...

I'm bad at actually updating this thing.

I went on a vacation with two cousins during 4th of July week - Amy and I flew down to West Palm Beach, FL to spend some time with our cousin, Mike.

Here we are at Juno Beach - hours before Amy and I got back on the plane to Manchvegas.

The rest of the pictures from the trip can be seen here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcroteau/sets/72157606028187686/

Other than that, not too much has been happening. Ryan hasn't been feeling well at all so I haven't been sleeping much lately. But hopefully he'll be feeling better this week.

Last night we went to see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dropkick Murphys at McCoy Stadium with my cousin Amy and Ryan's friend Dennis. It was a good show. Ryan and I went up into the seats after the Bosstones so we could sit - neither one of us were in any condition to stand for the rest of the show but Dennis and Amy stayed down on the lawn for the whole thing. Oh, and Dropkick was making a CD last night, so I'll definitely have to get that one when it comes out. :)

I haven't done any sewing lately. :( Besides altering clothes for a friend. I need to finish the pillow shams I'm working on for someone - I need to experiment with my ruffler foot first, though.

oh! AND yesterday before meeting friends for Indian food, (I'm a busy girl) I went down to Thompson, CT to pick up an old sewing machine and its cabinet. It's still in my truck because I can't get it out myself and Ryan can't help me right now, so I'll take pictures later. I got it mostly for the cabinet, but the woman said the machine still works fine - and it has paper bobbins. Word.

Before I left for Florida, I was at my parents' house for a few hours and was bored so I took some pictures of wall quilts my mom has in the house and some more pictures of her gardens.

Cousins.

On my dad's side of the family, there are 17 grandchildren including myself and my siblings and there are 3 great-grandchildren.

A few weeks ago Crap. Almost a month ago now, my Pepere died. His memorial service was the first time ever that all the cousins were together in the same room at the same time.


This picture, unfortunately, doesn't have everyone. The only person missing is our cousin Cathy. She left a little early...

And it doesn't have the great-grandchildren... but there we are. Then my Auntie Di wanted us to line up by age so after we figured out who was older than who, this was the result:

It was also the first time in a loooooong time where all the siblings (my aunt & uncles & my dad) were in the same room at the same time. Here they are with their mother (my Memere):

That night a few of us went out to Jillian's in Manchvegas:

The next day we had some more fun before 2 of the cousins had to fly back home to Florida - I dragged Ryan back up to NH with me this time and we went to hang out with a couple of my uncles at Hampton beach.

We played minature golf:

And us cousins stood in the frigid New England ocean:

In less than 2 weeks now, Amy and I will be flying down to Florida to visit our cousin Mike. All of us are really excited and it should be a good time. :)

Stimulating the Economy

That's what we're supposed to be doing, right?

New couches for the living room:

Spooooon bracelet from a favorite Etsian (FireChickTick):

A dressform (finally!):

And soon - a serger. :) (I still have to shop around before I settle on one.)

HEY WPI

I don't have any fucking money to be just throwing away right now. So stop with the phone calls and weekly letters, mm k?

Cause... you know... I'm still paying off the $45,000 that I have left in student loans.

And that's a low amount compared to how much some of my classmates still owe.

So go screw yourself - I wasn't one of those kids at school that had mommy and daddy pay for everything.

PS - my parents don't have any money to throw away either, so don't bother calling them. My dad will just laugh at the person on the other end and hang up.

A Borrowed List

This was on PaperMenagerie's blog (aka Angela) and I'm bored/procrastinating, so here are my answers:

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was graduating from 8th grade, just about to go into high school. At that point, I was still going to Girl Scout camp for a few weeks during the summer as a camper, not as an employee (that was the next year).

What were you doing 1 year ago?

A year ago wrapped up one of the most hectic times in my life and I still don't know how I did it or how I survived. From March - May/June of last year I was... renovating the house with Ryan, going to roller derby practice 2-3 nights a week, working full time (40 hours), and being a full-time graduate student (3 classes, usually meeting once or twice a week each). So most days would be work, class, derby practice, work on house, go back up to Worcester to sleep. Yikes.

Five snacks you enjoy:
tortilla chips and salsa
Edy's strawberry fruit bars
ice cream
pretzels
animal crackers

Five things you'd do if you were a millionaire:
the usual - pay off the rest of mine and my parents' loans
travel. travel travel travel.
build a house out in the woods where no one will be able to find me very easily
sit home and sew/make things all day
send random people money since I always wish that would happen to me (so get on that, Oprah!)

Five bad habits:
on Etsy too much during work
chewing the inside of my cheeks/lips when I'm anxious
being lazy when I should do something productive like laundry or the custom order I have to finish
eating too much ice cream
not reading enough (for pleasure)

Five things you like doing:
sitting on my comfy couch out on the screen porch
meeting Etsy people in real life (I went to dinner with SecretLentil the other night!)
reading
eating ice cream
watching a movie on a rainy day with Ryan

Five things you'd never wear again:
stirrup pants
turtlenecks
heels (but not by choice) :(


Five favorite toys:
sewing machine
kenmore heavy duty mixer
mac laptop
wii fit
sharpie markers