Skating Party

Yesterday, we were invited to a skating party at one of the families that Madigan goes to school with. They recently built a skating rink and a warming house and wanted to share in the fun. We had a great time! Madigan and I both went to the store to buy ourselves some skates and a helmet. I have not put a pair of skates on since 1984! I did pretty well, did not fall but was not exactly steady on my feet. Madigan hit the ice around 3:15pm and was the last one to get off at 6:30pm. I was very proud of her. She took some skating lessons when she was three but all she was interested in then was the candy machine at the facility. She fell quite a few times but always pulled herself right back up. The property is gorgeous. It is a huge rink with flood lights so the fun can go all night. The warming house has bathroom, changing area with cubbies and a kitchen and living room area to warm back up! The children all had a great time and it was great to meet new people. The snow never stopped! It felt like a Norman Rockwell moment!

LOL

I went to shut down our computer tonight and Madigan was looking at old pictures. This computer is running on its last leg so I do not download anything on to it anymore. I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and found this hysterical cartoon! Enjoy it!

Egg Nog and Friends

On Sunday, we attended our annual get together with my friends. Each year, a different gal hosts except me since I do all the Summer out by the pool stuff. We each bring something delish to eat and we get something little for each of the children to open. This year, the kids were all obsessed with playing Wii. The spiced up Egg Nog was flowing especially for our hostess and her partner in crime! We had a great day and it was great to catch up with everyone. Our kids are all getting older so it is fun to watch them interact as well! We had a Yankee Swap for the adults which is always hysterical. I wanted to do a White Elephant swap where you would wrap up something awful that you already had at home but the gang wanted a traditional $10 swap. I decided to combine the two! I had a lovely plastic blue purse that I got last year from bookclub that I used to hold a sparkly tank top that read "Party Girl" with a margarita glass on it! The real gift was a pair of sterling silver earrings. Another hit was the three foot long pepperoni stick. No one even noticed that it had a scratch ticket taped to it! I opened and went home with this:

That's right, it is Rick Springfield's Christmas Wish to me!! I held on tight to my cd and have been listening ever since!

In Search of 2 Trees

We went out in search of our trees on Tuesday night. We get one for the family room and Madigan picks out a little one for her room. Normally, we get a 9-10 foot tree because we have 12 foot ceilings. This year, we decided to downsize and got an 8 footer. Next year, I am thinking of getting a prelit tree but we will still let Madigan choose her own.

It was 60 degrees out and starting to sprinkle so we did not waste any time. We grabbed our trees, some wreaths, some firewood and got home without incident. We only live .2 miles from the farm stand so we had an easy ride back! The hardest part is waiting a day to decorate!

Tuesday Tidings

I cannot believe it is December 9th. The days are flying by. We spent Thanksgiving in Aruba and had a great time. The weather was a bit rainy to start but improved by day 2. This was our third consecutive year of going to Aruba for turkey day and I have to say, I do not miss out on the turkey dinner at all. It is is great time to go since we don't miss too much school or too much here at the office. Only one of our patients delivered while we were away so that was great! (It could be because the Doc delivered 14 babies in the five days before we left!)

On Friday I was trying to move some things around to make room for the Christmas tree. We have a friend who is American that lives in Aruba. She and her family have decided to return to chilly Boston permanently. She asked us to take home some of their things because shipping is extremely expensive from the island. I brought 6 full suitcases home for her, some containing their wedding china. I bent down to move one of the heaviest suitcases and felt a ripple go up my back. Yes friends, I threw my back out. I do this about once a year and it is brutal! So I spent the weekend on the couch with my friends Toradol and Ice Pack. I am feeling better now, about 70%. Needless to say, there is still an empty spot where the tree was to go much to Madigan's dismay!

Have not done much Christmas shopping either. I think with the economy the way it is it will be a lean Holiday this year. The only thing that Madigan asked for is sold out. She asked for the American Girl doll of the year, Mia. I looked on Ebay but the prices are double what you'd pay at the store and the dolls are expensive enough at regular price. Plus, she barely plays with them so I cannot justify that. Santa sent her a letter yesterday explaining that he is all out of those at his workshop and perhaps she could make some new requests!!

That's all for now, I have been such a horrible Blogger. I will do my best to come up with more to post!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone! We are heading to Aruba tomorrow for some much needed relaxation and sunshine! I hope you all enjoy the holiday!

When The Going Gets Tough, Get Cupcakes!

This has been a crazy week for cupcakes. Everyone must have sugar on the brain to try and keep themselves warm and forget about what the stock market has been up to (more like down to!)

This first batch is from a store called Babycakes. It is located in Quincy, Mass the next city over from where I live. Her special cupcake is the Babycake. It resembles the classic Hostess Cupcake and it is delish! She writes babycake across the top instead of the squiggly line that Hostess perfected. My personal favorite is the Oreo cookie cupcake. As you can see, they are the most represented in my dozen. Completely yummy! The frosting is just like the middle of the Oreo cookies! I also chose a new addition to her line. Those are in the middle. They are chocolate ganache caramel!!! Melt in your mouth is what they do!! I also got a traditional chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting!

Yesterday, one of our pharmaceutical reps brought these babies by for me! They are from a store called Sugar in West Roxbury. I cannot even tell you what they were other than delish! Another Oreo offering, caramel offering, not even sure what the vanilla one is! Very fancy and very fun. Not the kind of cupcakes you want to waste on the young if you know what I mean?

After eating one of these, I had to walk around my backyard and haul inside all of our seasonal furniture! I think I still have some exercise to do to exorcise those calories!

Have a Great Week End Everyone!

Give Me the Give A Way!

Head on over to Mom X 2 and find out about her great give a way! All you have to do is tell her about your favorite holiday tradition! Easy and fun to hear what people love to do!

Save My Lipstick!

Is anyone out there watching this show and LOVING it besides me? Reports came out last week that Lipstick Jungle had been cancelled by NBC. I am so pissed off! This is a great show based on Candace Bushnell's book. It is very Sex in the City like. The fashions alone are worth watching. Then I read today that it may not be cancelled and it could have a bit of life left in it. Why can't NBC cancel all the Law and Order crap that is still on. I am glad they realized that ER has met its end. For the love of my tv schedule, just leave it alone!

Pathetic

My back kills. My legs are sore. My body aches. Did I go on a three mile hike through the Blue Hills? Did I run a marathon? Did I train all weekend with a personal trainer? Nope. I went bowling with four girls ages 8, 7, 6, and 3. The worst part is; I didn't win.

Not Much

Hey All,

Not much going on around here. It is rainy, the leaves are blowing all over the place and I am just tired. Tired of politics, tired of watching the stock market plummet along with my 401K, tired at 5pm when it is now pitch black out thanks to daylight savings, and tired of all the doom and gloom out there. We have the holiday season to look forward to except it totally stresses me out. I would like to think that I should be getting a jump start on my shopping but I never do. Anything I buy now, I will either forget about or forget where I put it between now and Christmas. For Thanksgiving, we are going to Aruba for 6 days. That is something to look forward to. It better not be raining there this year!

Hope you all are better than me!

We just got back from four days in Orlando, home to Disney, Sea World and lots of strip malls. This was Madigan's 5th time at Disney and the magic has not worn off yet! She still enjoys stalking the characters for autographs, loves It's A Small World, The Carousel, and The Dumbo ride and will not under any circumstances go into the Haunted House. The weather was not so cooperative the first few days and it did literally rain on our parade! I surprised Madigan and the Doc by having one of my best friends meet us for two days. She recently moved to Clearwater and is a nurse at Tampa General Hospital. She became Madigan's new best friend. She had to hold Stephanie's hand, had to sit next to Stephanie on the Mickey Bus, had to ride with Stephanie on each of the rides. It was great to have extra help!

We also decided to try something new this year and went to Sea World since Stephanie had her car with her. I had not been to Sea World since 1988. We loved it! They were celebrating Halloween and had lots of Trick or Treat stations set up along the park. Madigan is in love with polar bears so she had her face painted with one. We got Shamu'd at the Shamu show by sitting in the "Soak Zone" The Doc could not understand why we would want to sit there. I have such fond memories of sitting in the front row with my brother, sister and Dad. It rained a lot there too but it did not damper our fun!

It was a very successful trip and I am looking forward to our next Disney adventure which will likely be the cruise sometime next year!

M.I.A.

Sorry that I have not been blogging lately. I came into work last week and this was all I saw on my computer screen. Don't get me wrong, I love to look at pics of my cutie pie, but where the hell are all the desk top icons? Where the hell is the start button? My poor computer was very sick. Some kind of evil virus destroyed my lifeline! Our IT guy came to the rescue and installed a new harddrive, transferred over my files, and brought us all back to life!

It has been a hectic few days, had Madigan's family/friend's birthday party last Saturday, went to the Boston Ballet's production of Cinderella, celebrated the Red Sox come back and then lamented their Game 7 loss. Lots of stuff that I will fill you all in on in the next few days.

Tomorrow is Madigan's 6th Birthday. I cannot believe how quickly the time goes by. All of you bloggers with little babies and toddlers, hold on to it all. In no time they will be hitting you up for money and rides!

Girl Meets Italian Greyhounds

Madigan and I were roaming the mean streets of Boston the other day when we came across this gang (two) of Italian Greyhounds. Now you all know another one of our favorite bloggers has a Superstar Italian Greyhound named Monty After reading all about his exploits over the last couple of years, I knew these guys would be a load of fun to play with and watch. Their owner was amazing and let Madigan hang with the guys for a while. They were quite gregarious and loved all the attention and don't get me started on how much they loved mugging for the camera!! It is times like these that I almost give in to Madigan's daily "When can I get a dog?" question. They we go to New Hampshire for an entire day and I remember why we don't. We did not come home to a house with dog poop or a mess to clean up!

My creation

My creation, originally uploaded by dmmlandcruiser.

I just started trying to figure out all the cool things I can do with my pictures on Flickr.com Here is something I found today: you can create a puzzle out of a photo. You can just create it or if you wish, you can even order the real puzzle! This might be a great thing to tell Santa about. Never too early to start that Holiday Wish List!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

The Gall of Some People (Actually One Person!)

Look at this adorable face. Do you recognize Him? How could one person destroy this amazing guy's life and the joys that several people have found in his company? Nevermind the ones who are still waiting to meet him in person. It is shameful that a blogger begged to be named one of his hostesses and has been so careless with him. Monkey must be freed!

Make Way For Madigan!!

I had a wonderful birthday last week. We had a delish lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel then did some high end shopping (mostly for Madigan because things fit her!) Then we strolled around the Public Gardens. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people to watch! Madigan had a wonderful time checking out the Make Way For Ducklings sculpture that is in the park. She just had to sit on each and every duck and have me take a picture of each one. Before we left Boston, we went to my favorite restaurant, Excelsior for one last Cosmo and some of their unbelievable french fries. At home, we enjoyed birthday cake and headed off to bed early exhausted after a long day!

Happy Birthday To Me!

What do Barbara Walters, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Cheryl Tiegs,Heather Locklear, and I all have in common? Today is our birthday!! Some of us definitely look better than others as we age!!!


Unlike most people, I happen to love my birthday and don't mind turning another year old. To celebrate, I am going out to lunch with my Mom, Dad, Sister and Madigan to The Bristol Lounge at the Four Season's Hotel in Boston. Best Cheeseburger you'll ever have! Tomorrow night, the Doc and I are going to dinner at Rocca, a new trendy spot in Boston's Southend. Here's wishing me a Happy Birthday!

Enough Already

Daredevil DAVID BLAINE will hang upside down above New York’s Central Park for three days and two nights.

Is anyone else secretly hoping this does not turn out well for him? This guy is as A$$ and I for one, am sick of all his publicity stunts and "illusions" that he keeps coming up with. Apparently, he could go blind from this stunt because of the pressure of hanging upside down for such a long period of time. I feel bad for all of you New Yorkers who have to walk by him!

NO NO to LiLo

Breaking News: Obama tells Lindsay Lohan thanks but no thanks for your help. There actually is something about Barack Obama that I can agree with; we both think she is a complete train wreck!!! "A top source in the Barack Obama team tells me the actress ''is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us.'' I hope she doesn't turn to a vodka bottle for solice.

Good Things

I love coming to work. We have a nice staff and great patients. Sometimes, the patients even bring us treats to show their appreciation for all we do for them. This week, one of our pregnant gals brought us a nice afternoon snack from The Gingerbread Construction Company. She brought a variety of cookies and a half dozen of their incredible muffins. My pick was the Chocolate Dreme Doesn't it make your mouth water?

She was also thoughtful enough to remember Madigan by bringing her in a very special cookie. I was not sure if she'd eat it, but I knew she'd like the looks of it! Madigan go her own gingerbread girl!

I did not think she would like the gingerbread but she loved it. Now, I have to arrange for anyone who lives near this company to bring us regular deliveries!

2 Hours of My Life I Will Never Get Back

Last night, there were no sports to be watched during primetime hour as both the Red Sox and Patriots had already chalked up their wins for the day. So, we relied on our premium cable package to entertain us. It was 8pm and this movie was just starting. I knew nothing about it other than it starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. "Must be good", I thought. I was totally wrong. I should have known to turn the channel when one of the first scenes involved a shuttle explosion with the pieces of debris containing some type of indestructible organism on it. This movie went from bad to worse straight through to the ending. Two thumbs down. How about you all? Any movies to NOT RECOMMEND out there?

The New Man in My Life

Meet Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter expert by day, a serial killer by night. Also known as the Bay Harbor Butcher. Do any of you watch this show? I don't have Showtime so I order the complete seasons from Netflix. I highly, highly recommend it. He is my secret obsession right now. I sneak off in the dead of night to watch it. Be careful, he will captivate you and reel you in!

One for You, Two for Me!

I had to go to the Derby Shops in Hingham on Sunday to pick up my new tax free shopping day Bar Stools for the outside kitchen. I popped into our local Lilly Pulitzer store, In the Pink, and found that almost everything from the Spring and Summer lines was 50% off. Seeing is how L.P. is not "plus sized friendly", nothing much fits me in there! However, I did manage to find these great cable knit sweaters for half off. For Madigan, I loved this classic shift dress with the cabana print. It will be put away for next summer since it is a size 7. I always buy a size or two up for her so we can try to get two seasons out of her clothes. She was in a very cranky mood when she got off the bus today so I have not shown it to her. Wise decision on my part because she probably would have black balled it from her wardrobe and trust me readers, she would remember this next May!!

The Tear Heard Around New England

The unthinkable has happened. Tom Brady is out for the entire season. To Patriot Fans, the end of the world is here. All Summer, the sports peeps talked about what would happen to the team if he went down. Well, now we'll find out. Our back up quarterback, Matt Cassel finally gets to leave the sidelines for a real game. The ACL tear requires surgery and will require serious meds for the fans in this rabid football nation.

Big Day

Where the heck has the time gone? I sent My Baby off to Kindergarten this morning!!!! She was very excited. She even woke up at 5am and no, I was not excited about that! It was not as emotional as I thought it would be because she is at the same school that she went to last year for pre-K. Madigan is very much looking forward to seeing her friends and all of her bus buddies! Little does she know that it is not just about playing and using glue this year. She has some work to do!

You Know You Want To

Go Ahead, Admit it, you are going to watch it.........

Calling All Bonanno Fanatics!!!!!

Have you all heard? The Best Sale Ever is happening over at our favorite sandal shop! Click over to pick your personalized sandals for their best pricing even seen. I already own three pairs of the Emma Monogrammed Sandals, but I will be ordering again! Now I will just need to get completely overwhelmed by their interactive color chart and decide between thousands of different color combos! The great thing about shoes girls is that they always fit (unlike everything else I own!) So Go Shop!!!

Not Much To Report

Things have been pretty quiet around here lately. The weather has been awful, we've had more rain this Summer than I can remember. The Thunderstorms have been crazy: First we are in the pool, then everyone out, then everyone back in, now everyone out again. It is hard to believe that August is here and half gone already. Work is a bit crazy because Madigan's camp schedule is 9-2pm so I am only in the office for 5 hours a day. In a strange way, I can't wait for school to start so we can be on our routine again.

Socially, we hosted a cookout for some of the families at Madigan's school. We lucked out weather wise and had a great Summer day. We grilled up a storm serving filet mignon, chicken breast, shrimp and hot dogs and burgers for the kids. I made some great martinis and then we stoked up our new fire pit. The kids made s'mores and did not even make a mess!

This weekend brings a birthday party on Saturday and another on Sunday for three kids. Also, it is tax free weekend here in Massachusetts and I have a few things on my shopping list! I'll have to report how many things I get done next week!

Open House

Today is House Tour Day on one of my favorite blogs, Hooked on Houses. I have always loved looking at fabulous houses and can remember as a little girl asking my Dad to drive me around the nice neighborhoods where we would see spectacular houses. I always loved to wonder what the people were like behind the curtains.....I digress. Head over there to check out some fab real estate!

The house I want to share is a beautiful ocean front home in Hull, Massachusetts. The house once belonged to JFK's grandfather. Here are a few shots!

You can find the actual listing here All things considered, I think this house is a steal at $2,375,000. Please head over and check it out! And if you buy it, let me know which guest room is mine!

My Lucky Day???

It was a beautiful morning here in Boston. I was driving Madigan to camp and myself to work. I had my window down about 6 inches to enjoy the fresh air at 8:11am. Then, "SPLAT", birdshit landed right on me!!!! It came in through the open window, landed half on my seatbelt strap and half on my left boob (yes more boob talk for you bloggers) where the strap crosses over. Thankfully, I was at a red light and I had babywipes in the car. It was so digusting. Madigan was quite intrigued and like all kids her age wanted to see the poop. I was only about 1 mile from home, so we pulled a U-ee (u-turn) and headed back to the house to grab a clean shirt and throw away the desecrated one. Luckily it was just an Old Navy t-shirt that had seen better days. All this being said, isn't there an old wives tail about being hit by bird crap and it bringing you luck? Look out Mass State Lottery, here I come!