unbelievably productive day.

just a short list of all the great things i accomplished today.

1. vaccuumed.
2. leaf blew the driveway to get rid of the tree buds.
3. tons of laundry
4. ran the dishwasher
5. shopped and bought an air conditioner, and a lawn mower.
6. mowed the lawn. it was damn hard. its self propelled, but i think it's the "athelete's version". i haven't run so hard since the timed mile in high school.
7. i have not watched a minute of tv yet today.
8. i walked p-head. and now she is laid out panting.. that will teach her.

now all i have left to do is draw a little and watch my amazing race and celebrity apprentice.

i look crazy!

this is how crazy i looked when my hair came out of the braids. :)

insanity.

separated at birth?

to do list...

so many things to do on my half day off tonight..

1. walk p-head
2. go grocery shopping
3. layout drawing
4. eat dinner
5. LOST @ 9

hmm. i felt like there was more this morning....

i heart michael ian black...

i'm trying to reduce my waiting RSS feeds down to zero, and this post from MIB caught my eye...

My Daughter's Constant Freakouts

here is an excerpt.. i laughed out loud multiple times.. :)

Today’s incident occurred when my five-year-old daughter, whom I will call Her Shittiness, broke the propeller off a cheap paper airplane with which she was playing. This lit the fuse which soon exploded the bomb, when five minutes later the wings became detached. Now, I have certainly experienced my own frustrations with shoddy Third World workmanship. (The plane was manufactured in a country which shall remain nameless, but which is best known for their billions of people, their tasty cuisine, and for their poisonous baby formula.) But even when I am upset with poor craftsmanship, my reaction is never to start screaming at the top of my lungs, tell my father I hate him, and run away shrieking, making sure to slam every door en route to my destination, which in this case, was her bedroom.

i'm back...

it's good to be back.. i've resisted looking at any of my work emails.. i am going to hold out until tomorrow. i picked up p-head today. cath was more than happy to get rid of her, and she was SOOOO happy to see me.

i'm mostly caught up on all the shows that i missed this week.. 'cept a couple that my stupid dvr didn't record, biggest loser, and SNL. wtf.

i'm doing my laundry and procrastinating unpacking.. i'm still wading through personal emails while i watch my shows.

when i went to retrieve my mail yesterday i realized that i had left the front door completely unlocked. omg.. i am so dumb. thank god noone broke in, or even just walked in. as far as i can tell all my belongings are still here.

of course now that i am back i feel like i am getting a cold. my nose is running, and i keep sneezing, and of course the *mexican flu* is still working it's way out of my body one toilet full at a time.

amazing race looks pretty intense tonight. what is the *sign* for bitch?

the pictures are starting to come in from the trip..

here are the ones i took at easter with the kellys..

here are the ones i took in mexico.

here are CFs mexico pics and

here are EHs mexico pics.

i'll post the other pics when i get them...

disentary

this is te hibachi dinner we ate wednesday night. we shared the grill with some very friendly british people. one in particular, "james" is very friendly.

somehow i have picked up a GI disease. it's not very plesant. esp when i am wearing a bathing suit most of the day. in addition to the disentary i drank way too much on wed night at the hibachi and afterwards and threw up in my room. it was so bad that KT and i took my sheets, the towells we used to clean the mess, the bathmat, and threw them out in the trash can in the hallway.. last night we had a note slipped under our door saying we needed to talk to the customer service people. they want to charge us 500 pesos (roughly $50) to pay for the cleaning of the linens. KT argued that the towels aren't worth 500 pesos... we might get out of it... that is to be determined.

today we leave for home. it doesn't seem like we were here all that long.


we went to the marina yesterday and i had my hair braided.. it looks so cute! :)


RH has been such a good participant.. he has participated in almost all of the activities the entertainment staff has put forth.. yesterday he did an iron man competition, the first day he did a beer drinking contest, he always plays water polo... the "rah rahs" know his name, and call him over the announcement system when they are gathering people for their activities. this is a photo of him and EH in thier water polo uniforms.

excursion

this was the beach at the ruins at tulum.


this is the 6 of us at the ruins.

today we went to see the ruins at tulum. i was not as impressed with these ruins as i was with the ones at chichen itza. but there was WAY more shade with these.. and we were just 6 people, so we had the guide to ourselves. after the ruins, we went to a cenote called Dos Ojos and snorkled with carlos and angel. it was pretty awesome. i will totally go snorkling next opportunity i get.. seriously amazing.

afterwards we came back to the hotel and drank and swam.. then we had a snack and now are getting ready to go to the hibachi.. people are taking such good pics, i can't wait to share everyones photos.. :)

we are really having a good time. EH and i are laughing our asses off at every opportunity. its really fun to go on vacation with your relatives and just have fun. hopefully someday SH will be able to afford a vacation.





last night we saw a show that the "rah rahs", the entertainment staff put on called Lion King.. the most funny part was that at the END of the show ryan says.. "hey... i think one of those people are the rah rahs.." (everyone in the show was a rah rah...) we laughed at him.



KT has been pestered all week by the massage guy.. he even gave her a free "5" minute massage... more like 20 minute massage..

must. stop. eating. almond. joys.

we are off to dinner.. and i can't stop eating my easter present.

here is a pic of em doing a flaming sot the waiter brought to her because it was her b-day. lol.

mexico...

so i made it.. transferring in philly was terrible, but none the less i made it. KT and i met up at customs just like planned, then we bought 2 pina coladas and some pringles from the bar right outside the airport and it cost us $23. we got hosed. KT thinks she left her jacket in the shuttle bus that took us form the airport. hopefully she can get it back.

E&R just happened to be walking in the lobby as we were walking off the shuttle.. os that was convenient. and C&J showed up 15 minutes later..

we swam at the pool after we got settled in our rooms.. then we ate dinner and flited between bars until about 10-11pm. we were all pretty beat..

RH was the only one with a hangover this morning. :) shocking.. lol.

we just made our reservations this morning for dinner tomorrow and thursday nights. all the other nights were full.. good thin we got in. we'll be eating buffet the rest of the time.

we are going to see if we can get a trip to go see the ruins in tulum tomorrow.. then E,R & KT are going to golf on thursday morn.

alright. i'm off to join the kids at the pool.

easter in weymouth

the K's were so gracious to allow me to tag along on their eater celebration this yeat. it was a good time. we went to church in the morning and i was shocked that there were so few people there.. at catholic church on easter, its standing room only.. i even took communion. only they all kneel around the alter, while the minister (a gay woman in this instance) comes around gives everyone the wafer, and then someone else comes aorund witha goblet of wine, and you dip the host into the wine.. then eat it. it was so painful to kneel on the alter, and strange to get the wine..



the rest of the service was pretty much like i remember catholic mass, only not as much up and down, kneeling and standing.. they might have had more singing though.

after church we went back to the house and prepared for all the guests that were coming for dinner. dinner was goood.. kinda like thanksgiving. there were lots of people there..



after dinner there was photo taking, and later a trip to the graveyard for a cemetary party. it was beyond cold for the cemetary party, so it didn't last very long, but i got to see where all the dead family people live.. and where their other "favorites" are.

the time has come!

so i am finally free form obligations and ready to party down! i am glad i have a few hours to myself this morning too.. too bad i prepared a bowl of low mein noodles, sesame tofu and rice (leftover from last nights dinner) and promptly spilled it down my leg and onto the cream colored rug!! yay. i need to wash these rugs again. :( i'm thinking white is not a good color for me.

i think i am overpacking. if i recall, last time i was there i wore my bathsuit and some over clothes most of the days.. but we didn't really take part in nightly activities.. maybe i should bring a different change of clothes for each day... hmm...

i am seriously slacking in my email replies.. :( maybe i will have time to return some of them from the airports...

i love having the itouch.. now i don't need to lug my lappy with me. lappys are such a pain, so now that frees me up to take a proper carry on. woot. i hope that the plane to mexico isnt full and i can have a row or a couple of seats to myself.

alright, i'm getting carried away watching kat von D on jimmy fallon.. i need to get moving.

and everything falls into place.

i'm not going to lie and say the last couple of weeks haven't been stressful. i don't know if its the carrot of vacation dangling in front of me or what, but why are the week/weeks leading up to a vacation always so stressful? maybe its the planning, the lack of time to make plans, the thinking about all the work that will be waiting for me when i get back, family medical issues, or maybe it's the new birth control i am taking... whatever it is, it's making me seriously stressed. there have been more than a few nights in the past couple of weeks where i have cried myself to sleep... when the end of the day comes on friday i think i will feel 200 lbs lighter.

despite the crushing stress, i've managed to fit most everything into my social puzzle quite nicely.. this weekend i'll have an opportunity to have dinner with a dear old friend that i don't see nearly enough, we are going to check out a "hidden gem" of a sushi place in arlington. then i will be able to spend some quality time my "kindred spirit" in weytown, followed by an action packed easter.. all before i meet up with KT and head south of the border. and i am looking forward to all of it!! (esp the cemetery part)

then i'm off to the riveria maya for 5 days and 4 nights. the weather seems to be different each time i look, so i'm not going to look again until friday.. it should be high 80's all week. :) good thing i am bringing the SPF 70.

when i return to boston the following weekend JBP and i are going to see "Flight of the Conchords" at BU. i'm crazy excited about that! afterwards we will meet up with our ladies and celebrate and cap the night off in a downtown hotel.. next saturday is a little up in the air right now.. i'm really leaning towards going home and chillaxing/unwinding from my vacation.

in other plan making news i'll be going to chicago in less than a month for a conference on social networking... woo who. KH has agreed to let me stay with her after the conference and we are going to do fun things!! i'm real excited about both the conference, and seeing KH.. i haven't seen her since SH's wedding, and i've only seen J in photos! i have good feelings about that trip already.

alright, it's late enough, time to cry myself to sleep.

amazing race episode 6 & 7

i've been such a slacker with these posts.. i'm horrible. so i'm striking the 2 teams that have been voted off since i last posted.



amanda and kris - hope - paid
cara and jamie - emily - paid
brad and victoria -dan - paid
christie and jodi - ryan - paid
lakisha and jennifer - mike
linda and steve - cathy
margie and luke - cathy
mark and michael - mike
mel and mike - rebecca - paid
tammy and victor - amanda - paid

i'm out of this now too.. i can't catch a break.

ice cream sandwich...

my refrigerator and freezer are so cold that things keep a really long time in it, but often my ice cream sandwiches and bagels take so long to defrost.. so i've discovered if i cut my ice cream sandwich into little slivers it thaws much quicker and it so tasty and fun to eat!

here are a couple of pics of my dinner tonight. you can garner more of an idea of how to make the lettuce wraps..

here are the ingredients: lettuce, carrots, bean sprouts, chow mein noodles, crushed peanuts, sweet chili sauce, and thai peanut sauce.


here is what they look like with all the ingredients, before i rolled them like a burrito/taco.

i want everyone to think good thoughts and say prayers that tomorrow at mikes dr appointment his new medicine is working better and he won't need to be admitted and have an IV permanently installed in his chest. :(

*** update ***
today appt was just a check up.. there was a miscommunication, cath will be end of the month or early may. PHEW!!!

shelf, dinner, pictures

this past weekend i went to pa, it was a lot of fun. towing the trailer was not though. it was empty and bulky. i bought the IKEA shelf i had my eye on. and tonight batman and i put it together (crazy easy) and we even hung it on the shelf wall. cross your fingers that it will not fall down.


we made potato soup tonight (kinda burned it) and i made some lettuce wraps. sooo good. we also created a barrier to keep p-Did in the kitchen so she does not pee on the rug any more. i think she's peed like 3 times now.

here are the pics from this weekend and the train trestle that was so awesome!