January 31

Dane and I headed out to Salem Beer Works this afternoon to meet up with some of his co-workers for Clarke's Rehirement party. Clarke retired from Wentworth about 4 months ago, and decided to come back a few days a week. We went to his retirement celebration too. Of course, Dane was challenged to eat the Downtown Crossing burger (a one pound burger with two beef patties, bacon, cheese, and caramelized onions) with fries. He can't pass up that kind of challenge, so he did it and finished the whole thing. I'm not sure if I should be proud or grossed out.

January 30

I was feeling inspired this evening, and had a little sweet tooth, so I decided to take out the Hershey's cook book my sister Melissa gave me for Christmas last year and try a new recipe. It was delicious! I made mini chocolate cakes with a chocolate glaze, all from scratch. The cake is pretty dense and very chocolatey, and the glaze was an added bonus. You only need a few to get your fill. I put this plate out for us all to enjoy as we continue to catch up on Lost. I'll definitely be having some more tomorrow!

January 29

The Dance Team at Lasell had their first performance of the semester today. They danced during half time of the men's basketball game with the routine I choreographed for them. Dane and I went to see it and it looked great! I'm very proud of how far they have come since the beginning of last semester when this group didn't even exist.

They were walking out when I took this picture. One of the refs walked by just as I was hit the button. I started recording the routine after this, so I don't have any other pictures of them, only video. It was actually funny to me that he happened in front of the camera just as I took the picture, so I'm keeping it as my picture of the day.

January 28

I realize I have quite a few pictures of Mia, but I can't help myself. Today we had a snow day and Lasell was closed. That meant I got to spend all day with Mia. We snuggled in my bed and then I took her for a walk in the snow. She loves the snow, so it's so cute to watch her run around. For some reason this time she kept sticking her entire head into the snow which was really funny when she picked her head up and had snow all over her face. This is her looking up at me in snow almost a foot deep.

January 27

I am SO tired today. Didn't get home from work until after 10pm. I love my bed. This is where I wanted to be all day.

January 26

Crazy day at work. I feel like I was busy from the second I got into the office, until the second I left.

After work,Tasha came over for dinner. It was great to see her and catch up a bit. We had some food and then just hung out in the den chatting away. It was relaxing and fun. Mia really liked Tasha, and I think she was a little sad when she left for the night. Look at this little face.

January 25

I've been coughing like crazy the past few days, so I decided to get a humidifier for my room. All the dry heat has really been getting to me. We went to Target and saw a few different kinds, but I had to get this one. It's an elephant! Cutest humidifier, even the box says it's adorable!

January 24

It's Harry Potter Weekend! We went to bed early Friday night and got up at 7:30am on Saturday morning. Dane immediately started to prepare for the big movie marathon. He made signs of the movie times, and even put one on the front door that said "Dalrymple Cinemas". Then he got out his own version of the sorting hat, and as people arrived they chose their house out of the hat. I had been saying all along that I did not want to be in Slytherin, so of course I picked Slytherin. We did trivia in between each movie, which everyone loved. They wanted more even though we made 15 questions for each movie! I made baked ziti for dinner, and Dane made a little Snack Bar that we all enjoyed throughout the day with popcorn, candy, chips, and other tasty movie snacks. Now we are ready for the sixth movie!

January 23

My boss pretty much lives on hot dogs, M&M's, and Coke Zero. Today I walked into his office and he offered me some M&M's. I said sure, and he opened his drawer. Where paper clips would usually be, he has made a place to store some candy. This is his desk drawer.

January 22

It was a busy day at work today. I went in all day, then went home, ate dinner, picked up Dane, and went back in for an event. We had musician Tim Blane come perform, and he was great (along with James on the Peruvian instrument he was playing). I was playing with the camera after Dane figured out how to make it switch to different picture taking modes, and got this picture of some Lasell students enjoying the show.

January 21

Mia provides us with endless hours of entertainment. Tonight while Dane and I were eating dinner, she sat under us desperately hoping something would drop on the floor. Nothing did, although I did "accidently" drop some broccoli stems on the floor while I was cutting it up. I decided since she was pretty good while we ate, that she could lick Dane's bowl. This is her right before I told her she could come get it. Look at the longing in her little eyes.

January 20

Amazing day! Today was the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. I was at Winter Orientation all day for our incoming students, but snuck out of a session to watch the oath of office and part of his speech. We had a showing of the inauguration for the Lasell community and it was great to see how many people came out to watch history together. Not the best picture (I used my phone to take it), but look at everyone watching our new president!

January 19

Dane and I had to drive back to Boston today. After my mom made us a delicious breakfast, we set out. Dane cleaned the car off, and I snapped this picture of my house after the snow.

January 18

We went to church this morning for the first time where we will be married. It was great! I really liked the service. It was much different than what I was used to, but for Dane it was what he grew up with.

Afterwards, my sisters, mom, and I went to David's Bridal so I could start looking for a wedding dress. I had no idea I would actually find the perfect one! This picture is not the dress, but Abby was having a fun time crawling around and playing with me while I tried on dresses. One of her favorite things was when I twirled around in the dress. She would crack up laughing. It was adorable.

My dress was the first one I tried on. I loved it, but wanted to try on more to get some different ideas. So after about 6 or 7 more, we were going to leave. I saw my dress again and decided to try it on one more time. I was done. I had nothing to compare it to the first time I tried it and trying on all the other dresses made me sure that it was the one! Mom started crying, Jenna held her breathe, and Melissa just smiled. I didn't want to take it off! I got the perfect veil too. I wish I could just wear it all the time!

January 17

While we were back in NY we took my family to see our reception site. Everyone loved it, and I think Dane and I loved it even more the second time. Abby even liked it and she crawled around the bridal suite.

We went home after that and got Chinese food. Everyone played the Wii and I played with Abby. She's crawling all over the place and standing up on her own now. Here she is laughing at the dog and playing with me. Cutest little girl ever!

January 16

It was so cold today! The high was only 10 degrees, but with the wind chill it was much colder. To make myself feel better about the cold, I decided to eat a pomegranate. Pomegranates just seem tropical to me. I got all the seeds out and brought it to work. I snacked on them all day. So yummy.

January 15

Today after work we went out for drinks at Margarita's. It was good to unwind and laugh with some Sam Adams. We had to run out to get Jenny to her second job on time but, I got home in plenty of time for Grey's Anatomy.

January 14

Today was our friend Jeremy's birthday. We decided to go to Bella Luna, one of my favorites on Centre Street in JP, so I was looking forward to it all day. Not to mention that Sam and Jason were going to join us and bring my Project 365 Kit! It has so much fun stuff in it and I can't wait to get started. This picture was taken by our waitress. It's a little off center, but I think that's part of what makes it fun. Our waitress remembered all 9 of our orders without writing anything down! It was very impressive. All around a good night with good friends.

January 13

The highlight of my day was taking Mia for a walk after work in the snow. Even though she's from an island, she absolutely loves playing in the snow. I let her off her leash in the park and she ran around like crazy. Since there were no sticks for me to throw, I made snowballs and threw them for her. Mia ran after them, but couldn't catch any of them. That didn't stop her from planting her face in the snow everytime one landed near her. Here she is with her face full of snow.

January 12

Today was a big day for birthdays. My co-worker Jenny, Dane's sister Paige, and Ben all had a birthday today. I made a cake for Ben (Red Velvet, without the red because we couldn't find the food coloring) and Emily decorated it. We sang happy birthday and he blew out his candles to make a wish.

January 11

We had another snowstorm last night, so today was a day for lounging around the house. Dane and I played Guitar Hero and Rayman Raving Rabbids TV for most of the afternoon. Even though there was snow on the ground, we all decided it was also a good day to barbeque. So Dane and Ben fired up the grill, we invited Sam, Jason, and Ellen over, and enjoyed some burgers, hot dogs, and tater tots. After dinner we played some Apples to Apples, which is when this picture was taken. I think I had just found something really funny and I slapped Dane on the leg. This is the look I got. Sam captured this moment at just the right second.

January 10

Today we helped Emily paint a room for her new children's program at United South End Settlements. It took hours, but we had a lot of fun. Mia got to come with us to USES and she stayed in a room where there was no paint. We had to go in and visit her every hour or so. At the end of the day we were all tired and went home for some pizza and relaxing.

January 9

I have been looking forward to seeing my P.I.C. (partner in crime) for at least a month now. He was in Australia for the fall semester, and I missed him! We finally got together and it was so good to see him! Love my Nino.

January 8

I started a wedding web site today for Dane and I. Shutterfly makes it really easy to share pictures and information for our family and friends that we can't always update easily. Now they can just check out the site for our updates when they feel like it.

New Grey's Anatomy tonight! Finally! It's been at least a month since a new episode was on. Emily and I have been looking forward to this.

January 7

We had a frost/sleet/snow/freezing rain last night. This left my car covered in a thick layer of ice, which I was not too happy about cleaning off. My boss decided that we could all come in at 10am because we knew the roads would probably be bad too. When we all got to work it turned out that the college decided not to open until 10am anyway. And we thought we were so smart.

January 6

Dane asked me if I wanted to go out on a date with him tonight. He surprised me with flowers and we went out to dinner for steak, a favorite of both of ours. Dinner was great and it was nice to relax and spend some fun time out with him.

January 5

Today was back to work after a really nice Christmas break. No one was excited to go back after having a week and a half off. To make ourselves feel better, and escape the sawdust from the construction in the Campus Center, we (Jenny, Chad, and I) decided to have our holiday luncheon that had been snowed out before we left for break. We spent about 2 hours out of the office and went to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious lunch. It really helped break up the day that we were all dreading!

January 4

After waking up and having breakfast with Dane's mom and dad, it was time to drive back to Massachusetts. Neither of us were looking forward to going back to work. At least I had this picture to make me laugh. On the drive home we finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We had been listening to it on our long drives for months!

I was greeted at home by a very excited Mia. It was good to see her and Emily and relax.

January 3

I got to have a taste of Philly today. Dane, Jayneel, Doris, and I went to the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. The market has every kind of food you could possibly imagine. We started with oysters and clams (I didn't have any, but everyone else did). Then I moved on to a crepe with Nutella and strawberries, so good! I got a pickle, Dane had a slice of pizza, then we had some Middle Eastern food. Jay and Doris got chicken shawarma, Dane got stuffed grape leaves, and I just ate everyone's food. Before we left, we stopped at Termini Bakery for cannoli's.

As full as we were from a day of eating, I had to made everyone's (and by everyone I mean Drew) favorite meal: chicken vodka. We went to Jayneel's house and I made dinner for everyone. It got rave reviews and we settled in to watch Tropic Thunder before heading home to get some rest before our drive back to MA.

January 2

Dane made the traditional Italian seven fish dinner for his family today. We woke up at 10am, went food shopping, starting cooking at 11:30am, and didn't stop until 4:30pm. Of course seven fishes were not enough, so Dane made eight. Everything was amazing, including the homemade minestrone soup, and the two sauces I made. I was his sous chef for the day, chopping up everything we needed and making tomato and alfredo sauce. We were stuffed after this delicious meal!

After dinner we spent a good two hours watching Jesse Oliver and holding him. He has gotten so big! He has the cutest little smile and holds his hands together like he's thinking really hard. Look at that face!

January 1

Happy New Year! We spent New Year's Eve in Pennsylvania and went to Drew and Derek's house for a party. We played games, ate good food, and enjoyed the fun with our friends. This is our second New Year's Eve together! Love that Jayneel is in the background of this.

Later on New Year's Day we spent the day with Dane's family at his Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy's home, Sleepy Hollow. The house was built in the 1700's and is beautiful. We got to see all of Uncle Bob's classic cars. I even got to sit in a 1957 Oldsmobile! Now we want to have a classic car at the wedding instead of a limo.

Project 365

This is a big year and I want to remember it all, so I'm going to be doing Project 365. You take a picture a day for a year. I think it's going to be an awesome way to look back on the year, see those things that were important to me, and view each day a little differently. I'm really excited about this!

This idea came from the blog of Becky Higgins, and she offers so many ways to create ways to appreciate memories and moments. Sam also graciously offered me a Project 365 Kit, which has everything I'll need to make a pretty amazing scrapbook for the year. I know it will help keep me organized if I post a picture a day.

I can't wait to see this come together!