6 posts tagged “stephanie”
I was bored tonight, so I compiled every single photo I have of me and my best friend Stephanie. These pics date from early 2004 through May of this year. Enjoy!
Stephanie's 30th birthday bash was a success! It was a small, but fun gathering. We ate, drank, played Wii games, watched the Red Hot & Boom fireworks that went off at Cranes Roost Park across the street, and had a grand old time. Some highlights:
Here's the whole gang, aside from Bet since he hadn't arrived at that time. We were out in front of our apartment complex, waiting for the fireworks display to start. Left to right: Manny, Richard, Betsy, me, Stephanie, Rick, Ryan, and Tadd.
The girls...Betsy, Stephanie, and me!
Friday night I did a whole lot of nothing. Chatted with Stephanie while she did her show, then Tadd and I drank wine and I fell asleep before midnight. I'm getting old.
Saturday, I had planned on going to the gym, but woke up with a raging headache. Tadd and I decided to run errands instead. When we got home, I relaxed for a bit until I was able to get rid of the headache. When I finally got the energy to get up again, I went to the store and got stuff to test out a sangria recipe for the party on Tuesday. I mixed the base and got it chilling in the fridge and then cleaned the apartment. Stephanie came over around 8 and I completed the sangria so we could try it. Birthday girl said it was yummy, so it will definitely be on the menu for Tuesday! I know there are about a thousand ways to make sangria, but here's my version:
STEPHANIE'S BIRTHDAY SANGRIA
1 bottle merlot
1 lime cut into wedges
1 lemon cut into wedges
2 tbsp sugar
1 shot brandy
2 cups cranberry ginger ale
Pour the wine into a pitcher. Squeeze the lemon and lime wedges into the wine, and then drop the wedges into the pitcher. Add sugar and brandy and chill for several hours (or overnight). Just before serving, add the ginger ale.
Sunday Tadd and I did make it to the gym. We had it to ourselves, which was lovely. While I was on the recumbent bike, I had full view of a heron killing and eating little fish in the pond. I was half grossed out (as it was kind of violent) and half fascinated by it. It's a weird sort of entertainment to have while you're doing your cardio. After we cleaned up post-workout, we ran some more errands and then saw Ratatouille. I have some thoughts on that, which I will post later. Tadd was in full-on Pixar animation-geek mode after the movie, so we turned in some of our Blockbuster Online movies and rented Monsters, Inc, which I thought was so cute! I had never seen it before.
I had a decent weekend. The highlight of it all was meeting Stephanie and Betsy for lunch on Saturday afternoon at PF Changs. It was lovely just hanging out with the girls. Sometimes I really wish I had more close female friends, but I also have to remind myself that quality trumps quantity. We decided that we are going to try to get together once a month. I'm going to really push to hold them to that, because I do want to have a day like that to look forward to once a month. Maybe we could do more than just lunch next time too...maybe we could see a movie or do one of those pottery painting things. I don't know. It sucks that we don't all live closer, because I would be all for making it a weekly thing, but we all live on different sides of town. Regardless, girl-time is beneficial for all and I think it's worth it to make an effort to make that a bigger part of my life.
I gave Stephanie a Smashing Pumpkins compilation cd that I pieced together from their entire discography, which Tadd downloaded for me last week (nearly 450 tracks!). I chose each song specifically because I thought it had some element (lyrical or musical) that might appeal to her. I have been wanting to do that for ages, because they are and have been a really important part of my life and, as silly as it sounds, it's important to me to share stuff like that with the people I love. Even if she ends up not liking any of the songs, I still had a great time making it. I guess you can say it's a sentimental thing. I would love for her to do the same for me someday with Talking Heads songs (hint, hint, Stephanie...if you're reading)!
We did the Fathers' Day thing yesterday at my parents' house. My grandparents were there too, which was nice. My grandfather got a beautiful large framed photograph of Fenway Park with the skyline of Boston in the background from my mother. My dad got a Red Sox cap from Ryan, and a Red Sox t-shirt and car flag from Tadd & I. So it was definitely a very Red Sox Fathers' Day. We ate a ton and the boys went swimming in the pool for awhile. I've got some funny pictures of them taking turns diving off the diving board that I have to upload.
We took my dad's old camcorder home with us from my parents' house, in the hopes to take some of the stuff we have sitting on tapes, and transfer them either to DVD or video files we can share online (or both). So last night, for the first time in years, we sat down and watched our entire wedding video. I'm surprised how emotional it was for both of us, and a lot of fun to remember the funny and cute things that happened. We were cracking up at how Bet looked like a sly politician with all his little nods to the camera. And then there was my cousin Brittany and Tadd's little brother Keith (age 11 & 13, respectively) slow dancing, and Tadd headbanging during our first dance. The actual ceremony itself was just as moving as it was the day it happened, and when we got to the part where I started walking down the aisle with my dad, Tadd looked over at me and grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Then we both got weepy. It was a very sweet moment. I remember how I wasn't sure I even wanted a video of our wedding. At the time, the photography was much more important to me than video. In the end, we decided to just have our friend Dan use my dad's camcorder to capture whatever he could of the day. I just couldn't see spending an additional couple thousand dollars for a pro videographer, but thought I might regret not having any video. Looking back, I am SOOOOOOO glad we have the footage Dan got for us. We'll be able to show our kids this video someday, and it is certainly something we will treasure forever.
Could this post have gotten any sappier??? I don't think so!
I can't say enough how glad I am that Stephanie came over last night. We had such a good time, and it was really good catching up. We need to do that WAY more often than we currently do. I miss the days when we were neighbors, and we saw each other at least three times a week when we would go to the gym together, and usually at least once on the weekend. And in between, we would send each other emails at work and read each other's LJs. Those were the days. Now we've moved on to differnt towns and life is moving fast. We need to remember to make time for each other so our bond stays as strong as it is right now. I'm lucky to have friends like her and Betsy in my life. It's always comforting to know you have friends you can both laugh and cry with, and that they will accept you no matter what.
It was also great to finally see a new episode of Big Love. Lots to ponder with this episode, and some stuff isn't entirely clear. Hopefully it will either be repeated tonight or available On Demand, because I need to see it a second time to process everything effectively. Just thinking about the loaded gun given to Nicki and the pseudo-supportive phone call Bill received, I think Roman is cooking up something very very big for Bill. Also, Pam and Carl give me the creeps! As did Roman's "Bridal Registry" book that he showed Joey when they were talking about reassigning Wanda. Ick.
We almost didn't get a chance to watch it last night because we had a HUGE thunderstorm in the late afternoon/early evening. The power was out when I got home and remained out for about an hour and a half after I got home. Then, once power was finally restored, the cable wasn't working. So we missed the original premiere at 9. But it kicked back in before the repeat showing at 11, so we just watched that one instead. After a year of patiently waiting for the second season to begin, I was determined to watch it on premiere night.
Finally, after more than a year of waiting, my favorite show of all time, Big Love, begins their second season tonight! It's ridiculous how excited I am about this. It's one thing to end a season with a plot cliffhanger, but to make the viewers wait a full year from the end of the first season to the beginning of the second season is just cruel! Whatever, I am just really glad the wait is almost over. Now I will have a reason to look forward to Mondays.
And an even better reason to be excited about tonight is the fact that I will be spending the evening watching my favorite show with one of my favorite people in the whole wide world! My best friend Stephanie is coming over after work tonight. We're going to get some dinner, catch up on everything in each others' lives, stop the gabbing for an hour to watch the premiere (which she is just as excited about as I am), and get in some SERIOUS bonding girl-time. Something we have both been in need of for quite awhile.
