Clever title

Well, not one day goes by that I don’t say to myself “Ugh, I really should write a blog post today”. 

I started this blog to document and keep friends/family updated on our future move half way across the country. And yes, to answer the people that ask me every day, we’re still going. But sometimes it’s hard to rally and write about scouring craigslist MN for apartments, and booking a storage POD. 

I’ve been thinking, what can I do to make blogging easier for me? What’s something I do on a daily basis that would be interesting to write about? What’s something that is fun to take pictures of? And BAM! (Emeril reference) Cooking popped in my head. I know, I know… you’re thinking, “Oh boy, another cooking blog. Another “Julie & Julia” type..” but I’m doing this for purely selfish reasons. I prepare meals on a daily basis, I enjoy searching the interwebs for fun and interesting recipes, and this may be just what I need to keep me in the “daily blogging” habit.

Tonight’s adventure: Vegetarian Black Bean Burgers, keep an eye out.

 

 

Spring distractions

Alright alright, so I haven’t been exactly blogging.. but I’m still here. 

Thankfully, Moose has been doing enough blogging for the both of us over at TheMoosiah. Not only is he blogging, but you can peep his archive of short stories. It’s also there that you can read about our cold brew coffee adventures, walking, and Minneapolis “homework”. 

We’ve been peeping Craigslist regularly to check out apartments in MN and have found a few gems (including one with a bathtub in the kitchen). For some reason I am really looking forward to living in an apartment again. Harriet (our pooch), has always been a house dog with her own yard and freedom to bark as she pleases. We’re planning on enlisting her in obedience classes at The Potter League this summer to ensure her BEST behavior in her new digs. No more of this barking at every car that drives by and certainly no more ankle biting at strangers. She is so fierce. 

It’s April 3rd and I’ve missed a “deadline” of sorts. When I started this blog I committed to doing “30 Things in Newport before I leave”. On April 1st, #7 “Go To Frosty Freez on opening day (and care)..”came and went. It was a dreary cold Sunday where I spent 5 hours reading The Hunger Games: Mockingjay cover to cover and then went into work. Hardly a good day to venture out and stand in line for ice cream. I don’t even like ice cream, so technically, it would have been wrong to go just to cross something off of the list, because I wouldn’t have cared. 

That being said, it’s time I started crossing some things off of that list– please stand by.

 

 

 

Highs and Lows.

This past month has been a month of fantastic highs and tragic lows. The month of March started with the loss of a friend and coworker, Steve Poirier. He was diagnosed 2 years ago with cancer and “lost the battle” (as they say) on March 3rd. Steve and I bonded over our love for Star Wars and good music. During the last few years of his life, we had drifted apart, but his sense of humor and his honest spirit will be missed forever. Here is a copy of the most beautiful obituary ever written:

Days after the loss of our friend, I received some wild news amidst a typical text conversation with my dear friend Ila White. Ila and I both started at The Black Pearl in the same summer and continued to work together until December 2011. One day, she decided she needed to “get off the rock” and packed up her kid Maceo and moved to Austin, TX. Our conversation went a little bit like this:

Ila and I were having our usual back and forth where we discuss Twilight, Ryan Gosling, and her (second) growing baby bump. Amidst all of that she decides to inform me of Newport’s best kept secret. That her family was the much discussed $336 million dollar Powerball winner. The winner was drawn in February and after weeks and weeks of speculation the winner was finally going to be announced. Ila kept this secret for 3 weeks, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep my mouth shut for 12 hours.

When the winner didn’t come forward right away in February, Newport residents had come up with their own speculation of what happened to the winning ticket. The rumors spread like wildfire thanks to America’s obsession with social networking. They ranged from 5 workers at the market it was sold from, a local surf legend, and the last one I heard was that it was a man from New Jersey.

I’m not going to lie, when the winner didn’t come forward right away I kept my grapes peeled for any flash of yellow paper blowing on the street. I checked and rechecked the ticket I had actually purchased hoping that I just misread the numbers. It was a big jackpot, and it was sold in my town.

In such a small town, I thought for sure I would at least recognize the name of the winner. Maybe pass by them at Starbucks here and there, or pour them a cup of chowder once. I had no idea lightning would have struck so close. Newport is just absolutely beaming with pride for their new local millionaires. God bless the Whites and their new life, may it be full of happiness and adventure. ♥

Photo’s from Ireland

Just a small gallery of pictures from a quick trip to the old sod. Rainbows in Ireland are not an uncommon thing, but it was pretty amazing to stand at the very end of one.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

2011 in pictures

Since I kind of blew it as far as updating the past few months, I figured I’d post a gallery of photos. That way, you won’t feel like you missed out on anything. These pictures range from the Aquidneck Island Harvest fair held in October to Christmas with Mary’s wedding in between. Some have been seen before on other social networking sites, and some are being viewed for the very first time. I also created a gallery just of photos from my most recent trip to Ireland, which garnered it’s own personal post.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Movies in Minnesota

“My feelings would best be expressed in a monologue from the made for TV move “Paper Dolls” starring Daryl Hannah and the strapping Mr. Craig T. Nelson” -Mary Katherine Gallagher

From an early age, I was pretty much able to rent/watch whatever movies I wanted. My mom gave the go ahead down at the local video store, “Bucci’s” (which doubled as liquor store and market), to let me rent whatever movie I wanted. Even with her permission, Mrs. Bucci would raise her eyebrows when I would rent anything that wasn’t PG and God forbid it was was rated R, she would STILL call my mother. When the new releases “well” went dry at Bucci’s, I would grab the same 3-4 movies from the public Library: Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet,  Much Ado About Nothing, and To Kill a Mockingbird. I was like Matilda, but with movies instead of books.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve still got the movie bug. My movie collection would blow Bucci’s out of the water.

“Untamed Heart” came on TV this morning, what a gem! I hadn’t watched this movie  in it’s entirety since I was about 12, and I just remember bawling my eyes out at the end.  At 12, the set of this movie didn’t have a close connection to my heart so I only just realized this tearjerker was filmed in Minnesota! It’s chock full of leg warmers, winter hats and Marisa Tomei’s comical Minnesota accent. After a bit of research, I’ve realized some of my favorite movies of all time have been filmed in my future home-state.

Also, “The Mighty Ducks”, “Mallrats”, and “A Serious Man”. For the record that’s TWO Cohen brothers movie’s filmed in MN.

As exciting as this list is, if I were living based on where movies were filmed, Rhode Island would take home the prize. WE have a Wes Anderson movie filmed here. Not just “here” in Rhode island, I mean “here” on Aquidneck Island, and it  doesn’t get any better than that.

2012

Well here we are, three and a half months later and finally a new post. I’d like to say I’ve been terribly busy and haven’t had a chance to sit down with my computer for more than 5 minutes but that would be a bold face lie. I’ve had more than enough time to type out a blog post or two, I just lost steam.

In fact, when I signed into WordPress I found 3 half written drafts all about the movie “Drive” and Ryan Gosling. I guess it really was for the best that I wasn’t blogging.

I’m here now, and ready to get back to it.

Last I “blogged”, Moose was having a rough time with his Crohn’s disease and had had a couple of stays in the hospital. After lots of thought, he decided the best thing to do would be to get the recommended surgery to remove scar tissue from past surgeries. Removing the scar tissue would mean less chance of obstructions and would also give the surgeon a chance to remove any traces of the disease. The only other alternative would have been to risk future obstructions and maybe have emergency surgery someday. This gave him the “upper hand” on his disease.

The surgery was supposed to be a routine 2-3 hour surgery with 3-4 weeks of recovery time. He went in on December 13th and ended up in a 5 hour procedure with an added hernia surgery. He spent 3 days in the ICU in lots and lots of pain and then another week on the recovery floor. They sent him home with an open wound which needed to be packed 2 times a day. Nurse Addie & Nurse Rosie to the rescue! He was home for Christmas and has finally returned to work today.

Now that all that nonsense is over with, we can get back to the matters at hand. We are officially in the year 2012, the year we pick up and move to Minneapolis. Let’s get back on track!

Crohn’s Shmohns.

The past two weeks have been something for the books (or the blogs I suppose).

Poor Moose, who suffers from Crohn’s disease wasn’t feeling too great on 9/22 after a fantastic Taco Night with our dear friends The Doyle’s. It began as sharp stomach pains and developed into vomiting. After a call to his doctor on-call at 3AM we were on our way to the ER, where they doped him with his old friend Dilaudid up and admitted him for further observation.

Four days, zero food, and countless x-rays later he was finally feeling well enough to send me myspace-esque photos of him in his new Warby Parkers.

He was discharged on Sunday (9/25) and put on a low-residue diet. For those of you who don’t know what a low-residue diet is, let me explain (and don’t worry, I didn’t know either).

A low residue diet means he CAN’T eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and tough meats. He CAN and is encouraged to eat white bread, and other soft foods such as egg salad (EW) and pudding. Sounds like my worst nightmare. The most recent visit with his doctor, almost 2 weeks later has put him BACK on regular foods sans nuts, raw veggies, and tough meats. NO MORE EGG SALAD! EW.

Now that THAT crisis is over and blogged about, let’s talk about the bridal shower celebrating my cherished one- Mary Kathleen Walsh. On that Sunday the 25th, I drove Moose home from the hospital, threw on a dress and some heels, grabbed my prepared hors devours (tomato/basil/mozzarella on toothpicks and donut holes) and booked it into Newport to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of one of my oldest friends. The shower was hosted by the MOH Jillian and her mother in a recently renovated victorian. It could not have been a more perfect setting. The theme coincided with Mary’s favorite wedding color “marigold” and also the children’s story “Miss Mary Mack”. There were lots of yummy snacks and a multitude of gifts.

So glad you got lots of great gifts Mary!!

Reggae Pie

We’re nearing a pretty important milestone in the next week or so- October 1st, 2011, exactly one year until we will be living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A few things I’ve really been focusing on in the past few weeks is the money issue. In one of the earlier posts, where I discussed the move in “a perfect world” I said I wanted $10,000 saved by 10/01/2012, I really think I can do this. Most of you who know me, know I have never saved a dime in my life. Money dealings are just one of those things I have never EVER been good at, and I’m going to take this year to really make an effort to make this goal a reality.

After doing a little more research into “Smarty Pig”, I realized it’s as simple as opening a savings account and a whole lot less risky. So, yesterday Moose and I opened our first savings account. Better late then never.

On Sunday The MVA and the The MVA East had their weekly staff meeting via GChat and discussed some really exciting things. Let the thought process begin! Moose has already begun a project with a most direct medium- Crayola Crayons.

Addie                      Listening to: “Reggae Pie” Mister Heavenly

Sick in September

The summer has come to an end which means Moose and I have been blessed with the annual “end of summer cold”. Sore throats, coughs, and runny noses have bound us to our bedroom in a sort of “quarantine” as to not get others in the house sick. You see, my stepdad is here from Ireland on a sort of “holiday” and by “holiday” I mean he is here to have a stent put in and have doctors poke and prod him for a month. Being sick on top of that, really wouldn’t be ideal for him.

There is nothing more boring than a blog post about people being sick, I’m sure, but I really didn’t want to lose steam. So, I figured I’d just post about some of the things I’ve been able to enjoy through all of this.

Catching up on True Blood: We’re still behind about 3 episodes, but thanks to Facebook spoilers I DO know that Tara dies. Thank god. I’ve hated Tara since the first episode. I will say, this is the most ridiculous of all of the seasons, but not as boring as the one with Mary Ann & Eggs.

Being introduced to “Deangelo Jeremitrius Vickers” on The Office.

Learning how to unlock and jailbreak my old iPhone to make it more valuable. I might as well be a hacker. I wonder if Anonymous would need me to do some freelance work for them.

This kid on Curb 

I left the confines of the house yesterday and bought a smashing new raincoat.

I’m sorry this post is so blasé, maybe I can get Moose to post about his exciting venture into the world of spectacles.