Small Town Girl in the Big City

A new blog

2011-01-27T08:36:00.002-05:00

I've moved. Check out the new blog at http://bmoremom.wordpress.com/

Happy Birthday and Winter Weather

2009-12-21T20:19:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Abby's birthday on Saturday. We were suppose to have a small party with Micah's parents and sister and brother in law. However, the snow weather put a damper on the plans. So we celebrate with just the three of us!

Two out of Four

2009-11-21T20:35:00.001-05:00

Today, two of our four new appliances were delivered and installed - the fridge and mircowave. The dishwasher was supposed to be installed, but there was a measuring issue and it didn't fit. lovely. Micah already made a trip back to Lowe's to order a different one. It is a special order and will take a few more weeks to arrive. We are hoping that the stove will be delivered next week. Fingers crossed. We are hoping to have everything in by December 19th, we are hosting a Hanukkah party that evening.

Here are some pictures of our new fridge!!! I love it!!

Thanksgiving recipe updates

2009-11-20T21:53:00.001-05:00

So taking the leads from my aunt, i'm listing some of the recipes I'm planning on making next Thursday. In addition to the traditional menu items, I'm also doing a few new ones, including a new starters and a new dessert. I found the starter recipe while watching the Food Network last weekend. It was a Sandra Lee show, I don't normally like her recipes, but this one caught my interest.

Sweet Onion Tartlets

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
1 Vidalia onion or other sweet onion, diced, about 3 cups
1 box (15-ounce) refrigerated pie crust (recommended: Pillsbury)
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups half-and-half
1 (1.3-ounce) envelope golden onion soup mix (recommended: Lipton)
1 tablespoon fine herbs (recommended: Spice Islands)
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Unroll pie dough 1 at a time. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter and cut as many rounds as possible (about 14 to 16), reserving scraps repeat with second pie dough. Gather together scrap dough and cut out as many rounds as needed to make 36 in total. Fit dough rounds into cups of mini muffin pan. Place in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, golden onion soup mix, and fines herbs. Set aside.

Divide onions among tartlet shells, about 1/2 teaspoon each. Top each with 1/2 teaspoon of cheese. Stir egg mixture and fill tartlets. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

The next recipe is for my brother-in-law, Miles. He requested pumpkin pie for dessert. If you've ever been to Thanksgiving dinner with our family, you'll know that pumpkin pie is not a speciality of ours. So I've been looking for recipes and this one looks yummy. It is from http://www.kraftfoods.com/.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. caramel ice cream topping, divided
1 HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust (6 oz.)
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. chopped PLANTERS Pecans, divided
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup cold milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

Directions
Pour 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup nuts.

Beat dry pudding mixes, milk, pumpkin and spices with whisk until well blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP; spoon into crust.

Refridgerate 1 hour. Top with remaining COOL WHIP, caramel topping and nuts just before serving.

Creep yhotel

2009-11-19T21:00:00.001-05:00

I'm a sad excuse for a hotel in McHenry, Maryland. For those of you who are familiar with Maryland, it is in the tail of Maryland, near West Virginia. I'm here because I have a presentation tomorrow morning at a high school at 8 am. And I'm about 3.5 hours away from home, much too far for me to try and do it at 4am. So I'm in very creep hotel, but I'm trying to look past it since I'm only here to sleep. I'll be out in less than 12 hours.

I'm so looking forward to the weekend!!!

Lame excuse for a post...

2009-11-18T22:43:00.000-05:00

It is 10:40pm. I got home about thirty minutes ago.... I'm so tired. It was a long day. Sorry for the lack of a meaningful post. But I'm tired, my brain is fried. I promise for a 'real' post soon. To these lame posts cost as me posting on the blog each day? Probably not, but at least I'm attempting, right.

What to post...

2009-11-17T20:45:00.001-05:00

I'm out of things to say today. It has been a long day of meetings.It has already been an really long week and it is only Tuesday. I always feel that the week before a vacation week is really, really long. Only five more days of work before we head to Nashville to visit with family! yeah!!

The New Jew

2009-11-16T20:35:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine writes a blog on Jewish family living. She posted a great post last Friday that got me thinking. She asked her readers, how are you making Judaism an important and meaningful part of you life and identity??

See I told you, it is an thought provoking question. I've asked myself this question before. What do I do? We celebrate the Jewish holidays, have shabbot dinner with family and friends when time allows. We joined the JCC and plan on enrolling Abby in the daycare/pre-school when she turns two. We gave our daughter a Hebrew name, and it was important that her name was the same in English and in Hebrew.

I wish we had the time, or more like made the time to do shabbot dinners every week, went to shul on a regular basis, even kept kosher. But I guess at the moment, these actions are not as important to us as other things. Most Friday nights, Micah, Abby and I spend the time together. We have dinner, play and begin our bedtime routine. Many times over the past couple of months, we have be on the road, visiting family and friends is cities far away, because it is important to us to spend time with the ones we love.

My follow-up question would be, do not doing or doing these activities/religious practices make me more or less Jewish? I consider myself Jewish, it is something I identify with, and if asked, I would consider myself a Jewish American rather than an American Jew. Regardless of how 'practicing' I or my family are, or how many of the 'rules' I adhere to, I'm still a Jew. I've morphed the religion to fit my needs at right now. In the future, I might need more, but for now, it works for me. It works for us.

Thanksgiving planning

2009-11-15T20:38:00.001-05:00

This year, we are heading to Nashville to have Thanksgiving with Jill, Miles and Molly. Mom and dad, Grampy and Grampy Goldman, along with Miles's mom will also be joining us. Mom and I are putting together the menu and doing most of the cooking. (Jill has all but insisted that we cook. I think it might have something to do with a stuffing incident that happened last yeat.) Mom and I have had several 'conference' calls to plan the menu and I think we are about finished.

As we are melding many families, I'd like to have at least one dish that is a favorite of each person. There haven't been too many off the wall requests. So here is my request to all my blog readers, answer this question. Thanksgiving wouldn't be thanksgiving without....

New appliances

2009-11-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, Micah and I painted the kitchen/den (one might call it a great room). The room is almost complete. Pictures are hung, curtains are up. Now all we needed were new appliances. But consider that done. After two painful hours at Lowes, a new fridge, stove, microwave and dishwasher have been ordered and will be delivered next week.

All of the appliances, with the exception of the fridge, are the basic, bottom of the line. So the upgrade is very welcome. And even better, I got to pick them out, so they are what I want and what I like. :)

The two most important items for me are the fridge and oven. The fridge is a three-door model, french doors on the top with the freezer on the bottom. And stove is a flat-top electric with a convection oven. I'd love to have gas, but since that isn't an option, this was the best I could get. Micah was more interested in teh dishwasher, and we did get a quieter one, which is important since we spend most of ourtime in this one room and when the dishwasher is running, you practically can't hear a thing.

They all come next weekend. I'll be sure to post pictures once everything is in and in its rightful place.

Technology

2009-11-13T20:55:00.006-05:00

Can you believe the technology these days? Last night I posted to this blog by sending a text message from my phone. Tonight I'm posting from my email account (again from my phone). I'm in love!!!!

I'm also addicted to the iPhone. There is so much cool stuff to play with. I can play games, check my email, use facebook and even update my twitter account ( yes, I have a Twitter account. I've posted twice
and gave something 10 followers. They must be waiting with baited breath for me to update.)

With all these cool devices, I feel that I might be too connected. Do people really care what I'm doing right now? Do they always need to know what my status is? Is what I ate for breakfast that exiciting that someone might want to know how it taste?

I think for the first time, technology has surpassed my interest.

Guess I'm off to tweet about tweeting.....

2009-11-12T20:22:00.002-05:00

iBlogging-- I'm blogging from my new iPhone. How cool is that! I know you are all jealous. :)

Thank you...

2009-11-11T20:42:00.001-05:00

Two simple words that are not said enough. Thank you to all the men and women who have served, representing, defending the honor of our country. Thank you to my brother in law, Miles. Thank you to my father-in-law and grandfather. Thank you to the thousands of sons, daughters, wives, husbands, father, mothers, aunts and uncles that leave loved ones behind to all us the freedoms we enjoy everyday.

Thank you

Welcome Molly!!

2009-11-10T20:13:00.000-05:00

My beautiful neice was born just about three weeks ago on October 17th. I can't wait to meet the newest member of the Sizemore/Miller family over Thanksgiving. Only two more weeks until I can hold this beautiful girl!

Welcome Molly Gwendolyn Miller!

I'm going to call her MJ (Miles Junior) - he he. She looks just like her dad!

I love sleep smiles!

On top of spaghetti

2009-11-09T20:38:00.001-05:00

Okay it was ravoli, but either way Abby loves it.

Can you tell?

10 years

2009-11-08T20:15:00.001-05:00

Last night was my ten year reunion for high school. I wasn't able to attend, but from the pictures on facebook it looks like everyone had a good time and we had a pretty good showing from the class. I can't believe that it has been ten years since I graduated from high school. I feel so old, but then I look back and I've done quite a bit since high school - went to college, moved to Boston, attended game 2 of the World Series in Boston (2004), worked with Diana DeGarmo (American Idol runner up), met Micah, moved to Baltimore, got married, realized that I love working in healthcare - specifically non-profits, sold and bought a house (something I don't think like to do again, but sure I will), had Abby, went to London, became an aunt. This is just a quick recap, I'm sure I missing some things.

And in honor of my reunion, here is one of those 'quizzes' from facebook.

Here's one I've not seen before.... Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

1. Did you date someone from your school?
Yes. Jeff Carpenter

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?
Nope!

3. Did you car pool to school?
No. Unless bringing Jill and Chris counts...

4. What kind of car did you have?
Mom's mini-van or the cavalier

5. What kind of car do you have now?
Mini-van (odd how ten years later, I'm still driving the same type of car...)

6. It's Friday night...where are you? (then)
Hanging out at Jen's house

7. It is Friday night...where are you? (now)
At home...

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?
Working at Valley Home Center and a very short stint at Dunkin

9. What kind of job do you do now?
Community Relations and Hospital Services Manger, The Living Legacy Foundation

10. Were you a party animal?
Ah, no.

11. Were you considered a flirt?
Nope.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
yes.

13. Were you a nerd?
Yes and I'm proud of it!

14. Did you get suspended or expelled?
Nope

15. Can you sing the fight song?
Did we have a fight song...

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher?
Mrs. Noyes

17. Where did you sit during lunch?
In the hallway

18. What was your school's full name?
Hillsboro-Deering Co-operative High School - I think

19. When did you graduate?
1999

20. What was your school mascot?
The Hillcats

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you?
No way

22. Did you have fun at Prom?
Loved Junior prom... senior program was all right

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
Nope

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion?
If you have one...

25. Do you still talk to people from school?
Only through facebook

Nothing much to say

2009-11-07T19:50:00.002-05:00

I'm only seven days in to this challenge of posting everyday and I feel like I've run out of this to say or even post about. This is sad. My life is very boring...

So here is a few pictures of Abby in the HUGE tub in our hotel room in Atlanta a few weeks ago. She didn't know what to make of it at first, but by the end, she was kicking and splashing like normal.

The best answer to a long Friday...

2009-11-06T22:39:00.001-05:00

Chocolate peanut butter cookies!

These days I normally make cookies from scratch (it honestly isn't that much more work and they taste SO much better). However, when you are in a pinch and need a quick sugar rush, Betty Crocker cookie mixes work well.

Weeknight dinners - Creamy Dijon Beef with Mushrooms

2009-11-05T20:49:00.007-05:00

I'm always on the look out for quick, easy and nutrious meals to good during weeknights (and weekends to be that matter). Some recipes I make exactly, most of them I adapt to our likeing. This one comes from CampbelKitchens.com.

Creamy Dijon Beef with Mushrooms
(served over rice)

1 cup of rice
2 cups cooking liquid
3/4 lb beef (I used a sirlion already cut into chuncks)
1 med. onion
2 cups mushrooms, sliced (to cut down on time, I used canned mushrooms)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
2T dijon mustard
1 1/2 cups broccoli (steamed)

First start the rice. I used a short grain white rice, but you could use any rice of your choice. When cooking rice, I almost always use chicken broth, it gives to more flavor. Here I used one cup of rice in two cups of chicken broth, brought to a boil, then covered, simmered for 20 minutes. (A quick note: don't peak, just let the rice cook for 20 minutes and then fluff with a fork.)

After starting the rice, melt 1 1/2 T of butter in a non-stick pan. Once melted, add onions and cook until transulcent.

When the onions begin to carmelize, add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are warmed through, then transfer veggies to plate.

In the same pan, add the beef. Cook until evenly brown and cooked through.

Add the can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup of water and 2T of dijon mustard. Stir and bring to a slight boil.

Serve over a bed of rice. I added broccoli, which added great color and a nice crunch.

A yummy meal for a cool, rainy night.

Now, if you don't like or eat beef, you could always make this with chicken. It could probably also be made without meat as well, however, if this was the case, I would use a variety of fresh mushrooms to add more flavor.

funny twitter page

2009-11-04T20:17:00.004-05:00

This will be a short blog post.... I'm tired, it was a long day of traveling (it took me more than 3 hours to get home from Philly).

This is a very funny twitter account. I'm sure all my English major, writing friends will enjoy!

http://twitter.com/fakeapstylebook

10 Favorite Sounds

2009-11-03T19:34:00.000-05:00

To help get my creativity juices going, I did a quick Google search for writing prompts and found this very interesting site and tool, the impagination prompt generator. One of the prompt I got (yes, I admit I clicked it a few times until I found a prompt that inspired me) was list my 10 favorite sounds. So here goes... in no particular order

10. Joe Castiglione's voice - there is nothing like listening to Joe's voice calling a BoSox game on a warm summer night.
9. Peepers on a warm summer night - one of the few sounds that can immediatly bring me back to my childhood, trying to fall asleep during warm summer nights.
8. The sound of rain on the window at night, the soft tapping of rain drops often lulls me to sleep on raining nights.
7. The sizzle of chicken in a hot pan. I love to cook (and bake). It is a way for me to be creative. It is a way for me to relax.
6. A snow plow outside early in the morning. Growing up it normally meant that school might be delayed or even better, cancelled. And when I pull back the curtain and peek outside, I know I'll see a blanket of white covering the ground.
5. A text message ding - I like getting text messages. They are normally from family or friend and mostly a funny message from my good friend Lauren.
4.The sound of the front door opening and Micah saying hello after I've been home alone with a baby and a very friendly dog for week. (Am I bad mother for admitting this?)
3. The sound of thunder - It reminds me of warm summer nights watching thunderstorms on the backporch with dad
2. Camp songs - I loved camp and nothing says camp more to me than camp songs. We sang them all session long. Micah and I even sing them to Abby now. It always surprises me that we went to two different camps many miles and years apart - and yet we still know many of the same songs.
1. Abby's laugh. I love it when she laughs. The laugh that comes from deep in her belly and then the slight sigh she lets out when she is done, trying to catch her breath.

That was a lot harder. Now it is your turn...

Day 2

2009-11-02T22:10:00.001-05:00

Bet you thought I wouldn't make it to even the second day of this month long challenge. However, I squeeked in with two hours remaining. And I'm even doing my blogging from the comfort of my hotel room in Philly. I'm here for a conference on hospital development. (I know you are all thrilled to know that...) In my two plus hour drive up, I had thought of just about a million different things to post about, but know that I'm sitting in front my computer, and it being 10 pm, it has all gone from my head.

So you might ask, why did I drive up to Philly so late?? That is because I couldn't leave until Micah came home - which didn't happen until 7pm. I was going to write a scathing blog post about how hard I work at being a mom and wife, all while having a successful career, but then thought that wasn't worth it. Every woman is superwoman, supermom, superwife. I don't do any more that the average mom, either working or stay at home, I just do it in a different way. I'm not going to complain, I'm just going to take this day like everyother and put on my pants one leg at a time (how many cliches can I fit in to one paragraph???).

It's late. I'm tired. 6:30 am will come calling sooner than I'd like. I promise to be a bit more positive tomorrow (or at least I'll try...)

National Blog Posting Month

2009-11-01T20:17:00.001-05:00

I've made a commitment to myself, well and those at the offical National Blog Posting Month site, that I'd post something on my blog each day for the entire month of November. It is the first day of the month and I'm already at a lost for words. Not sure where I should begin...

I'm sure over the next 30 days, I'm sure I'll be posting lots of recipe ideas, (I've already have a handful of recipies I want to share with everyone), pictures of Abby and hopefully some of my creative writing (wish has gone by the wayside since the arrival of the newest Gelman).

So, because I can't think of anything else to write at the moment, here is a quick recap of our weekend, which can be done in one word. Painting. We painted the 'great room' - the room with the kitchen and television. And before many of you already say it, yes we just painted the room when we moved in just two years ago. However, it was a very light green color, which made it seem a little cold. Since we are planning on getting new applicances (fridge, oven, dishwasher) for Hanukkah, we thought it would be best to paint now if we wanted to change the color. So in just under 48 hours, we went from a very light green to a very bold gold and soft cocoa brown. It was a drastic change, but makes the rooms look much warmer. And with a new rug, a few new paintings and draps, it feels very homey. (I'll post pictures soon, I'm just too tired to get the cord to plug in the camera.)

Late yesterday evening, we finally got everything put back together and I got my kitchen back (and if you've ever been without a kitchen with a 10 month old, you will understand how excited I was.) This afternoon, after I went grocery shopping, we put the finishing touches on the rooms and have just a few more things to add before we can label this room complete.

Oh, and on top of it all, we celebrated a soggy Halloween. The weather held off the tricker or treaters and we only got about six visitors, which was disappointing. But we did have the cutest little leopard stop by. They are rare, but we did have a spotting and here are the pictures to prove it.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween... and watch out for those pink leopards :)

Food Review - The Black Olive

2009-10-18T18:54:00.011-05:00

I haven't done a restaurant review in a while, actually it has been a whole year with out a review. (I wonder why... I think a new addition is to blame :) ) My in-laws came down last night to allow Micah and I some time alone to go out for our anniversary. And to The Black Olive we went.

The Black Olive is located in Fells Point, a historic neighborhood near the Inner Harbor. The owners renovated the old Fells Point grocery store and put in an organic restaurant specializing Greek/Mediterranean food with an amazing fresh fish menu. The restaurant is also highly touted for its wine list.

For starters, Micah and I shared two small plates, stuffed calamari on the grill and hummus. The calamari, was an amazing combination of textures and could honestly be one of the best things I've ever had. The fresh calamari was stuffed with manouri and feta cheese then grilled. When you bite into them, the warm, melted cheese create a flavor explosion in your mouth. Yum. The hummus was all right. It was a little heavy on the parsley, which I didn't care for, but I've had worse.

For the main entree, Micah had the tuna steak and I had the sea scallops. All of the fish is grilled and lightly seasoned. The scallops were cooked perfectly, and seasoned perfectly with a light touch of olive oil, salt and pepper. I had a quick bite of the tuna, which was grilled rare, and was also great. The chef choice side of red Swiss chard was another story. I thought it lacked flavor. It may really be that I'm not a fan of Swiss chard, but either way, I could have passed.

I'm not really a huge dessert fan, but after a quick look I notice it featured loukomades, Greek honey balls. I recently saw this dessert featured episode of Diners, Drivers and Dives on the Food Network, so I had to try them. The light fried dough balls are drilled with Greek honey and garnished with walnuts. I thought they were good, but could have used more honey since the dough itself was lacked flavor.

Overall the food was great. The service was fine, the kitchen was a bit slow, but we were there during the height of the Saturday night dinner rush. If you are looking for a Greek food escape, I'd highly recommend The Black Olive.

It must be in the genes

2009-10-12T19:41:00.004-05:00

Looks like Abby inheriated a special gene from her mom's side of the family...

wait for it...

It's getting closer...

The Sizemore tongue!!

When she concentrates really hard on a toy or trying to climp up, well just about anything, out comes her tongue.

I'm sure it it is one of the many embarassing traits she will get from her mom...

Dirty Dishes

2009-10-11T19:34:00.007-05:00

In our house, it takes three of us to load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher...
Reese has always helped with the dishes. It is his thing. He can be sound asleep upstairs and if he hears the water running in the kitchen, he comes running. A lot like Misty and the tuna can. (hehe). And now that Abby is mobile, she like to help too!! So now in our house it takes three of us to do the dishes... or at least monitor the situation.

Happy Fall Y'all

2009-10-05T19:51:00.005-05:00

I can't believe it is October already. I feel like Labor Day was just yesterday. I won't bore you all with details of what we have been up to... it includes a wedding, the Jewish holidays and several long weekends without Micah... so here are some pictures of the Abster.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Still here

2009-09-15T19:48:00.001-05:00

I'm still here. And to say life has been crazy, might be an understatement of the year. I promise to get back to bloggin on a more regular basis... maybe when the weather gets cooler.

30 day shred

2009-06-10T19:02:00.003-05:00

Many of the moms (or moms to be) of some of the blogs I read are doing Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred. It is an intense 20 minute workout program that include cardio, strength and abs. One mom, Mayday, has had great results from it.

So last week, I won the bake-off contest at work. The prize was a $20 gift certificate. I decided to use it at Target and purchase "the shred" today. When I got home, put in the DVD. Holy moly - talk abouot a butt kicking!! I'm not sure I've ever sweated so much in a 20 minute in my life. I'm going to do it everyday or at least try. Over the next two weeks I'm traveling a lot, but I'm going to make a committment to work out at the hotel on those days.

Let's see what I look like in 30 or so days!

Make-up and coffee

2009-06-02T19:34:00.002-05:00

I hate to admit it, but I love watching the "Tori and Dean" shows. Totally a guilty pleasure. The fourth season (I think) just started and I was watching it on Comcast 'On Demand' this morning. The entire episode was focused on both Tori and Dean trying to balance their professional life and being parents. Tori had the harder time with it. I think a lot of moms do - trying to balance being a mom and a wife while still trying to be true to herself. As a new mom, I can totally understand where she is coming from - trying to balance being a working mom. It is two full time jobs (add in being a wife - which is a part-time job at the minimum and it is surprise I have time to sleep.)

She was talking to a friend who is a stay at home mom, asking how if she missed it working. Her friends comment rang true to me as well. She said that she was just working until she was able to become a mom. Once that happened she realized that was what she was meant to do. When Tori looked at her, feeling almost guitly that she didn't feel the same way and how that might reflect on how she was as a mother, her friend told her that the choice to stay home was right for her, but is not right for every women. Tori than made a comment about her friend always looking so put together and asked her how she did it. Her answer: "Make-up. Make-up and lots of coffee." I'm sure every mom can agree with that statement.

Everyday I struggle with the same internal conflict that Tori Spelling did on this episode (and I'm sure still stuggles with today). How do I be fill the need to be a professional and be the best mom ever? There are days when I just want to cry. I feel like I miss so much of Abby growing up, but on the other hand I also want to be a successful working woman. Part of me knows that going to work each day helps me be a better mom because I'm doing something for me (plus with a second income, we are able to provide things with Abby ( and us) that we wouldn't be able to without it) . The other part wishes I could be with her every moment because I don't want to miss any part of her childhood.

Not sure I'll every overcome this struggle, just hope I can keep life balanced.

Baseball memories

2009-05-30T17:50:00.009-05:00

Yesterday at work, while we put pins are nearly 400 number bibs for today's Family Fun Run, the conversation turned to baseball. Baltimore is really only a two sports town - baseball and football. And some might say B-more is only a one sport town consider how bad the O's have been the past seasons (okay 15 years).

However, last night the talk of the town was the O's and the Major League debut of baseball's number one prospect, Matt Weiters. So with a bunch of sports fans in our department, you can imagine this is what the talk turned too. Some one mentioned that they don't really like baseball, but don't mind taking in a game or two a year saying that baseball was better in person. We all agreed, but I did mention also liked to listen to a game on the radio. My younger colleagues just looked at me, like it was stupid to listen to the radio when you can watch the game in HDTV.

HD - shamashD. To me there is nothing better than sitting on the porch watching the sun go down, listening to the game on the radio. I can picture it now, sitting on the back porch, Dad sitting in one of the chairs listen to Joe Castiglone call a Red Sox game. Just the sound of Joe's voice brings me back to those nights, when the porch seemed to be coolest place in the house and we watched the heat lighting dance across the sky from a distance. Brings a whole new meaning to summer nights.

Food Fight

2009-05-28T17:46:00.003-05:00

Abby has been eating solid foods for a little over a month. I use the word 'eating' lightly. She isn't really a fan. Not sure if it is spoon or the taste of food. Although know that I think about it. She puts every thing else in her mouth, so I'm not sure that it is the spoon thing. Must be the taste.

Tonight we had carrots for the third time, and she didn't spit most of it back out at me. yeah! We've had success with oatmeal, bananas and sweet potatoes (however, sweet potatoes don't really agree with her, so we've moved that to the don't list). Things we don't really like yet are green beans, squash and peas.

I'll keep trying. I'm trying to get her to like more veggies before we start with the fruits cause I'm afraid that she'll like those and never go back. ;)

I'm still here

2009-05-26T19:34:00.009-05:00

Life has been crazy and like my Aunt just wrote on her blog, I too have not abandoned my blog, it just seems that life has gotten in the way. I have tons of pictures and I swear, on my way to work, I think of at least 2-3 things to blog about. But by the time I get leave work, pick up Abs, get home, feed Reese, play with Abby, start dinner, change Abby, eat dinner, play with Abby some more, bath the Abster and then help Micah put her to bed after her bottle... I'm exhausted.

We've been busy and it appears the summer is shaping up to be just as busy. So here, for those you haven't heard, is what we've been up to. Over Mother's Day weekend, Abby and I headed up to NYC on the train to spend time in the Big Apple with Mom (Savta). We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, which oddly enough doesn't have an elevator in the entrance lobby. We had a blast. We shopped and ate our way through the city. Abby made her first visit to Canal Street looking for knock of bags and then rewarded herself with a corned beef sandwich at The Stage Deli. Well okay, she didn't eat, but Mom and I sure did. Thank goodness we walked nearly the five miles from the hotel to Canal Street.

On Sunday, (Mother's Day) Abs and I headed back to Baltimore and arrived just in time to get cleaned up and head out to dinner with Bubbie and Zayde... oh and Ashley and Josh came up to. We went to the Wine Market in Federal Hill... great place, will have to go back again.

The following weekend was Ashley's bridal shower in Harrisburg. I had spent a lot of time planning it, and it was nice to see everything come together. I think Ashley enjoyed herself

In between all of this, we painted the sitting room off the kitchen. It came out really well. I'll try to take some pictures soon. Oh yeah, Micah had a nasty stomach flu in the meantime... and I'm telling you that almost put me over the edge... it was like having two babies.

Last weekend, we headed to that lake for the holiday. We were so lucky and had great weather the entire weekend. It was 79 degrees and sunny. Beautiful! Abby went on her first boat ride and loved it. She isn't really a fan of the PFD, but the rocking of the boat put her right to sleep both times. Ah, my little water baby.

And rest of the summer is pretty much like the last four weekends. All three of us are off to St. Louis on June 13 (I'm going for work, Abby and Micah are playing) and we are home for a day until Micah and I head off to London. Abby is staying home with Savta. Then we have a Bar Mitvah and a few weekends at the lake, a long weekend in NH/ME in July, a Red Sox/O's game, a wedding in August and Ashley's wedding on Labor Day weekend. Add in a few summer festivals that I have staff for work and I think Fall will be here before I know it. Does time ever slow down??

Okay - I'm done with my month long update. Here are some pictures as your reward!

Hey look at this toy... looks some different sitting up.

Did you know that I have feet?

All smiles sitting on Dad's lap. I think it was Bubbie make me laugh!

This toy looks interesting.

Hanging out on my tummy.

Four months

2009-04-24T19:39:00.006-05:00

Abby had her four month well visit on Wednesday. She is growing right on track. She is now weighing in at 15.4 lbs and is 24 inches long, putting her in the 75th and 50th percentile respectively.

The doctor also said we could start to introduce solid foods. So we started yesterday with some rice cereal. Abby doesn't really like it. She will put it in her mouth, but then tends to spit it back out. I've done some reading on some of the online message boards and other moms suggested putting fruit or veggies in the cereal to add a little more taste. We will try that this weekend.

Here are some pictures of our first 'solid food' experience:

Heading north...

2009-04-20T18:56:00.002-05:00

We've picked a date and purchased tickets... we are coming to New England from July 17 - 20. We fly into Boston and other than that it the schedule is up in the air. We will make it up to Maine, hopefully to spend a night with the McDonalds in Kport (if they will have us) and make a trip up to Portland to visit Uncle Mitch and Aunt Geri.

And hopefully we can stay with Ciolinos inbetween or something like that. :) I'll keep you all posted as we solidify plans!

How did it get to be April 16??

2009-04-16T18:52:00.004-05:00

Where did time go?? I feel like it was just a few days ago that I posted last. I'm a bad blogger. It probably doesn't count, but I'm I have been thinking about a lot of posts and I have them all in my head. If only I could find the time to write them all day.

A short recap of what has happened the over the last two weeks. Passover started last Wednesday night and ended tonight (Yeah for bread!!). On the first night, we were up in Harrisburg - just for the seder. Then we went up to Philadephia on Saturday night for the big Goldman family seder. We met up with Gram and Grampy Goldman. They were so excited to met Abby for the first time. And it was great to see all the Goldman family members.

This weekend is yard upkeep weekend. We are planting flowers and putting down mulch. It is suppose to be in the 70s on Saturday. (We are so excited - it has been cold and raining for the past week). I know I shouldn't talk, since we didn't really get any snow this winter. Guess I'm getting spoiled by the Maryland weekends.

I promise I'll post more. I'll have to make a time each night...

Here are some pictures of the Abster!

Veggie Tales

2009-03-29T19:28:00.002-05:00

Micah and I finally had a free day to do some work around the house. We wanted to start doing some weeding, however, this morning it was cold and rainy. We lucked out and the sun decided to come out this afternoon. So while Abby napped, we headed outside. While I was cleaning out the flower bed in the back of the house, I determined that I was going to plant a small veggie garden there. I had toyed with the idea of putting it on the side of the house, but that would involved building a bed and we are running out of weekends already this spring. It might have been a project for next year.

This week I'm going to go to Home Depot and get the supplies to start veggies inside. Here is where I need your help, what should I plant?? I'd really like to make my own baby food for Abby, any suggestions on veggies that are easy to grow??

Wee Wii

2009-03-29T16:12:00.005-05:00

As promised, here are the videos of Jill and Dad playing Wii boxing. Not sure it captured how really funny it was.
Enjoy!

Abby caught in action

2009-03-29T15:21:00.005-05:00

This past week, Abby has been talking even more. Last night when we put her down for bed, she talked to herself for a good ten minutes before she fell asleep. Again this morning, around 5am, she woke up and just started talking. It was very cute. Mom said that she is going to be a very talking child. I think she is right.

Here are some videos of her in action.

The Gelmans Take Nashville

2009-03-24T19:34:00.008-05:00

On Friday we took "The Last Train to Clarksville." Okay, it wasn't a train. It was Jill's car. But we did go to Clarksville to visit Jill and Miles. Mom and Dad were also coming down for a visit, so the entire Sizemore/Gelman/Miller family was together.

It was a great weekend and we had a lot of fun. On Friday, while we waited for Miles to get off work and Mom and Dad to arrive, Jill took us on to Post and showed us the PX and Commisary. Both were huge and very busy. Once Mom and Dad arrived, we broke out the Wii. I did my best Kelley Clarkson impression on the American Idol game. I think Dad and Jill take the award for the most entertaining game playing when they decided to play Wii boxing. The picture below doesn't due their actions justice. I have a video of the entire match, but Micah needs to edit it down. I swear it will compete with Dad's treadmill episode.

Can you see Dad and the Sizemore tongue??

On Saturday, we all went into Nashville and visted the Grand Ole Opry. After a brief photo shoot outside, we went into the Grand Ole Opry muesum to get a little bit of history about this very famous stage. I think Dad like the muesum the most and Abby liked it the least since she slept through the entire thing.

We then headed downtown, which I think was my favorite part. The weather was lovely and we walked around a little bit and were able to see many of the famous bars and dives that you see on tv/movies where the promising singer tries to get his/her start. I thought it was very cool. Others not so much.

I really wanted to the have BBQ for dinner so we headed out to Corky's. (Gram Sizemore - you might remember this from a Christmas eve dinner many years ago. We had ribs mailed to us from this place.) The food was good. Not as good as I remember the mail order being, but it did fit my hankering for bbq.

Abby enjoyed Corky's as well!

Speaking of food, I also FINALLY got to go to a Sonic. I always see the commericals on tv, but there aren't any near us here in B-more. And for those of you who are wondering, the burgers are amazing! Better than Checkers!

All right, enough of the food talk. I'm off to bed. I'm still trying to recover from a very early morning last Friday.

Babbling

2009-03-17T20:21:00.003-05:00

Abby is talking, well babbling. It is so cute. She has been doing it here and there for a couple of weeks now, but over the past couple of days she does it all the time.

On Sunday we put her in her swing so Micah and I could do some clean and she just started babbling away. It was so loud that Micah came in from the other room asking if it was her. Both of us just laughed at her and then she laughed.

I was able to capture some of her chatter on my cell phone. Isn't she just too cute!?

(Please ignore my voice. Do I really sound like that??? Also, keep in mind, the video was shot on my cell phone.)

A visit up north

2009-03-17T19:54:00.002-05:00

To all of you who live in NH and read this blog, the Gelmans are planning a trip to New England now that it appears the snow is finally starting to melt. (Of course now that I just wrote that it will probably snow tomorrow.)

We have a TON of family and friends to visit and we will probably be up for just a long weekend, so it is going to be a worldwind visit. We'd like to see as many people as possible so please let me know what weekends in June/July/August will work for you all.

Thanks!

P.S. Happy St. Patricks Day.... I'm missing drinking green beer in Boston and listening to the Dropkick Murphy's!!!

Back to Work

2009-03-15T12:37:00.008-05:00

I'm using the excuse that I went back to work this week as the reason why I haven't updated in over a week. Not sure it will stand-up in court, but that is the excuse I'm sticking with.

I survived the first week back. Monday was hard. I cried after I dropped her off, but pulled myself together as I pulled into work. I was so busy at work that I barely had time to grab lunch. By the time I actually looked at the clock, it was 2:30pm and I only had two more hours left. The rest of the week went pretty much the same way.

We did a have a little bit of drama with the baby-sitter this week. Her mother passed away on Tuesday morning. Her mom was 90, so it wasn't unexpected, but still hard all the same. Luckily, Lauren and her mom came to my rescue and were able to watch Abby Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. Abby headed back to the sitter on Thursday and Friday and really seems to enjoy it. She comes home exhausted, barely able to keep her eyes open. I think it is because she is a lot more stimulated at the sitter because there are other kids in the house.

Speaking of sleeping, we hit a big milestone this past week. Sleeping through the night. Abby first slept through the night last Sunday (8:10pm - 5:45am). Both Micah and I were shocked, because she had never slept that late before. The rest of the week, she slept well, but never making it to that morning hour again. The reason being that she is a mover/wiggler at night. Some how, she managers to spin herself around and ends up hitting her head against the slats, waking herself up. Sometimes we can move her and she will fall asleep again, other times she needs to be changed and fed.

I did some research to see if there was anything that we could put the crib that would prevent her from moving all over the place and found that they do make positions for this very problem. Yesterday we headed out to BabiesRUs to purchase one. And last night she slept until 7:15am - that is almost 11 hours!!! The position helped, however, we didn't have it quite tight enough, because Micah got up at one point last night and she had wiggled herself out of it. He put her back in it, but she was out of it again when I got her this morning.

Now that Abby is sleeping through the night (knocking on wood), Micah and I need to start sleeping through the night as well. one of us was up just about every hour starting at about 3am to check on her. :)

And because you are all so patient while reading through this very wordy blog entry, here are a few pictures of Miss Abby.

Like my new do??

Oh Mom, why are you taking a ANOTHER picture of me??

She is plotting her plan to take over the world...

I'm so cute... You better be careful because I just a few days away from rolling over...

Baby Naming

2009-03-03T16:04:00.008-05:00

Abby's baby naming was a few weeks ago. It was a wonderful day. In the Jewish religion, babies are welcomed into their family and given their Hebrew name in a ceremony. Typically this ceremony is done for boys, also known as the bris, eight days after birth. Most recently, Jewish parents have been holding a brit bat for their daughters. Also, children are named after a deceased relative to help honor and carry on their memory.

Abigail Mira is named after Micah's maternal grandmother Anne Gelman and my great grandmother Mae Gwen Cutter. Her Hebrew name is Avigayil Miryam bat Meier u' Chana.

Since family is so important to us, we incorporated all of our immediate family members who were able to make it down to Baltimore in the ceremony. We were also surrounded by many friends and extended family members for this event. It mean to so much for us to share the day with those that we love.

Here are some pictures of the day.

lack of posts

2009-03-03T15:07:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts the past couple of weeks. I haven't had a lot of interesting things to say and not a ton of time to post. I'm try to get things done when Abby sleeps and blogging has seemed to fall to the bottom of the list.

Abby is now 2.5 months. I can't believe it. It feels like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital and now I'm planning on going back to work on Monday (more on that later). At her 2 month appointment, she weighed 11 lbs 1o oz and measured 22 inches long, which puts her in the 50th and 25th percentiles respectivly. Yup, she is a bit of a peanut, but taking into mine and Micah's height, she never really had a chance. She is right on track developmently. It is amazing to see her personality come through.

Here are some quick pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Giggles

2009-02-12T20:02:00.002-05:00

Abby is just starting to giggle. She coos a lot when she smiles, but I've only heard a true, heart felt giggle a couple of times. One time was last night... in her sleep. It came across loud and clear on the monitor. It made me smile. And then think, what does a seven week old dream about that makes her giggle out loud in her sleep??

Growing girl..

2009-02-11T20:46:00.005-05:00

The other day I was looking a bunch of pictures I had ordered from Snapfish last month. They are of Abby when she was first born. I can't believe how much she as changed in just two months. As much as I like to see her grow and do more things each day, I kinda want to slow these days down. I don't want her to grow up to fast :)

We have settled into a routine of sorts. At the moment (and I know I'm going to jinx myself) she is sleeping between 5.5 and six hours at night (I'm knocking on wood), which means we only get up once at night. Anywhere between 12:30 am and 1:30 am. She typically gets up around 6:30 am for the day.

After a morning bottle, we take a quick cat nap around 8:30 and then we are up for a bit. I try to go out during the day, have lunch with a friend, run an errand, walk around the mall.. around 11ish. Abby will typically sleep once I put her in the car. We do lunch around 12ish and then sleep until about 4pm. If she doesn't, things can get a bit hairy. Which is what happened today, It was beautiful here, nearly 70 degrees, so I decided to go for a long walk. I thought she would sleep the entire time. However, the sidewalks in our neighborhood are not all that smooth. There is no home owners association, so the sidewalks are all uneven and can be somewhat of a bumpy ride for a sleepy newborn. So needless to say, she was a bit cranky this afternoon.

Okay - if you are still reading this, I'm sure that you are bored to tears, but you now know what I do all day. exciting stuff, eh?

And now for the exciting stuff, more pictures! Abby is getting great control of her head and I think she is just days away from rolling over. Enjoy!

Abby's first trip to Michigan

2009-02-06T15:37:00.006-05:00

On Friday, January 30, Abby and I headed to snow and cold Michigan, while Micah headed to sunny Florida. Yeah, not fair I know. Micah and his father got tickets to the SuperBowl and since being alone for five days by myself with a six week old didn't sound all that fun, I decided to go to Michigan to spend the weekend with my parents.

Abby and I got through security fine, with the help of several very nice TSA agents who helped me fold up the stroller and get it through the x-ray machine. Once we got all put back together, I grabbed breakfast and fed Abby. I had it all timed out so that she wouldn't be screaming for food when our flight took off at 9:05am. Well I thought I had. Due to mechanical difficulties with our plane, the flight was delayed. We didn't end up taking off until 11:45 am. I was concerned that if it was delayed any more that I was going to run out of diapers. (I had packed 4, but didn't plan on being that delayed.) The fortunate part of the delay is that at least we were waiting at the gate and not in the plane.

We did end up getting to Michigan and had a great trip. Abby was great. She slept the entire time. Savta (mom/Ellen) met us and within seconds of seeing Abby, she picked her up and gave her tons of kisses.

The weekend was fun. Mom and I did some shopping and lots of scrapbooking. Dad and I made lots of yummy goodies for the SuperBowl. Abby even got dressed up for the big event in her Steelers outfit, however, she wasn't that into the game and cried for pretty much the entire first half. I gave her a bath and put her to bed at halftime, so she missed the great second half.

Savta also took tons of pictures of Abby. As you can see from below, Abby has begun to smile at people and even let out a little giggle or two. I think my favorite pictures are of her in the blue seat with the "don king" hair.

The trip was so much fun and we both survived the airplane trip by ourselves. Abby will shortly become a world traveler. Our next trip is in March to see Jill and Miles in Nashville. (For those of you in NH, don't worry, we will make our way up north - just as soon as all the snow melts :) )

I love hanging out in my car seat!!

Don't you love my hair?? Thanks Savta!!

Hanging with Saba

Yummy recipes

2009-01-28T15:39:00.005-05:00

Ask my sister and she will tell you how much I love making up recipies and trying new food combinations. Sometimes they are a hit, sometimes they are not. Here are three recipes that I think are pretty good. (And Micah has asked for them to be made again, so you know they can't be all that bad.)

Cranberry Walnut Chicken with Buttered Noodles

Ingredients
1 can of whole cranberry sauce
8oz French dressing (or one small bottle)
1 packet of dried onion soup mix
1 1/2 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 to 1 1/2 Lbs of skinless chicken breasts. (I prefer thin-cut chicken breasts because it cooks faster. You can also use chicken tenders.)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Wide egg noodles
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cranberry sauce, dressing, dried onion soup mix and mustard in a large mixing bowl until combined. (You can also combine these ingredients in a small sauce pot and heat over medium heat until the cranberry sauce melts. Let the mixture cool a little before pouring over chicken.)

Add chicken and let marinated for 20-30 minutes (if time allows). Pour chicken and sauce into casserole dish. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. (Adjust time if using thicker chicken breasts.) While chicken is cooking, cook noodles in quart size pot until tender. Drain, add butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Place the noodles and chicken on large serving tray. Spoon on extra sauce over the chicken. Complete the dish by sprinkling the chopped walnuts. Serve while hot.

Beefy Mexican Roll-ups

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

1 can cheese soup

1 small can of green chilies, diced

3/4 cup instant rice prepared

1 T cumin

1 -2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder

2T chili powder

8-10 small torillas

salsa

2/3 cup shredded cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef over medium/high heat. Once browned, add cumin, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, chili powder. (You can play with these spices to customize your taste. Also, if you don't have all of these spices on hand, you could use a packet of taco seasoning.)

Add the rice and cheese soup to the beef mixture, stir until combined. (You may need to add a touch of milk to thin out the soup.)

Spoon the mixture into the a tortilla and roll up. Repeat with the remaining torillas and put into a large cassarole dish. Spoon salsa over the roll-ups and sprinkle the cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Enjoy with additional salsa and sour cream.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

This recipe is SUPER easy!

Ingredients

1 bag of frozen broccoli florets

1 family size frozen Green Giant broccoli and cheese - seperate the broccoli from the cheese cubes. Save the cheese cubes for later.

1 box container of vegatable or chicken broth (about 2.5 C)

3/4 - 1C shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 milk

salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, add the broth and broccoli and bring to a rapid boil. Continue to boil until broccoli starts to get mushy. Once the broccoli starts to breakdown, remove from heat and puree the mixture. (I have an immersion blender, but a regular blender or food processor would work well.)

Once mixture is smooth, add cheese cubes, shredded cheese, milk and salt and pepper. Stir and enjoy!!

**I've also had this without the cheese and milk and it is still good and low in fat.**

Tummy Time and Other Updates...

2009-01-27T20:12:00.006-05:00

Abby has been spending some time on her tummy. Look at how well she can hold up her head. She is so advanced!! (I'm sure every mom says that.) For the most part she doesn't mind it, however, she doesn't like to do it more than for about 10 minutes and then just starts to scream to picked up.

As you can tell in the last picture, she loves to hold her head up while you hold her. I don't know how much she can see, but she looks all around when we walk around the house. She is very curious to see what is going on in the house.

In other updates, because I'm the best wife ever, Micah is heading to Tampa this weekend to attend the SuperBowl. ( Yes, you read that correctly, Micah is going away to leave me alone with our six week old daughter AND he is missing my birthday.) Since he is going away, I'm going to Michigan for the weekend. I've heard that babies travel well at this age, so wish me luck as I nagivate the airport with a newborn. I'm sure I'll have lots to update.

Four hours...

2009-01-26T12:58:00.003-05:00

I know I'm tempting fate by writing this, but Abby slept in four hour increments last night. We put her to bed at 8ish last night, like we always do after our bath and bottle. She didn't wake up until midnight. After eating nearly four ounces and a quick diaper change, she went back to sleep and didn't wake up until nearly 4:30 am. I was so excited!!!

As I've mentioned before Abby sometimes doesn't like to sleep during the day. Yesterday she was awake from 7:30 am until 5pm. She might have slept 20 minutes here and there. She slept great last night and has only been today to eat. I think she hates to nap because she thinks she is going to miss something. She than gets overtired and spends the next day sleeping. (case in point today). Let's just hopes she sleeps well tonight.

****

A friend recently told me that she and her husband are expecting. They had been trying for a couple of months and were starting to get worried that something was wrong. I told Micah the good news. He was excited for them and asked how long they had been trying. I said I think six months or so. His comment, "Oh, that is nothing."

His response took me a little by surprise. I knew that our struggles with infertlity affected both of us, but Micah never really expressed out he felt. After his comment, it made me realize that every month that we didn't get pregnant effected him just as much as it effected me. I just expressed the disappointment more. And for those of you who read this blog and have struggled with infertlity longer that we did, please do not take Micah's comment as an offense. I'm sharing this because I never really thought about how the experience affected him, but focused more on my own disappointment and anger. While I wished I'd never had to go through what we went through, I think it made us a stronger couple.

We Can and We Did

2009-01-21T20:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was an amazing day for America. I would have loved to be one of the nearly 2 million people on the Mall to watch the swearing in of America's first African-American president, but it was just a little too cold for Abby (and for me). So I watched from the comfort of my living room, along with my mother-in-law who came down to help me out for the couple of days while Micah was in DC doing inauguration coverage.

I got chills as I watched the then President-elect Obama walk out from the shadows of the Capital's hallways into the sun-drenched balcony to take the oath of office. My mother-in-law and I both got tears as we watch Aretha Franklin sing My Country Tis of Thee and were in awe when the Reverend said the shema (one of the holiest Hebrew phrases) during his invocation. And as the cameras panned back, and the sea of people stretching all the way to the Washington Monument was revealed, we were just amazed to be witness to the exciting, historical moment.

I can't wait to see what the next four/eight years has in store.

More pictures...

2009-01-16T20:15:00.008-05:00

Are you sick of seeing pictures yet?? Here are some more. I even took a video, but Micah has to edit it because the files is huge.

Surviving our First Day Alone

2009-01-13T12:13:00.004-05:00

Abby and I survived our first day alone yesterday and I even got to take a shower. We are slowly getting into a groove. I wouldn't say that we have a routine per say. Abby still makes her own schedule and she is still sleeping a lot. It is odd, she tends to sleep longer stretches and can go nearly four hours between feedings during the day. Not so much at night. Last night she was up every 2 hours on the dot. Which really means that I get about an hour and half of sleep at a time.

Right now she is sleeping in her Boppy on the coach. She ate last at 9:30 am (it is 1:07pm) so I'm just biding my time until she wakes up screaming.

The two pictures below are from this morning. I love that she is more aware of her surroundings each day!

A friend of our lent us her swing, which Abby loves, more so a different times of the day than others. Any whoo, she has recently discovered the bear mobile and spends most of her time looking up at them. I would think that it would hurt her neck, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Laws of Poop

2009-01-13T11:55:00.003-05:00

Over the past four weeks, I've learned somethings about poop.

1. A poopy diaper will almost happen when you least prepared to handle it, like say in the middle of a conference call. This happened to Micah last week. I was in the shower and he said it was the loudest thing he had ever heard. He had to make sure that people on the call knew it was Abby and then quickly excused himself to take care of a situation.

2. A clean diaper is always more fun to poop in than a wet one. I swear that Abby holds out until after I've changed her diaper. It happens at least once a day. As soon as I change her, we sit down and then I hear the unmistakable sounds of a juicy poop. And I look at hr and she just smiles, like she knows what she has just done.

3. When checking to see if your daughter has a poopy diaper, you will inevitably put your hand in it. Does this really need further explanation?

Freezer meals

2009-01-10T20:28:00.010-05:00

I think I mentioned this really cool place, Let's Dish, in an early post. I had won a gift certificate in a fish bowl raffle earlier this year before I found out I was pregnant. The concept behind Let's Dish is to make meals that are freezeable, so you don't have to worry about making meals during a busy day. I decided to wait and use the certificate until closer to my due date. So two or three weeks before Abby arrived I made four meals (that I actually split into two meals each because each meal serves 6-8 people so I had 8 meals that were easy to make.) The entire time I was at the store, I kept thinking, "I can do this without paying someone else to purchase the food for me."

So today that is exactly what I did. I made a menu of 5-6 meals that I could prep today and freeze. I did a lot of the prep work so for the most part, all I have to do is cook them. I chose recipes that were easy to freeze, meatloaf, calazones, stuffed chicken, fajitas, cranberry chicken and mac and cheese. Most of the meals I was able to breakdown into two different servings, so I actually almost doubled the number of meals. (Of course this only works if you feed 2-3 people, but can only seem to make family quanity recipes.) If everything works out and tastes good, I'll post the recipies.

I'm hoping doing about three hours of work this afternoon, will help reduce some of the stress that will come when Micah goes back to work on Monday. At least I don't have to worry about what we will have for dinner. (And if I'm really tired, Micah could make one of the meals - with a lot of direction by me, but at least he doesn't have to do all the prep work.)

As a reward, if you finished reading this entire post, here are pictures of Abby. (I think my life would have been threatened if I wrote another post without pictures.)

Hanging out on my playmat

Snuggling with Dad

Sleeping in the swing

3 Weeks Old

2009-01-07T16:00:00.003-05:00

I can't believe that Abigail is 3 weeks old today. Seems like just yesterday she was born. I'm sure time only goes faster from here. Abby went to the doctor today for a check up. She is perfect, according to the doctor, but we already knew that. She gained 12 oz and I missed how long she was. She is sleeping great, for the most part. We still have our moments, mostly during the day. She fights going to sleep, like she might miss something.

Micah is home for the rest of the week and I'm afraid of Monday morning when I'll be here alone. I know I can do it, but it is still scary. Hopefully, the weather will warm up a little bit and we can go for a walk or two each day. She doesn't mind the stroller and I could use the exercise.

I'll keep you all updated on how the two of us manage... I also have more pictures, I promise I'll post soon.

Saying good-bye 2008

2009-01-01T13:54:00.004-05:00

I should have really written this yesterday, but I everytime I thought I would have 20 minutes or so to blog, someone would start to cry and want to be held. as it is I'm typing one-handed at the moment because Abby loves to be held when she sleeps.

While I was up last night feeding Abby, I thought about all that happened in 2008. There was quite a few big occasions. I thought I'd rank the top seven moments of the past year for the Gelman.

7. The 2008 Summer Olympics - Micah had the amazing opportunity to attend the Olympics in Beijing, China. He was there for an entire month. It was a long time for him to be gone, but a GREAT experience for him career wise. He was there producing coverage for the Associated Press and while he spent most of his time in the newsroom, he was able to sneak out and see a few events including one of Michael Phelps historical wins at the Water Cube. He has already been to Vancouver for a site visit for the 2010 Winter Olympics - Abby and I hope to make the trip with him at least for a week.

6. Getting a new job - This was a total surprise. I wasn't looking for a new job, I actually was really getting into the grove at my job at LifeBridge and gad just received a great review. Of course this is when someone from The Living Legacy came calling. It was a hard decision to make, but I'm glad that I decided to take the job. It has been a great opportunity for me to grow as a manager and expand my marketing/community outreach experience.

5. Taking a ride in the pace car at NHIS - This June, I was able to take Micah to his first NASCAR race in NH. He was able to score infield hot passes for us because of a partnership NASCAR has with the AP. The passes came with a personally tour from one of the greatest personalities behind the sport, Herbert. He took us everyone where on the track, including getting us a ride in the pace car with Brett Bodine. I've never gone so fast in a car in my entire life!!! It was so much fun.

4. Meeting Janet Evanovich - Thanks to our buddy Herbert (see previous post), he was able to introduce us to author Janet Evanovich at the NASCAR race in June. I'm not sure if Micah was more excited to ride in the pace car or to meet Janet. We've read everyone of her books in the Stephanie Plum serious. I was also excited to learn that she is a huge NASCAR fan as well. She was very cool and down to earth. She even signed a copy of her latest book for me. So cool!

3. Voting for a winning president - I've been of voting age for almost ten years now and voted in two presidential elections prior to this year. Every single time, my vote never went for the winning candidate. This year, one top of being one of the most interesting presidential races (thank you Sarah Palin), but my vote was cast for first time for the winning candidate. I'm so excited to see what the new administration will bring and even more excited to be a part of the historic election that put the first African-American president in office. Hopefully this opens the door for the first women president and first Jewish president... Yes we can!

2. Getting pregnant - Many of you know that Micah and I struggled to get pregnant for well over a year with little success. After 10 months of trying on our own with no success, we finally saw a specialist in November 2007. After several months of tests, it was discovered that I had low progesterone (a hormone needed in women to help them stay pregnant) and possible scar tissue due to a previous surgery related to the Crohn's disease. Micah and I had decided to move to invitro fertilization in March 2008, after what we though where three unsuccessful months on progesterone supplements. On April 9, I attended a three hour injection class to learn how to give myself the shots for the IVF treatment. Later that night, I had to take a pregnancy test to stop taking the progesterone supplements. I got a huge surprise when the test came out positive. It was honestly one of the best days of my life! After so many months of disappointments, I was excited beyond belief to finally become a mom.

1. Welcoming Abigail Mira into our family - On December 17, 2008, Micah and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl into our lives. It was a very long labor and we had a few bumps in the road, but the end result was so worth it. Abigail is the love of our lives.

I can't wait to see what 2009 brings us!

Abby's first bath

2008-12-30T17:08:00.005-05:00

After nearly two weeks, we decided that it was time for Abby's first real bath. Her belly button fell off a couple of days ago, but then we entered into the "gas wars" and it just seemed to much for all three of us to give Abby a bath during that time.

I have to say that she wasn't all that fond of the bath, but we all survived. Afterward, I lathered her up with the Johnson & Johnson bedtime lotion and she fell promptly to sleep in her bouncy chair.

Here are some pictures from the momentous event.

Gas issues

2008-12-30T10:59:00.003-05:00

We've got gas issues. Well not exactly, Micah and I, but Abby. It appears after almost two weeks of being the perfect baby, we've developed a little gas issue. Actually it is a BIG gas issue. She's got it. Lots of it. Yesterday was the worse. She woke up at 4 am and didn't really go back to sleep until about 2 pm. It was a rough morning.

I did some research on the Internet (Thanks Dr. Google) and found that the bottles we were using had caused gas in other babies. A couple of other moms recommended using the Dr. Brown's bottles. So off to the store I went to purchase these magically bottles. (Earlier I had to make an emergency trip to Rite Aid to purchase gas relief drops. They seemed to work, but still didn't completely get rid of the gas.)

We've used the bottles for the last five feeds. The seem to help. She isn't taking in as much air, but she still has gas.

I called the Dr. this morning to see if we should try changing her formula. She said we could try that, but it wasn't a guarantee that it would help. She might just be a gassy baby and it will get better as her digestive system matures.

So for the time being we are sticking the course with what we are doing. And trying to get as much sleep as Abby allows it. For the past two days, the only time she really sleeps in on one of us, which I can't really blame, because if I was uncomfortable, I'd want to be held by my mom and dad.

Any suggestions for gas relief are welcome!

More pictures

2008-12-27T10:09:00.009-05:00

It is official, we've become those parents that takes pictures of every cute thing thier child does. We have TONS of pictures of her sleeping... well that is just about all she does at the moment. So because I've taken all these pictures, I now need to share them with people, so here you go.

Finally found my thumb!

Playing on my mat!

Looking at the butterflies

Hanging with Aunt Jill

Falling more in love

2008-12-23T11:24:00.003-05:00

I didn't know it was possible for fall in love with someone more and more each day. But you can. Each time I look at Abby, I fall more in love. It is truly amazing!

Micah and I are adjusting to having Abby in our lives as well as we can. She is a great baby. We struggling just a little bit with nighttime, but what can we expect from a five-day old. She loves to sleep during the day and only likes to sleep in our arms from midnight to 5am. We are trying a couple different things to try and resolve this, I'll let you know if anything works.

Mom and Dad Sizemore have been here since the day she was born and have been a great help. Simply doing the dishes, cleaning the bathrooms and doing laundry are a huge help, especially since there are times when Micah and are seem to be walking around like zombies.

Abby had her first peds appointment. The doctor reports she is doing great for a 5 day old baby. She lost a little bit of weight from birth, but that is to be expected. I did try breastfeeding, but I was putting a lot of stress on myself, that combined with Abby's amazing sucking ability, it wasn't fun for either of us. I struggled with the decision, but decided to switch to formula feedings. I'm happier, Abby's happier and now Micah can help with feedings, which I think that he enjoys. (Feeds are a great bonding time for all of us.)

Jill and Miles arrived yesterday. They are just as in love with Abby as the rest of us. Now if I can only get Jill to change a dirty diaper. :)

Adding to the family

2008-12-17T17:55:00.001-05:00

Abigail Mira Gelman made her arrival at 2:44am, weighing in at 8lbs 6oz and measuring 19 inches long.

As I mentioned briefly yesterday, we arrived at the hospital at 11:30pm for a labor check, I was having pretty intense contractions. However, once the resident checked me, we found I wasn't dilated. After conferring with the attending on call, I was told to walk around the hospital for a couple of hours and come back and get rechecked. So Micah and I hit the halls of Sinai, walking up and down the bottom floor of the hospital.

The walking seemed to help a little. When I went back to get checked I was 1 cm. The resident checked again with the doctor and because of my contraction patter and the fibroid, they decided to admit me to see if I would progress over the evening. I got all hooked up and was given medicine to help me sleep. In the morning I was rechecked by the resident and was still only 1 cm.

About an hour later, around 8am, the attending came into check me I had progressed to a "nice" 3 cm. So know we were on our way. The ended up augmenting my labor with pitocin, as I wasn't contracting and progressing fast enough on my own. At noon, they broke my water and shortly after I asked for the epi (What a life saver)!

Over the next twelve hours, I slowly progressed to 10 cm. It was so slow, that we talked with the several of the doctors about a possible c-section, but I kept plugging along. Due to going so long since they broke my bag of water, it appears that I developed an infection and started to run a low grade fever. I was giving antibiotics so that it wouldn't effect Abby.

By 1am Wednesday morning, I was 10 cm and began pushing. That in itself is another story. I pushed for about 1hour and 45 minutes, much longer that I would have liked. Abigail was born screaming. She was taken over to the warmer immediately by the NICU team because there was mechonium (baby's first poop) in my bag of water. We met up with her two hours later once I was moved to the mother baby unit. She has been with us every since. She is caught on to breast feeding quite well and already has had a couple of poopy diapers. Micah has become the diaper changing champ.

We are so in love despite how tired the past 48 hours have been.

Cake Pops!

2008-12-14T12:17:00.002-05:00

Thanks to my wonderful Aunt Cyndi, who turned me on to http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/, I attempted cake pops this weekend. If you haven't checked out this website, and you love to bake, you need to. It is great.

Last night we had our annual Hanukkah Party and I brought dessert. I decided to try the cake pops. The came out really good, however, slightly time consuming. (Although when you are awake at all hours of the morning, what better way to spend you time then dipping cake balls into chocolate.)

I forgot to take pictures of them while I was putting them together, so I had to have a friend take a picture at the party so everyone could get the idea of what they looked like.

I used the recipe found here: http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/08/hope-these-put-smile-on-your-face.html

I did find that if the cake balls get to warm, they fall off the stick. I ended up doing two or three balls at a time, leaving the rest in the fridge to chill. I did a simple chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. I'm ready to try some of other flavors shortly as well as some other designs. I can see these becoming a fast favor!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T09:08:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. I was waiting for pictures for mom and then once I got them, I had problems with my email. I know it is a poor excuse. Deal with it!

This year, since Micah and I were on what he called a 'ground stop' due to the impending arrival of Baby Gelman, we hosted Mom and Dad and Gram and Grampy Goldman. It was quite a full house, but a lot of fun. Everyone arrived on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so we had plenty of time to catch up. It was so nice to visit!

On Thanksgiving day, Mom and I were up early (actually both of us were up early every morning. I know why I was, not sure why mom was). So we started getting cooking early. We were so prepared that we were able to go on several walks through the day. The menu was the traditional Thanksgiving feast. We had turkey, tators, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, rolls and jello mold (this was a new addition and I messed it up, but it did taste good.) For dessert, I made two pies, Bourbon Walnut Pie and an Apple pie. The walnut pie was the hit! (Thanks Mom Gelman for the recipe!)

Pictures

2008-11-16T12:43:00.006-05:00

Micah and I got a new camera so we are able to document the life of our new baby girl. So I've been practicing taking pictures of my first baby... Reese. I'm no where near as good as my aunt, but at least you can see what I'm taking pictures of. Enjoy

Making Whoopie...

2008-11-16T12:26:00.005-05:00

Whoopie Pies that is. I've had several people ask for the chocolate whoopie pie recipe. Since I actually make it by combining several different recipies and adding a few touches of my own, I actually had to make them this morning and write down what I was doing. Without further ado, here is the recipe.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Frosting

1 egg
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
2 c. unsifted all-purpose flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

1 package of chocolate pudding mix
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease two large cookie sheets and set aside. In a large bowl with mixer at medium speed beat egg and vegetable oil. Gradually beat in sugar and continue beating until pale yellow in color. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, chocolate pudding mix and salt. In a measuring cup combine milk and vanilla. Add flour and milk mixtures alternately to eggs and sugar, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Depending on who dry the batter is, you may need to add more milk. The batter will be thick.

Use a ice cream scoop to drop batter on greased cookie sheet. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched with finger. Remove to wire racks to cool. When cool, use filling and two cakes to make sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Icing Filling

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

It's November!

2008-11-03T19:40:00.004-05:00

It's November and only 25 more days until one of my favorite holidays - Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, I think it is a combination of the food, festival decorations and family. This year, I'm hosting Thanksgiving here in Maryland because I'm unable to travel due to Baby Gelman's impending arrival. I've started to look into the menu options. (You all know that the foodie in me is going to bring a something new to a traditional dish. So watch out foodnetwork.com, here I come.) I've already got an idea for dessert - Bourbon Walnut Pie. (Yeah, it is THAT good.) Now I've just got to plan out the rest of the menu. So feel free to send me your favorite Thanksgiving recipes!

On to other updates, Katie came down last weekend for a visit. We did a lot of shopping and just plain hanging out. It was a good visit. As Katie might be one of the pickiest eaters I've ever met, we made mac and cheese one night. I'm talking the real stuff, from scratch. Thanks to a couple of phone calls to mom for the recipe (which is actually on the back of the Muellers' pasta box, but they don't sell Muellers here. What is up with that?), we were on our way. Katie was in charge of the cheese grating. I even took pictures because she was sure that her mother wouldn't believe her that she actually made mac and cheese from scratch.

Dinner came out great, we all enjoyed it. Now here comes the bad part, as I was putting the dish in the fridge, I dropped it. An almost full dish of mac and cheese ended up on the floor. Micah was bummed because he was hopping to have some as a late night snack and I was bummed that I broke a good piece of my Corning wear set. (I felt so bad about dropping the mac and cheese that I made another dish on Monday night.) Anyway, beside the broken dish, the weekend was a lot of fun. Hopefully, Katie will be able to make it down here after Baby Gelman is born or I might need to make a trip up to NH so all the NH family can see her ;).

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

2008-10-25T06:40:00.009-05:00

Most of you know that I love to cook and bake. I was searching the web, looking at the many blogs that I check out every day and I found this recipe for pumpkin swirl brownies. They combine two of my favorite things, pumpkin and chocolate. The recipe is from Martha Stewart Living.

So for those of you that like to bake and want to try these tasty treats, here is the recipe. I'm sure that they will soon become a fall favorite

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablesppon vanialla extract

1 1/4 cup solid-packed pumpkin

1/4 cup veg. oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch baking pan.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, caynne pepper and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Mix sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy and we combined. Beat in flour. (If you are using a kitchen aid mixer, I would recommend the paddle attachment because the dough does get thick.)

4. Pour half the batter (about two cups) into a serpate bowl and stir chocolate mixture into it. If the mixture is a little thick, add a little more batter until it is more pourable.

5. In in the remaining batter, add the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg. Transfer half of the chocolate batter in to the baking pan, smooth. Top with half the pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chooclate layer and one more pumpkin layer.

6. With a small spatual or table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Be sure to get your knife all the way to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with nuts, if using.

7. Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

The brownies are very tasty. I think I'm going to try a few adjustments the next time I make them. For me personally, the pumpkin part lacked a little pit of flavor. I think I'm going to try replacing the cinnamon and nutmeg with pumpkin pie spice. I think it might add a little more zing.

Hope you enjoy

Second Anniversary

2008-10-21T19:39:00.006-05:00

Today we celebrated our second anniversary. I can't believe it has already been two years. Crazy!!!

This weekend we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate. We've been talking for awhile about going to The Oregon Grill, a nice restaurant in Hunt Valley, so we decided that it our anniversary was a great time to go.

I started off the meal with the Oregon salad - watercress, mushrooms, apple and hearts of palm on a bed of endive with vinaigrette. It was all right, but I think that they forgot to put the vinaigrette on the salad because it lacked a little bit of flavor. Micah enjoyed grilled oysters on the half shell. I'm not a big fan of oysters, but they did look good.

For the entree, I had the grilled Chilean sea bass with a red pepper butter served with broccolini and potato gnocchi. It was really good. Micah enjoyed the prime rib, which looked really good and tasted even better. (I stole a bite even though I'm not suppose to have rare meat, but I'm a sucker for a good piece of meat.) We were to stuffed after dinner to even think about dessert, even though I really wanted some.

The service at The Oregon Grill was amazing. The waiter was very prompt and the kitchen was even faster and put out amazing food. We had an 8 o'clock reservation and were seated promptly and we done and leaving the resturant a little after 9 pm. I would highly recommend this hidden gem to anyone in Baltimore looking for a romantic dinner.

Next weekend, we are going to pick out robes. I know a cheesy anniversary gift, but the traditional gift for the second anniversary is cotton. So we both need new bathrobes and thought this would a perfect opportunity for us to purchase them. Off to Macy's we go!

Home Improvements

2008-10-19T15:08:00.007-05:00

This weekend Micah and I were busy painting our new dining room. For those of you have been to the house for a visit, we decided to move the dining room into the living room. I know that sounds confusing, but the house came in with a formal living room, which we don't really need. We aren't formal living room people. So we turned the living room into a dining room, since the original dining room was way too small for a good size table.

Last week, our new dining room furniture was delivered. The plan was to wait until next year (January/February) to paint the room. However, Micah got it in his head that the room needed to be painted before Thanksgiving. So we powered through and painted it this weekend. It looks good, if I do say so myself. :) The paint color is "Maple Leaf" and I took the idea and color straight from a Pottery Barn catalog.

We need to get new hardware to hang the curtains, hence why they are on the table. I'm excited now that I can display my china. I've been waiting two years to do so and now I have a beautiful new hutch to show them off on. I can't wait to host Thanksgiving dinner this year!

SCATTEGORIES...

2008-10-15T19:25:00.002-05:00

My Gram sent this to me and I thought it might be fun to post here. Please feel free to post on your own blog.

SCATTEGORIES... it's harder than it looks... \
Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things... nothing made up.

YouCAN'T use your name for the boy / girl name question.
WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Jennifer
BOY NAME: Justin
4 LETTER WORD: Jump
GIRL NAME: June
OCCUPATION: Joker
A COLOR:
SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Jumper
BEVERAGE: Juice
FOOD: Jumbalaya
SOMETHING FOUND IN BATHROOM:
A PLACE: Jupiter
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Jam (Traffic)

2.99 a gallon

2008-10-13T20:21:00.002-05:00

This is a quick post, but the gas station at the corner has gas for 2.99 a gallon. Crazy!! It went down almost 30 cents over the weekend. It takes the economy to hit the shitter for us to get some relief at the pump!! What is the world coming to?!?!?

Fall into love

2008-09-23T18:38:00.002-05:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. And I truly miss falls in New England. The crisp smell in the air, the cool nights, the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges of the leaves. Fall is my season. It is the reason why I got married in the fall.

While fall in the Mid-Atlantic is no where near the same as those I grew up with, one thing that brings me back is a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. The sweet smell of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg transport me back to my outh, playing the huge leaf piles Dad used to rake up in the lawn.

I had my first pumpkin spice latte the other day. It was a tall, decaf, skim with no whip and it was worth all the calories. ;)

I can't wait until the gingerbread and peppermint mocha lattes come out around Thanksgiving. Shopping the day after Thanksgiving isn't the same without one.

(Can you tell that I'm caffeine deprived in my current state???)

Real Men Wear Orange

2008-09-22T18:03:00.002-05:00

Or so I'm told.

This past weekend, Micah and I headed up to Syracuse for Micah's ten year college reunion. After spending about six hours in the car, we finally arrived and met up with Kristen and Jonathan Goldberg for a drink before heading out to dinner.

The next day, Micah, Kristen and Jonathan took me on a tour of every place on campus they used to hang out. We stopped by Marshall Street, which is like the main hangout for all college students to purchases Syracuse gear for Baby Gelman. (Don't worry KT, I'm sure she will have more UNH gear than anything else!) We even purchased a "Real Kids Wear Orange" tee shirt. I can't wait to get a picture of Baby Gelman and Micah in their shirts together.

That afternoon we went to see Syracuse play Northeastern in football. I, briefly, told everyone that I was going to cheer for NU since they are in the same conference as UNH, but after a few plays, I quickly realized that neither team was worth cheering for. :) Syracuse ended up winning, their first win in 11 months.

After a brief nap we headed out to a restaurant in Armory Square, BC. I was all set to write my review, however, about 3am on Sunday morning. I woke up with a horrible stomachache and ended up spending the next few hours getting sick in the bathroom. Part of me believes that it may have been food poisoning, while other part thinks it might have been a virus. (Micah had gotten sick just a few nights earlier. So it very well could have been a virus.) So I'm forgoing the review for the moment. (The food did taste good going in, but not so good going out.)

We ended home Sunday morning, only after a short stop at Wegmans for breakfast.

And lastly, so for the lack of updates on this blog. Most of my life is being taken up by the impending arrival of Baby Gelman, so I've been posting on the other blog. I have a feeling after Baby Gelman is born, I'll combine the two because it just way to hard to keep two blogs updated in a timely manner. So if you are looking for me, check over there.

A change of scenery

2008-09-22T18:01:00.001-05:00

Just in time for fall, I decided to change the background of my blog. Give you all something new to look like.

enjoy!

90210

2008-09-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

My review of the new 90210 can be wrapped up in one word: disappointing.

I guess I wanted it to be more like the original show. I wanted to have Donna, David, Brandon, Brenda, Andrea, Kelly, Steve and Dylan back. But they weren't there. (And what is up with Kelly and Brenda back being friends again?)

I'll give the show a couple more weeks, but if it doesn't get better, I'm cutting it loose. There is way too many shows on tv to watch.

Like Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, which are both new tonight. Welcome back fall!

They like me. They really like me.

2008-08-22T21:07:00.002-05:00

Today at work we had a "Back to School" company picnic. There were a bunch of activities for kids and employees. One was a bake off. For those of you who do not know, I'm addicted to watching food competitions on TV and have always dreamed about entering one of then. When I read the email, I immediately signed up to participate in the bake off.

I made whoopie pies. It is quickly becoming one of my trademark desserts. I made two different types, pumpkin with cream cheese frosting and chocolate with marshmallow frosting. And I won!!! They really liked my baking!!

Maybe this will give me the confidence to enter some of the other regional baking/cooking competitions.

Greetings from China

2008-08-01T20:58:00.005-05:00

Okay, so I'm still here in Maryland, but Micah has been in China since Tuesday. He seems to be settling in for the month. He says that the Olympic Villiage is cool, but has been complaining about the smog and pollution. It is bad. Burns his nose and eyes when he walks around outside.

From what he tells me, the newsroom is just about set up and they are ready for the game to begin next Friday. So for his first and only weekend off, Micah is heading to the Great Wall tomorrow. Hopefully he will send pictures.

Here are some pictures of Micah and some of his team, getting "warmed up" for their events.

A meme...

2008-07-25T18:20:00.002-05:00

So, a literary Meme, courtesy an other blogger Kathy.

Here's how it works:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you LOVE - mine are in red
4) Reprint this list in your blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

The premise of this exercise is that the National Endowment for the Arts apparently believes that the average American has only read 6 books from the list below. My main question is why on earth they would want people to read some of these books. Much of the list does not qualify as literature, in my opinion. In case you wanted it. And as a warning, apologies if I offend with any of my assessments below - I tend towards the obnoxiously opinionated and judgmental when it comes to books, movies and music.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling -
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible -
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - freshman English class torture, part I.
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - does it say something about me that I hated this book and, at the ripe old age of 10, was pissed off when I finished it at how much I hated it?
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien -
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot -
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden -
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - not if I can help it.
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel -52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - see # 51
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - see #51
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - my mom has about 12 copies if I ever decide to read it.
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath -
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I'm a little disappointed of the books that didn't make it on the list, there was nothing from James Baldwin or Richard Wright, even Willa Cather. And what about "There Eyes are Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston????

Summer adventures

2008-07-08T17:37:00.006-05:00

Summer officially began three weeks ago, which means a very busy couple of months for Micah and I. I can't believe I've been slacking on the updates, but by the time I get home from work, I'm so tired and turning on the computer is the last thing that I want to do. Here is a brief update of where we've been the last couple of weeks.

June 28-30 - New Hampshire
Micah and I headed up north to visit with family and see the NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It was a great weekend. On Saturday, we flew in to Boston and on the way to Cyndi and Dom's house, we stopped at the mall to say hi to Katie. She was able to sneak away from her busy job at Bath & Body Works to visit. It was great seeing here. Next time hopefully the visit will be longer. Later that night we had a cookout with Cyndi, Dom, Becca and Kenzie along with Gram and Grampie. Well it really wasn't a cookout since the weather was bad. Dom cooked outside, but we ate inside.

The next day, Micah and I headed over to Loudon for the race. Due to connections Micah has, we were VIPed and escorted around the infield and pits by a lovely tour guide, Herbert. Herbert, is like the king fo the pits. He knows everyone and really showed us an insiders tour. It was great. We got to tour one of the haulers and got a first hand tour of the garages where they inspect the cars. We even got to ride in the pace car (before the race) with Brett Bodine. It was amazing. I thought for sure that we were going to crash into the wall, but Brett was able to control the car just like the professional race car driver that he is.

Oh, we also got to meet Janet Evanovich, a best-selling author. (Many of you might know here work if you are fans of the Stephanie Plum series.) She was great! It was a total surprise that we would get to meet her. And to my surprise to learn that she is a NASCAR fan.

We were also on the track for the driver introductions, which was very cool. However, I started to feel a little lightheaded and we headed back to our seats before everyone had been introduced. We were able to see a great race, however, it ended 18 laps short due to rain.

On Monday afternoon, we headed home to Baltimore. Overall we had a great weekend.

July 3-6 - Deep Creek Lake, Maryland
For the 4th of July, Micah and I headed up to the lake to celebrate the holiday. Once again it rained. I think that it has rained every 4th since Micah and I have been together. Luckily, the weather cleared up on Saturday and Sunday and we were able to get in some time on the boat. The rainy weather did allow for some good reading and a rowdy game of Scrabble.

As for the rest of the month, we are just swamped. Next weekend, we are headed up to Pittsburgh on Saturday to visit with the Schacters before we go to Morgantown, WV early Sunday morning for Micah's camp reunion, only to drive back to Baltimore that night. If we don't get stuck in traffic, I think that we will be in the car for more than 10 hours. (I must really love my husband.)

The following weekend, Mom and Jill are coming in for a visit. I'm excited to see them both! Then there is only one more weekend before Micah leaves for China. August doesn't seem to get less hectic. I've planned quite a busy summer to occupy my time while Micah is away.

I think that I'm done with my month long update. If you've made it to the very end, thanks for reading!

Home Improvements

2008-06-23T16:45:00.009-05:00

Slowly we are making our house a home. This past weekend we put the some finishing touches on the guest bedroom. We painted a couple of weekends ago, but it took Micah a while to finish the trim work. I loved the color. It is Country Club from Home Depot, however, they messed up mixing one of the paint cans and it came out a slightly different color. Turned out the messed up can was the one we started painting with and I like the color better. So I guess it really isn't Country Club.

We got rid of the futon Micah had since he was in high school. (I'm sure our parents are happy about that.) We moved our bed into the guestroom and got a king size bed for our room. Now I'll have to do is buy curtains, night tables and lamps, which will hopefully be done before Mom and Jill come for a visit next month.

Below are some pictures to help you visualize. The top one is the "before" and the other two are what the room looks like now. Enjoy!

A New Family Member

2008-06-12T19:20:00.004-05:00

This December, Micah and I will welcome the newest member of our family. I'm pregnant. There really is no easy way to lead into that announcement. Most of our family and friends have heard of our good news, so as I'm thirteen weeks I figured I'm make the announcement official on my online journal.

I'm going to try and keep this blog about my travels through life and for the moment, baby free. A while ago I started another blog focused on our travels through trying to conceive. It started out as a private journal as an avenue for me to release many of the emotions that come with this process. I'm opening it up to all of you to read and share with this experience.

Please note, what I share on the blog is personal and a way for me work through the many emotions and feelings that come along with all the pregnancy hormones. What I share on the blog is what I'm feeling at the moment, it is not meant to be insulting and hurtful and I hope that no one takes it as such. I hope you all understand.

So without further ado, here is the new blog:

www.maybebabysomeday.blogspot.com

Traveling West

2008-06-12T18:21:00.004-05:00

I had a Donate Life America - Donor Designation Collabrative meeting out west and Micah decided to join me. He, of course, was on vacation while I spent part of Sunday, and all day Monday and Tuesday in meetings. It was a cleaver plan on Micah's part.

So while Micah lounged at the pool and drink fruity drinks, I was learning ways to increase the donor designation rate in Maryland. (For those of you do know and care, the donor designation rate is how many people sign up at either the DMV or the via the online registry to be an organ, eye or tissue donor. The fact is that even though 80% of the population believes in organ donation, only about 30% have designated themselves as a potiential donor on their license.)

After a long day of meetings, I did get to enjoy the pool for a little bit and we also went out to eat. We ate at a cute bistro resturant at the hotel one night. The other night we went to Roy's, a restuarant serving Hawaiian fusion cuisune. There is a Roy's in Baltimore and we've be talking about going, but haven't made it downtown yet. So we ventured out to the restuarant and we weren't disappointed.

We started out the meal with the highly recommended Crunchy Golden Lobster Potstickers with spice togarashi miso butter sauce, which were to die for. Micah and I fought over the last one. For an entree I had Kaffir Lime Dusted Sea Scallops, which came bento box style with rice noodle salad with toasted cashews and Watermelon nam pa. It was delish. The scallops were well seasoned, more savory than sweet, and had a little kick to them. The rice noodle salad was in a light vingerrette. Micah enjoyed the Roy's Classic Trio which included Hibachi Grilled Salmon in a citrus ponzu sauce, Roy's Originial Blackend Island Ahi in spice soy mustard butter and Hawaiian Style Misoyaki Butterfish in a sizzling soy vinaigrette. He seemed to like it since there wasn't anything left when I looked over.

I would highly recommend Roy's. The fish was wonderful and fresh and the mixture of Hawaiian and classic European cuisine was delectable.

Mezze

2008-06-01T09:52:00.002-05:00

Here's another one of my soon-to-be-famous restaurant reviews.

On Friday night, a friend and I headed to Fell's Point to grab a bite to eat at Mezze. It was a beautiful night and we were luckily to grab a table outside. Mezze features Mediterranean tapas.

We shared a couple of plates including hummus, spinach pie and beef and lamb meatballs. The hummus was a little runny, I like my hummus a tad on the thick side and it lack a little bit of flavor. The spinach pie was amazing. The perfect amount of spinach mixed with feta cheese in a little crispy filo dough crust. The meatballs had great flavor, but were slightly under cooked. I also had falafel, which I loved! They had seasoned perfectly and had great flavor.

I didn't have some this visit, but I also recommend Mezze's sangria. It can be a little sweet, but it refreshing on a warm late Spring afternoon.

If you are looking for a place for some great Mediterranean food, stop by Mezze. (Although a reservation is highly recommended on Fridays and the weekend.) The bar area is small and can get quite crowded, but they have seating upstairs that is quiet and can be quite intimate.

Number 500!!

2008-06-01T09:29:00.002-05:00

Two tickets to the Red Sox vs O's = $90
Dinner at the ballpark = $30
Watching Manny Rameriz hit his 500th homerun = priceless

Micah and I went to the game last night and were in the stands for Manny's 500th career homerun. It was amazing!! The entire stadium was on their feet when he hit the ball.

Let's go Red Sox!!

They Had Nothing to Say to Each Other

2008-05-28T19:18:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since I've posted some of my creative writings. I just stumpled across this while reading through some old stuff and thought it was interesting. I'd love to hear your feedback.

"They had nothing to say to each other"
They had nothing to say to each other. They just stood there looking at one another, afraid if they moved, this magically moment would disappear. He stroked her hair, then moved his hand to her shoulder. They both knew that their relationship was over, but didn’t want it to end. The silence hung in the room. Cautiously, they finally made eye contact with each other. A tear slowly rolled down her face. With his thumb, he gently wiped the tear away.

Something deep inside was urging her to reach up and kiss him. She hesitated.

“Was he feeling the same?”

She looked into his eyes. And before she could think about it or talk herself out of it, she lifted herself up on to her tip toes and brushed her lips against his.

Surprisingly, he kissed her back.

Slowly she moved her arms around his neck and he grabbed a hold of her waist. She fell into his arms, kissing him deeply, enjoying these last few moments of “them”. Finally their lips parted. He forced himself to take a step back, toward the door. With one last squeeze of her hand, he opened the door and walked out of the house and out of her life.

PB&J and chicken and rice casseroles

2008-05-27T19:50:00.002-05:00

It is that time of the month when I scour the pantry looking for something to eat. Mostly it results in some sort of casserole. I always seem to have rice, pasta, cream of something soup and frozen vegtables. My husband hates this time of the month and typically has a serving of the one-pot casserole only to have a PB&J for dessert.

We probably could avoid this time of the month if we went food shopping more than once every four weeks, but we don't. And I don't know why. We typically go food shopping at the local Wegmans. (If you've never been to Wegmans, it is like Disneyland for foodies.) And because the store is about 25 minutes away, we seem to only go once a month. I do, however, make the occasional stop at the local grocery store to pick up the items I've forgotten to purchase at Wegmans or things we've run out of (mostly bread, soda and milk). Even with those stops, I still can't seem to avoid casserole week.

So we've made plans to go food shopping on Saturday. Let's just hope we don't run out of peanut butter before then.

Long Weekends

2008-05-26T19:10:00.002-05:00

I love long weekends, especially when the weather is nice. This weekend, Micah and I headed out the Deep Creek Lake. We left Baltimore around 5:30pm and didn't arrive at the lake until after 10 pm. Traffic was horrible. Thankfully that was the worst part of the weekend.

The weather was amazing the entire weekend. There is nothing better than curling up on a lounge chair with a good book. We also spent time out on my father-in-law's new boat. On Sunday, we even packed a picnic and headed out on the boat for a yummy lunch in the sun. If only the water was a little warmer, Micah said he would have gone swimming. I, on the other hand, didn't even stick my toes it.

Reese, as with any water dog, didn't mind the cold water and went for a couple of dips. And with all the rain Maryland has gotten this spring, the water in the lake was quite high. He doesn't like to got farther than he can stand, and it wasn't very far this weekend.

I also finished two books this weekend (have I mentioned that I love lake weekends). I finally finished Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Another dark book from Picoult, but equally good. I really love Picoult's style of writing and enjoy that she writes about New England, because I can picture the people, town and landmarks so easily.

I also read Water for Elephants. What a great book! Quick read, but the author does a great job developing the characters so you fall in love with their story lines. Highly recommend this book for anyone heading to the beach this summer.

* * *
On a side note, welcome to all the new readers as part of NLCM. If you are interested in what this is, click the logo on the right hand side, it goes into all the details. Happy reading and posting!

Spring has Sprung

2008-05-11T14:13:00.009-05:00

At last, a long awaited update. I can't believe it has been over a month since I've written, where as the time gone??? I promise, I've been busy.

April is Donate Life Month, so I spend just about every weekend staffing events around Baltimore city to help promote organ, eye and tissue donation. I'm glad the month is over. In the few free moments, Micah and I were able to get some work around the house done. Most of the work was done outside. Since we moved in to the house in late October/early November, we didn't have a lot of time before things became too cold to get things done outside. Which meant this spring we had a lot of work to do, including raking a massive amount of leaves that I'm pretty sure came from our neighbor's trees.

After all of the leaves were raked and the lawn was mowed, we started in on the gardening. De to Reese's bathroom habits, several of the bushes and plants in the front of the house needed to be replaced, which we did and then some. I've posted a couple of pictures for you all to the how the front of the house looks now.

In addition to the gardening, we also put in a fence for Reese. This way he can run around outside all by himself. Now we just need to get him not to dig underneath the porch. The other day, after a two day long rainstorm, Reese came back to the door after being outside for a bit, covered head to toe in mud. Micah had to hose him off before he could come in the house.

Now on to the inside of the house. We desperately needed to replace our sofa in the family room. It was just falling apart. While we shopping for the sofa, Micah and I found a new entertainment center and coffee table that we fell in love with. They arrive on Saturday and I absolutely love them.

You will notice the HUGE TV on the new entertainment center. Micah felt that the other TV was inadequate for the new stand and had to get another one. We still have a perfectly good HDTV down in our basement if anyone would like one. The only downside is that is weighs about 200 lbs.

In between working weekends and the home improvement projects, I was able to sneak away for a weekend to go up to New Hampshire for a very short visit. It was in honor of Becca's first communion. She was the most beautiful girl in her entire first communion class. It was also great to visit with family and friends. Micah and I will be back up in a little over a month for the NASCAR race, so we will have more time to visit!

Whew! That was quite an update!

Your Life in Six Words...

2008-04-05T16:04:00.003-05:00

Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure - I heard about this book earlier this week on a local radio station I listen to in the morning. One of the editors was interviewed and read some of the memoirs. I was intrigued. As you will see from the review below, the entire book captures more than 800 six word memoirs from both the famous and obscure. I also checked out the magazine that put the book together. It is a great web site for the weekend writer and the personal non-fiction enthusiast in all of us. Check it out.

Review from Amazon.com -

"Can you describe your life in six words? That's what the editors of storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers in 2006; the results, though decidedly uneven, make for compulsive reading and prove arguably as insightful as any 300+ page biography. Taken as a whole, this cascade of quotes from contributors famous and unknown creates a dizzying snowball effect of perspectives and feelings. Highlights from professional writers and artists include journalist Chuck Klosterman wondering, "Nobody cared, then they did. Why?"; pop singer-songwriter Adam Schlesinger lamenting, "We still don't hear a single"; and comic strip artist Keith Knight illustrating "I was a Michael Jackson impersonator." At their best, these nano-memoirs evoke the same kind of rich emotional responses as a good story: 9 year old Hannah Davies considers herself "Cursed with cancer. Blessed by friends"; Zak Nelson says "I still make coffee for two"; Scott Birch claims "Most successful accomplishments based on spite." Some entries read like bumper stickers (Rip Riley: "No wife. No kids. No problems"), and others are just plain weird (Amy Sedaris: "Mushrooms. Clowns. Wands. Five. Wig. Thatched"), but this compelling little book will have readers and their friends hunting for favorites and inventing six-word self-definitions of their own. This review in six words? Read. Enjoy. Pass it on. Repeat."

I thought this would be a fun thing to try and do. Here is my attempts:

"Found life in most unexpected places"

"Thankfully, it didn't go as planned"

"Giving in was never an option"

Your turn.

Back on Track

2008-04-04T20:02:00.005-05:00

My diet is back on track. I fell of the band wagon slighting in March. Starting a new job really threw me for a loop. I was so used to eating lunch with the entire department at LifeBridge Health that it was hard to get into the rhythm of eating at my desk again. For the first couple of weeks at the new job, I would go out to get something to eat just to simple step away from the office for a few minutes. Of course, getting something to eat mostly meant a tasty sandwich from Subway or Quinzos (once I got a burrito from the Nino Taco - not sure I'll ever to that again).

And on top of the new job, Easter came early this year. I know that sounds weird coming from a good Jewish girl, but I have a confession to make. I'm addicted to Easter candy. I know that sounds even weirder, but it is true. I LOVE Cadbury Mini Eggs, Cadbury Creme Eggs and jelly beans. The love is so great that I can hear them calling me from the shelves of any store I walk into. (Much like the Reese Peanut Butter Cups call Mum.) I can't seem to resist these little packets of Easter chocolate goodness. They somehow find their way in my cart and I end up eating them. It is a sickness I tell you.

Most years I can avoid this sugar rush because Easter and Passover typically are overlap and I keep Kosher for Passover (which means I don't eat anything with corn syrup in it, thus elimating all chocolate). With the early Easter holiday, my willpower faltered and I ate way to much.

But I'm back on track now. Last weekend I stocked up on fruits and veggies and brought my lunch to work everyday this week. In addition to overhauling my diet, I've made the commitment to work out at least five days a week. I've even started working out with a trainer twice a week - which is hard but rewarding. Hopefully by the time real bathing suit weather comes around, my arms, tush and mid-section will be looking smok'in (okay at least a little less flabby)!

701

2008-03-31T19:41:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since I've given a restuarant review, so here is one for a restuarant Micah and I went to this weekend in Washington, D.C.

The owners obviously lacked creativity when thinking of a name for their restuarant since 701 is at 701 Pennsylvania Ave. The Web site claims that it has a great wine list and raw bar. I didn't see a menu for the raw bar and wasn't all that impressed with the wine list.

The menu describes itself as Contempory Continential Cusine. I'm not even sure what Contempory Continential Cusine, but I can say that it was interesting. I had the Half Boneless Roasted Chicken, which was stuffed with a cornbread-andouille stuffing iwth a sweet and sour glaze. The andouille sauage was a little over-powering and chicken was dark meat, which I'm not found a fan. And other side note, Ashley (micah's sister) order the same thing and her chicken came out undercooked.

While the food was tolerable, the service was horrible. We had a 8pm reservation and were seated promptly, however, it took another 15 minutes for someone to take our drink order. The waiter took our order quickly after we got our drinks, however, the kitchen must have been backed up, because we didn't get our dinners until after 9:30 pm and only two of the five of us had ordered salads. It took another 20 minutes after we ordered coffee for us to get the waiter's attention to request the check.

My overall review is mediocure. The menu was pretensious and overpriced, while the services left something to be desired. If you are looking for a relaxing place with a nice glass of wine and enjoyable meal, I'd look someplace else.

A Night At the Newsuem

2008-03-30T11:47:00.002-05:00

Micah and I went to a preview of the Newsuem yesterday afternoon. The musuem had orginally been just outside of D.C. and just moved into downtown DC just steps away of the Capital building. The musuem is documents the 'news' business from the very beginning of the written word.

There is some very cool stuff at the musuem including the transmission tower from one of the World Trade Center Towers and in an exhibit dedicated to the attacks of 9/11, the story of how the news business scrambled to keep up with the events of the day are retold. This was probably one of the most powerful exhibits. In a tiny screening room, which was standing room only the entire time we were there, journalists retold their exepereinces that day. It was a very raw documentarty. At one point I looked around the room and saw many wiping tears from their faces.

Other parts of the musuem were more light-hearted. There is a part wehre you can become a t.v. news reporter or test your news trivia knowledge in several different interactive games.

Admission is inexpensive as fair as museums go, $20 for adults and I think $7 for kids. If you are in or around DC, I would suggest making this place a stop on your tour of the city. It opens to the public on April 11. Check out the website at www.newsuem.org.

A tribute...

2008-03-30T10:08:00.003-05:00

I don't typically post things on this blog that are do not directly connected to myself or Micah. However, the other day I learned of news that I thought I'd share, one, because his story is so moving and two, I hope that if people talk about what happened actions will be taken so it never happens again.

On Monday night, a young man passed away after being in a coma for nearly nine months. Zach Sowers was mugged and beaten while walking to his home just outside of Patterson Park (a neighborhood in Baltimore City). Four high school boys beat him so badly that he never regained consciousness. I first learned about this story about a month or so after the attack took place, when Zach was transferred to Sinai Hospital from a rehabilitation hospital due to an infection. He was at Sinai for a couple of days before being transferred back to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Something about Zach's story touched a nerve within me. I don't know if it was what he and his family went through or that we are the same age or that he and his wife, Anna, were married one day before Micah and I were - maybe it was a combination of all three.

I've included a link to the blog his family started after the attack - www.zachsowers.com. If you have a moment, take a look. I'll warn you, it is sad. I figure sharing the story of Zach's life is the least I can do.

A persons a person no matter how small

2008-03-23T18:23:00.003-05:00

A bunch of us celebrated Easter by going to the movies (really what else is there for a bunch of Jews to do on Easter Sunday?) We saw Horton Hears a Who. It was a cute movie and one I bet anyone under the age of 10 would love.

Really how can you go wrong making a movie out of any of Dr. Seuss' books. It has been a while since I've read one of Dr. Seuss' books, but if memory serves me correctly, they all had a message to tell. In Horton Hears a Who, the message is that all people should be treated equal, no matter what they look like or how tall or small they are. The message never gets old and could probably be retold to those fighting for a spot as the next president of the United States.

Overall, the movie got two thumbs up from me. Not something I think will win the next academy award, but a feel good family movie.

Let's Go Racing Boys

2008-03-17T18:58:00.004-05:00

In preparation for Micah's first NASCAR race later this summer, we've been watching the race on Sundays. This weekend, I had an appointment to have a manicure and pedicure (a belated birthday present), so I missed a majority of the race. Around 4:30 pm, I came racing in to the house, yelling" who is in the lead?"

Micah yelled back, "I don't know. They are racing under a yellow flag!"

"I think you mean the race is under caution," I answered.

"Yeah, that is what I meant."

He still has some learning to do, but I'll get him ready for the race in July. I can't wait!

Las Vegas Baby

2008-03-10T17:44:00.008-05:00

I finally got the pictures back from our trip to Las Vegas. Please keep in mind, these were taken with a disposable camera, so they are not that good. I think I need to invest in a new camera, somewhere between a disposable and Cyndi's :)

Here are a few pictures of The Strip

Caesar's Palace

Micah and I in front a waterfall at the Wynn hotel. This is one of the newest hotels in Vegas and it one of the nicest. I'd love to stay here the next time we come out to visit, but I think that it might be just out of our price range.

Me in front of a replica of Dale Earnhardt's car at the NASCAR Experience at the Sahara. There were a couple of other cars, but I can't remember which ones there. We also went on a roller coaster there that went through the hotel. I love roller coaster, but Micah doesn't really. He was a trooper and went on it with me. However, I did hear about halfway through the ride him yell "I hate you!" When we got off the ride, we complained that he was a little nauseous and would never go on another ride with me again.

Here is Micah a the botanical garden in the Bellagio. We were there near Chinese New Year, so the garden was all decked out with Chinese lanterns and streamers. It was very pretty. One of our other favorite things at the Bellagio was the fountains. At night the fountain lights up and does a choreographed routine to music. It is very cool.

We loved Vegas and hope to get back soon. It really is Disneyland for adults. And remember what happens at Vegas stays in Vegas.

Gray Hair

2008-03-03T19:25:00.002-05:00

Last week I found my first gray hair. It was Thursday. I remember the day well. I was just putting the finishing touches on my make-up and noticed a shiny strand of hair. At first I thought it was a strand of blonde hair (wishful thinking, I know). I quickly grabbed the tweezer and started pulling. The hair wasn't blonde. Not even close. The piece of hair in my hands was course and gray. Gray as gray can be.

I'm making an appointment to see the hairdresser this weekend!

A new job

2008-02-23T07:18:00.004-05:00

Before anyone else sends me an email about my lack of updating my blog, here is a brief update. I have pictures from Vegas, but they are in a disposable camera, which I just haven't gotten around to getting developed. This weekend may be the time.

So to get back to the title of this post... I have a new job! Earlier this week I accepted a job at The Living Legacy Foundation, a non-profit that helps raise awareness for organ donation. Additionally, the organization helps arrange recovery and transplant of organs. I am the new manager of Community Relations. My main responsibilities will be help develop and implement outreach programs to help drive awareness for organ donation and increase donor registration. I'll also have some media relations responsibilities.

I had to workout some details with the benefits and such so it took me over a week make the decision and give notice to LifeBridge Health. So to say that the last couple of weeks have been a little stressful would be an understatement.

I start my new job on March 3, so it maybe a while before I get a chance to post again while I try and get settled in the job. There is hope that I will get those pictures developed and posted.

Oh yeah... thank you all for the birthday wishes. I have thank you cards waiting to be mailed. (I need to by stamps.) I had a great birthday after a rough start. Micah had to spend the night before my birthday in DC, so I had to take the garbage out the morning of my birthday and some how, got locked out of the house in my PJs at 5:45am. I ended up having to break a window and crawl through it to get back into the house. The day did get better. I got beautiful flowers delivered at work and Micah took me out to a great sushi dinner. Yum!