Brothers.  I love me some sleepy face photos. What a little lamb.

The rest of the evening disappeared into mindless television shows and Dateline.  Mondays always come way too soon. 

Rockettes Spring Spectacular

On Friday night Dan and I met after work to go see the Rockettes Spring Spectacular show at Radio City.  Since we saw the Christmas show with Mandy in November and they started showing commercials for the spring show (I think this is the first year they've done it) I really wanted to go.  Since Dan loves me and he likes the Rockettes too we made a date.  Squeee.

The show was pretty good but we both felt like the Christmas show is way better.  At the Christmas show it's about 75% Rockettes dancing (which is epic, truly) and 25% corny story line.  The spring show was reversed, about 25% Rockettes and 75% corny story.  The "main character" was Derek Hough.  When he first came on stage the audience went wild and Dan and I were both like "who the heck is that?"  Apparently he is on Dancing with the Stars.  He was a great dancer for sure but since he was a major factor in the corn-ball story line I didn't care for him much.

Just so you don't think I'm being too judgey - the corny story line was this:  Derek Hough's character is supposedly an angel trying to earn his wings.  God is the voice of Whoopi Goldberg.  Derek (his character name was Jack) has to go down to earth and help this old man named Bernie save his old fashioned business where he gives authentic tours of New York City.  There is this power-house young executive named Jenna and she is trying to take over Bernie's business and make it a virtual experience (cuz she is super hip and techy).  The moral of the story - you can't replace the real thing.  Bernie's business is saved, Jenna tones it down, and Jack earns his wings but opts to stay on earth to pursue his love for Jenna.  Sorry, that's a spoiler.

You be the judge.  Corn dog dipped in a can of creamed corn.

Despite the plot we still really enjoyed the show.  We both agreed the special effects at the Radio City shows are the BEST.  This show had LED lights that were given to the audience and in one of the numbers the Rockette's were wearing outfits made out of lights.  Every time Jack did some angel magic the lights in the audience would flicker.  It was pretty cool.

Each number took place at a different iconic location in NYC like the Met, Central Park, Empire State Building, New York Public Library.  

Our favorite dance number was Singing in the Rain.  They had this strip on the stage covered in water (we could see it since we were in the balcony) and Jack and some of the other characters as well as the Rockettes were tap dancing on the water so it was splashing up and looked really cool.  I was so entranced I didn't get a picture. 

There were also a bunch of sports-themed numbers since so much of NYC is about it's sports teams.  There was an ice hockey - Rangers segment, a basketball - Knicks segment, a baseball - Yankees segment, and a football - Giants segment.  Dan enjoyed these because they had projections of the actual star players "giving advice" to Bernie. 

There was a technical glitch at one point when part of the moving stage got stuck. They had to drop the curtain and fix it.  That gave us the opportunity to Google who Derek Hough was. 

There were aerialists, giant animatronics, the voice of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and lots of other celebrity sightings.  And kick lines - gotta have some kick lines with the Rockettes.

It was epic fun and we had a great time.  We stopped at Magnolia Bakery and grabbed cupcakes before jumping on the train home. 

Side note:  I could be a Rockette.  You need to be between 5'6" - 5'10.5."   I'm 5'9" and I can tap dance.  My dance teacher said the Rockette choreography is actually not that complicated it just looks that way because of the synchronization.  Second career?  Maybe.  Not!

Preacher Man

So last night Dan and I went over to the New York City Rescue Mission after work to help with the chapel service they have there on Tuesday nights.  One of the elders at our church as been doing the service there bi-monthly for years, I guess, and this time asked Dan to do the devotion.

Honestly I was not very excited about attending.  It was outside of my comfort zone and I had a million excuses not to go.  Truthfully the only reason I went was because I wanted to be there for Dan.  Afterwards I was glad that I went and convicted to go back sometime. 

The Rescue Mission is a homeless shelter in the city that provides services and programs to help the city's homeless get back on their feet.  When we got there I was super surprised by how nice the facility was and we even got a tour of their new edition.  Everything looked so clean and comfortable.  I didn't know anything about the Rescue Mission prior to coming but I left very curious about it and how we could help more.  Check out their website here.

At the chapel service we sang songs led by familiar faces from our church.  Dan, our friend Josh, and I got to sit in the audience and just participate.  I haven't been able to go to the worship service on Sundays for awhile since I have Children's Ministry commitments, so it was nice to get to sing and worship for a bit last night.   

After worship Dan shared a message about putting your hope in Christ.  It was relevant and well received.  I even snapped a sneaky picture while he was praying.

Love that Preacher Man. 

Next time we go we're hoping to get to help serve dinner before the service.  I'm looking forward to that!

Weekending it

Dan and I were an epic team this weekend.

We hosted brunch at our place on Saturday for the church elders to meet and get to know one of the candidates for the pastor position and his wife.  Now, I like hosting but I haven't had a lot of practice and so it is stressful and so much work.  On Friday we got home from work and got busy right away.  We washed the entryway walls...yes, we washed them because for some reason there were hand prints all over them.  Then we made pizza and after that, Dan swiffered and vacuumed while I made scone dough, chopped everything needed for the next day, and set-up the beverage table.

It took me a good two weeks but I finally decided on the menu:

OJ/tea/coffee/water
Cheesy breakfast casserole (I used diced ham instead of sausage)
Biscuits and sausage gravy
Blueberry scones
Grapes

In order to cause more stress for myself I had never previously made the breakfast casserole or the biscuits and gravy.  If something went wrong we would have been in brunch trouble. Why do I do this to myself?   

Saturday morning we got up super early (ugh) and while I started making everything, Dan dusted the apartment and cleaned the bathroom.  We took showers and got ready while things were baking.  Then Dan stood by me in the kitchen and did everything I asked like wash this, put this away, get the cheese, etc.  I was a grateful and kind boss, I think.    

Around 9 o'clock I was starting to freak out because I had just started making the gravy (a difficult task in my opinion since I didn't have a mix) and I thought guests were arriving at 9.  Fortunately Dan reminded me that the brunch didn't start until 9:30 and I had plenty of time to do the gravy slowly.  Dude guys I'm pretty proud of how that gravy turned out.  It was thick but not too thick and the sausage bits were nice and big.  It was good.  I even had time to snap some pictures before everyone got there. 

Overall the brunch went well but our space is still a bit too small for 10 adults and three kids.  I wasn't able to sit at the table (the sacrifice of being the hostess) and I ended up running around with the kids most of the time.  The apartment was a mess when it was all said and done.

The rest of the day Dan and I relaxed and recovered.

Sunday I had the pre-k/kindergarteners again and we dragged our feet all day thanks to daylight savings.  Dan and I watched The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay part I in the afternoon and I made some yummy meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Monday came way too soon, as usual, but we are so glad that we will have weather in the 40s all week.  Here comes spring!