Moving On

August is quickly approaching and there are still so many things I would like to do before summer ends. I figure I will make a list here so I won't forget and maybe if I write them down, they'll get done:

see a Phillies game spur of the moment on one of those unbelievable summer nights made for baseball. Or just settle for a Phillies game before summer's end.

tour the Masonic Temple on Broad Street. Recommended to me by my Auntie Jo, I like the stories of secret societies and she said this tour was a must-do because it was so interesting and filled with a lot of captivating information. You can take the online tour by clicking here if you'd like.

use our beach tent one more time. I think we'll get to do this when Ryan and Yana visit mid-August...if the weather cooperates. We'll be getting a hotel near the Boardwalk and spending our day(s) on the beach, in our cool tent, of course.

turn in D's yearbook stuff. He gets to design an entire page with quotes/text, four pictures, and his senior portrait. I'm excited that he actually gets a complimentary copy of the yearbook, it's the least they can do really with all that tuition money :) in my humble opinion.

see The Bourne Ultimatium. It comes out this weekend, so D and I have a tentative date Friday or Saturday night to go see it.

Well that's all the big stuff. We had such a fun time with Sara and Tony this weekend. It was our first time going into the city in a long time, so that was really fun. We took them on the grand tour, zigzagging all over the city. More about that later, though. We came across this clever shirt in our travels and it took a lot of willpower not to buy it:

We rounded out the week on Saturday night with some Peppered Popcorn. I usually sprinkle some parm cheese on mine, but decided against it that night. Then D remembered that someone in college once told him about popcorn with pepper on it. It's quite yummy, actually. I sneezed a few times and needed plenty of water, but it was better tasting than I had thought it would be. We ate said popcorn while watching True Lies (A-) on the computer. We tap into Mom and Dad's Netflix home page, legally and with their knowledge of course, where they have a "Watch Now" option. You can't find all the movies you ever wanted to see on it, but we manage to find a few good ones. I like to freeze frame these type of moments in my mind because they will one day be fleeting memories...us lying on our bed with the laptop and the bowl of popcorn balanced between us. Because then you have the rest of the week...

Monday was my weekly bible study, which included a chocolate birthday cake for one of our friends. D went over his friend's place in Philly and didn't tell me until much later that he took some amatuer motorcycle lessons during this time. It turns out his friend brought his motorcycle back from Kansas and it was too tempting to just let it sit there. D did tell me that he was wearing a helmet.

Wednesday D was on call til 9pm, so I did some errands which included picking up some ingredients for pepperoni bread, garlic butter corn on the cob, and Garden Vegetable Salad Stackers for a party we were going to on Friday night. On Thursday D went to see Transformers with some friends of his and I went to dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. We were in the same plaza the entire night, just not together. After a 3.5 hour dinner, D and I arrived home around the same time and flopped into bed. Socializing is very, very tiring.

And it didn't stop there. Our friends had moved to DC and we were coming back up for their Farewell Party hosted at the absolutely gorgeous home of our Sunday School teachers'. I know I mentioned it last year: inground pool, screened in patio, really neat kitchen. And their hospitality is just as big as their house. We all stayed past midnight, but I didn't care, the next day was Saturday and I could sleep in!! Sometime during those hours, I offered to babysit our friends' little guy so she could get her to-do list done--finally. It was so self-sacrificing of me, I know. He is the best behaved baby, is always smiling at me, and is very low maintanance, so I always enjoy his company. It's hard not to hold him and talk to him the entire time, but his mommy would NOT like me starting that very bad habit, so I resisted.

So D and I had him all afternoon, while we were getting some things done around our apartment in preparation for his sister and her husband's impending visit. I only really clean out of necessity, so D likes having company because our apartment sparkles. I tell him the same old story: when I'm not working all day, I'll have so much more time to think about cleaning and all that other fun stuff. The baby took a two hour nap around the same time D and I were ready for our nap, but D said someone should stay up to hear the baby. He decided to play the Wii, such sacrifice, and I greatfully fell sleep for an hour. At the end of that hour, I awoke to a little smiling baby floating in front of my face. D said it was the quickest he'd ever seen me wake up, so there is hope for me and my inability to wake up.

I can't believe the summer is halfway through. There are eleven weeks of summer camp and we are now in the middle of week six. Unbelieveable. I was trying to think of some summer-y things to do before we no longer have the option and I definitely want to get a Phillies game in before summer's end. Not the best team in baseball by any means, but there's just something about going to a live baseball game that I'll always love. Fortunately David doens't mind going to one once in a while. They also have an outdoor movie on a huge screen on Penn's Landing for free every Thursday night. So we might do that. Ryan and Yana will be here for part of the third week of August and I'll be taking that Friday off. We'll probably head down to Atlantic City for an overnight and D'll meet us down there when he gets out of work. I love the beach and New Jersey beaches are just wonderful. Plus we get to use our new tent, SPF 50, which makes such a difference.

Then Mom and Dad may make their way down here end of August for a long weekend, which would be a nice way to round out the summer. Can't believe I'm already talking about "rounding out the summer." I like the Fall, too. And every day brings us that much closer to D's graduation date, so how's that for thinking positive about the end of summer?!

I'm reading another book, Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille, it'll keep me busy for a while. And I have two more on hold at the library. Yay for libraries and yay for summer reading and yay for the time to be able to read!!

Our pastor preached about Career and Vocation as part of a series on Forming a Biblical Self-Image. I thoroughly enjoy his insights and his teaching style and how he makes the Bible so interesting and applicable. He also possesses a great sense of humor and infuses it into his messages. Like today, for example, he was talking about the Sluggard mentioned in Proverbs and how many of them exist in the workforce...their motto being, "It's not my job." Well look closely at this picture and you will see the winner of the It's Not My Job Award.

The pastor made another good point: This worker's laziness is there for at least the next 20 years for all to see!

Another crazy week is in the works, but I actually had this bit of fun while getting paid today. Since the heat wave was continuing on with another day in the 90s, we decided to forego our outdoor activity and opted to see the newest and only G-rated movie in theaters--Ratatouille. Look at this face:

He is the cutest rat...so cute, in fact, that he almost makes me sympathize with his kind. There was so much packed into this storyline that the running time was actually a few minutes over two hours. It didn't seem that long, though, and it wasn't boring at all. And I would totally watch it again since so much was going on that I'm sure I missed some things. The campers were very well-behaved, so I can't blame them for any interuptions.

I like the play on words, too: Ratatouille, I learned, is not only a movie with a rat as its main character and narrator, but it is also a real life food dish. It is made up of "all sorts of vegetables, ratatouille is most comparable to a vegetable stew. A versatile dish in its own right: it can be served hot, cold, or even lukewarm. Call it an appetizer, call it your main course, whatever you want to call it, it’s a classic French dish, namely from the Provencal [Southern] region. Some serve it with meat and potatoes, others on a bed of rice. Ratatouille bears no burden of restrictions." It doesn't really look all that appetizing, but the recipe fits nicely into the movie.

I'm usually not so impressed by kid-type movies, but this had it all. And it took place in a kitchen. It was almost like watching one of the many cooking shows I tune into on a regular basis, except this had a plot, an interesting plot even. Really, look at that face again, can you resist it?

So ends one crazy week. It all started on Monday with the bible study I go to...which promptly turns into a socializing time once we are done discussing the night's topic. I get there around 7pm and have yet to leave before 10pm. I love it, I'm so glad we started one, but it makes for a long day. This upcoming Monday, D has made plans with a friend because he knows I always get home so late!

Tuesday we went out to dinner with the Ruby Tuesday gift card my grandparents gave me, as a graduation gift, because it was so incredibly hot and humid. We also ran a few errands and got home later than usual.

Wednesday we drove to Jersey to visit with my dad's mom and her sister. Grandma is up from Florida and her first stop was to visit with her sister in NJ. We finally got there after an hour (it's just about a half hour ride) because of a refinery fire that was blazing right by the highway. Everyone was stopping to look, which means traffic. It was quite the blaze which produced quite the amount of smoke so it's no wonder people were checking out the scene. Once we arrived, we sat down to what turned out to be a 6 or 7 course meal. Should have known, they're Italians. We started with crackers and provolone cheese, had a bite or two of a Philly pretzel, and ate some delicious lentil soup. Auntie Jo coxed D into having some broccoli rabe with some pasta she handmade. It has a really bitter taste, so he didn't eat much, but she was very happy that he tried some. Next came the dinner rolls and the pork "with my special sauce that I couldn't make again if you asked me to," Auntie Jo told us. And the salad, can't forget the salad. Finally dessert came in the form of pizzelles and Reese's brownies with walnuts, served with tea of course. Did I mention that they only got home half an hour before us? We rounded out the night with a game of Rummikub, which David won.

Thursday we helped friends from church load up the contents of their three-bedroom house onto a moving truck. They served a pizza dinner to the many, many people who were there to help. It was so nice to see so many people pitching in. I, somehow, got stuck watching the two two-year old kids which was quite a task. I thoroughly enjoyed it though because they were so entertaining...although I will never have twins...knock on wood. I slept so well that night!

Friday D had call until 8ish and I was gathering/packing up for our day at the beach on Saturday with some friends from church. The six of us went last year around this time and really enjoyed ourselves, so we planned a day to go again this year. There were seven of us this time, however, and the little guy was most amusing. We found out on our beach trip last year that Sara was expecting and now her baby is already four months old.

We made better time going to the beach, only about two hours, this year (should be an hour and 15). We all had tents this time and I forgot to take a picture of all three tents lined up in a row. I'm sure it was a funny sight. I'll never go to the beach without one again, it made for a wonderful beach stay. That and the absolutely gorgeous weather we had: not too hot, not too humid, and bright and sunny. After we all set up our tents, D and I watched the baby while the others went to eat on the boardwalk (we packed our lunch). The little guy was nice and let us finish eating. Then he rolled over (I tried to ignore him so he'd go back to sleep) and, after a few minutes, started tapping my leg. I took that as my cue to pick him up and was rewarded with a huge grin. He loved looking at the beach scene.

Once all of our food had settled, D and I went in the water to enjoy the huge waves that kept rolling in. We were joined by everyone except Keith, who had babysitting duty. At one point, a group gathered on the beach, so the guys went to check it out. Someone had found a baby sand shark. It was dead, but we were swimming where it was pulled out of...not exactly a comforting thought.

Around 5, we packed up our load of stuff and set out to find a dinner place. We found this cute Italian restaurant and ordered pizza. That was the third time I had had pizza that week, but they were all good-tasting, so I didn't mind at all. Everyone was sleepy on the way back, so there wasn't much talking. A few people managed to crack a few corny jokes, but fortunately that didn't last long. I mentioned that next year D and I would have to come down for our yearly day-at-the-Jersey-shore with everyone because we'd be out of state by this point. Someone had a good idea: they'd come to us next year. I warned them that New England beaches aren't nearly as nice as New Jersey beaches. They seemed to be okay with that.

And finally, some pictures:

D had his first and last weekend call for this, his first rotation of his last year. He had it on Saturday which was also the start of our anniversary weekend...since our anniversary falls on Monday, a weekday, for the first time in our marriage marathon. I didn't mind so much because call at the hospital he's at is easy: weekends, 8am-4 or 5pm and weekdays, 5-9pm. I also didn't mind so much because the rest of the weekends in July are all taken up and I wouldn't have wanted him to have call then. Plus it was the first weekend back from our nice long vacation so I had plenty to catch up on.

When D made it home around 4pm, I made him/us a dinner from my Simple & Delicious magazine. And D said it was delicious, so it was a success. Then we went to a Concert on the Green of sorts at a nearby park. They had an orchestra scheduled to play that night, so we brought our blanket and our books and had a wonderfully relaxing evening together.

On Sunday, after church, we went to Panera Bread and bought their Rosemary and Onion Foccacia bread in order to make the Panini sandwich you see David eating. I can eat that at least once a week.
I cut the bread horizontally, almost like a pita pocket, and put smoked turkey, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, balsamic vinegar, and provolone cheese on it. Then D grilled both sides just enough to warm it. YUM! We ate on the patio and thoroughly enjoyed that sandwich! Later, when it cooled a bit, I made Blueberry Crumble for dessert...another recipe from S&D. Blueberries in anything are tasty, especially in desserts.

Then, around 9:15, D randomly remembers that there were fireworks set to go off, postponed from the rainy 4th. It started around 9:30, so we jumped in the car and headed down the street and found a good parking spot right next to a good viewing spot and set up shop to wait for the show. It's a good thing D remembered because it was one of the best displays I've ever seen...and I have made it a point to see a lot of them in my lifetime. Another thing that made it awesome: I did not see one kid/parent/person I knew!! And this was no small feat in the small town we live in and the numerous amount of kids and parents I know from working at a school. Darkness, thankfully, provided an excellent cover.

Monday, our actual anniversary, was really hectic. Mom and Dad paid for a pizza to be delivered to our apartment from our favorite pizza place. We ate together and then I ran off to bible study...for the rest of the night. I didn't get home till 10:30pm and by that time D was tired. Poor guy. He wouldn't say it, but he probably enjoyed a night of non-stop fiddling on the computer without any [of my] interruptions.

So, it's 3 years down and forever to go! :)

Snapshots that have stuck in my head three years after our BIG DAY:

• The perfectly gorgeous weather we had that Friday evening


• Feeling like I would pass out in the limo on the way to the church


• Dad snapping pictures of the two of us (as in Dad and me) when we were supposed to be walking down the aisle


• My thought as Dad and I were walking up the aisle: "I wish I had thought to dim these lights. The atmosphere would have been more of what I wanted..."


• The surreal feeling of looking from the outside in on my own wedding as the whole thing took place


• Nudging David so he'd say, "I do..."


• Being amazed at how quickly the ceremony went by


• Standing in the receiving line three times longer than we stood at the alter


• Offering to have the kids I watched for three years come with us in the limo so their parents could go on ahead and enjoy the cocktail hour (and now thinking how odd an offer that was on my wedding day!!)


• Cramming in the limo with five too many people...Fred the Limo Driver was awesome!


• The reception went by in such a blur


• I remember thinking that people were leaving so early, when it was already 12:00am


• Someone commenting: "I've never had so much fun at a wedding...and there wasn't even any alcohol!"


• I also remember thinking how wonderful David was for putting up with me and all the emotions that came to a head that day: mainly, joy and relief. They have a lot of subcategories, too many to list.


• How incredibly fun it all was


• Trying to remember to thank our parents for EVERYTHING they did for us to make the day so special


• My cheeks actually aching from smiling so much

David's response when asked what he remembers from three years ago:

"Everything went perfectly, as planned." As who planned, I asked rhetorically, thinking how it was such an overly simplistic guy response.

In no particular order...

It feels so weird to have a day off in the middle of the work week. I told D earlier in the week that Tuesday will be like a mini-Friday...and it was. We did our usual things like our walk and some errands (Bath & Body Works is having their semi-annual sale...body splashes, lotions, scrubs, washes are only $5...so I picked up my new favorite scent: Magnolia Blossom) and some stuff around the apartment, but it was nice knowing that we didn't have to get up early and go to work in the morning.

The rain woke us up early on and normally I love the sound of rain, but not on our day off! By the time we woke up a few hours later it wasn't raining anymore, but it was overcast. D went to the store and got us some bagels and bananas and made breakfast...while I leisurely read in bed.

That didn't last too long as we had a picnic to go to and I had desserts to make. We were invited to the same family's house we went over to for Easter dinner and we always feel so welcome there. Their house is like my house in CT, a collect-all of people, mostly family and some church friends. They're family to our friends Keith and Julie, so we got to see them for the first time in a few weeks. I made pizzelles and red and blue jello squares (with whipped cream to represent the white) for the kids. I hadn't had jello in forever and I might make it more often...it's fun to eat. We visited the entire afternoon, playing boccie ball, eating, socializing, eating, and then eating some more. We would have gone swimming if the pool water was warmer. By the time we got home, it had started to rain again. D got out his big umbrella and insisted that we take our nightly walk. It was interestingly odd, but it was better than not walking. We even saw some fireworks shooting up from backyards because the town ones were cancelled. Since we slept in, I wasn't tired so I finished reading a book I had been working on for a while. My list of books to read keeps growing, so my goal is to watch less TV and finish one book a week for the entire summer. While I was reading, D was editing his personal statement that will accompany his Residency application that is due by the end of September.

It's really starting to feel like the beginning of the end. We had to renew our lease and we couldn't do a year-long lease, so we are going month-to-month starting September 1st. Which is no fun with the increase in rent plus an extra $50 a month for not being a year-long lease. But so it goes. And it's weird to think that this time next year we'll not only know where D has his residency and where we'll be living, but he'll have started his residency and we'll be all moved in...Lord willing. So with that in mind, I've started to plan his graduation party! I know, I know...a bit early still, but no one can accuse me of not being ready for med school life to be over with! Then real life starts...well, ok, med school can last a bit longer. It's ok.

One of my kindergartners from this past year carried on this conversation:

"Is this for us?" ["This" being a booklet with lots of big words, something like a workbook, for summer camp.]

"Yes."

"Wow it looks serious. I can do it because I'm a serious girl and I can do serious things."

"You're right, you are very serious..."

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When I got back from vacation, another teacher gave me this note from A. Poor girl is having a crisis of conscious, I think. It's about the third note I've gotten in two weeks from her about her bad behavior in kindergarten and how she feels terribly about it now. I'm not sure how many times I'll have to say that I forgive her:

Translation: Miss Jessica, You are the bestest girl I have known, so all the bad things that I've [I thought her Iv'e contraction was cute!] done in kindergarten were mean, but I didn't mean to be bad in kindergarten. Love always, A