Here is a great way to raise money for your favorite charity with your blog. You can also choose to make money for yourself as well. Be heard!
marie @ 10:48 | comments(2) | Permanent link
marie @ 09:59 | comments(0) | Permanent link
My Aunt informed me today that there are wildfires spreading across Northern California at the moment. So far they have covered over 600 acres. She, her husband, and their two daughters are safe at the moment but are worrying about the fires spreading to their town Magalia. My other Aunt who lives close to them already had to be evacuated. They have already taken the measures to safeguard their most valuable possessions. They stated that the air has been so smoky.
marie @ 22:16 | comments(1) | Permanent link
I came across a great site for fun quizzes. You can do them for fun or add them to your blog, facebook, myspace, or any other webpage you may have. I decided to take the quiz about, " What Your Taste in Music Says About You" and I must say, I found the result pretty dead on about my personality.
What Your Taste in Music Says About You |
Your musical tastes are intense and rebellious. You are intelligent... but in a very unconventional way. You are curious about the world. You love doing something new. In fact, you enjoy taking risks and doing things most people would shy away from. You are very physical. It's likely that you're athletic, but not into team sports. You have the soul of an artist. Beauty and harmony are important to you. |
marie @ 13:17 | comments(1) | Permanent link
There is nothing better than summer nights when the air is that perfect temperature and you are perfectly content just sitting outside with friends and family. Those nights are so intoxicating you do not even realize the time passing by. We finally got to go to the beach and even though we were only there for a half an hour before it rained, just to smell the beach air and hear the ocean made it totally worth the drive. There is no sound more relaxing and tranquil than the sound of water. I would love to live within walking distance of the ocean some day. I had the pleasure of living by the beach in West Long Branch, NJ when I attended Monmouth University and loved being able to walk to the beach or even a lake without having to get into my car.
marie @ 20:44 | comments(1) | Permanent link
marie @ 19:34 | comments(0) | Permanent link
marie @ 18:39 | comments(0) | Permanent link
We hosted Father's Day yesterday. Luckily the weather turned out to be perfect after some heavy rain. The humidity vanished after 6:00. It was the first time my husband and I were able to have both sides of the family over at once. We were very worried we weren't able to fit everyone but because the rain subsided, the backyard provided extra room. Everyone had a great time.
We broke in our new grill and barbequed some chicken. I made my own marinade for the chicken and it was pretty tasty. Here is the recipe:
marie @ 18:47 | comments(1) | Permanent link
marie @ 16:20 | comments(0) | Permanent link
I finally got to see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss last night at the Wamu Theatre in Madison Square Garden. They sounded fabulous. I am a big Led Zeppelin fan and even though this is a totally different style for Robert Plant it seemed very natural after listening to him with Alison Krauss. His voice still sounds great. I never really heard Alison Krauss before this tour with Robert Plant except when she sang on the "O' Brother Where Art Thou" movie soundtrack. She also plays the violin which really explains her vocal style which is very captivating. Her voice mimics the violin and with the rest of the band and Robert Plant the music is very entrancing and relaxing. They covered some Zeppelin songs like Blackdog and slowed it down to a blue grass type of style.
This was my favorite song they performed:
Check out the rest of their songs from their album, "Raising Sand."
marie @ 20:15 | comments(0) | Permanent link
Father's Day is this Sunday the 15th. It is so hard to shop for father's because they usually have what they want by now. It is so much easier to shop for a woman because there are some many things marketed for woman because they love to shop so much! Guys on the other hand don't really care about high fashion as much so they usually want sport realted or techy gagets.
My father is retired and pretty much just goes to Atlantic City, NJ to see shows and gamble with his new girlfriend. We used to by him tools because he said he wanted them but he never uses them. I tried to come up with something he can use, an event he can experience, or something he can look at everyday that I have created.
I got an idea last month when I was at the Hoboken Arts Festival. There was a vendor selling a collage of black and white pictures of specific towns in NJ. For example; There was a collage done of Pt. Pleasant with a picture of the town sign, the beach, restaurants. It looked nice and historic but the vendor wanted $150 for it and the frame wasn't even that nice!
My husband saw one for his parent's town, Colts Neck. We decided then that we would go out and take pictures of our father's towns and convert the pictures to black and white in Photoshop and frame them up ourselves. We had fun going around town taking pictures despite the 90+ degree temperature. I even ripped my shorts from climbing over a fence to get a close up of the lake behind my dads house in Hightstown!
marie @ 17:49 | comments(2) | Permanent link
Despite the temperature being 95 degrees, me and a couple of my girlfriends braved the Saturday by going to New Hope, P.A. for the day. Even though the air was very humid, we had a great time going in and out of the shops. I love the shops in New Hope. They have such an eclectic mix of stores and resturants. Some of my favorite places to eat I have found so far is Wildflowers, The Blue Tortilla, and Lulu's.
Wildflowers is a pefect place to eat when the weather is really nice because you can sit outside surrounded by beautiful flowers and overlook the river. They offer a great menu of Thai and American cuisine. The food tastes really fresh. The Blue Tortilla has some of the best Mexican food I have tasted. Their homemade salsa is perfect and the portions are just right. You can order their margarita mix that is homemade and you will recieve a free shot of tequila to mix at the table! Lulu's has the best organic drink menu. I always have to get a smoothie when I am there. They have great vegetarian sandwiches too! John & Peter's is a great bar to go to to catch some great bands at night.
My favorite store to visit is Bucks's County Trading Post. They have a great selection of home decor at unbelievable prices. I always find something unique there to give as a gift or for our home. Not Too Shabby is a great place to stop in too because there is so many pieces of local art to check out.
marie @ 20:16 | comments(0) | Permanent link
My favorite radio statio Q104.3 is hosting a Billy Joel Contest. You can win tickets for the last play at Shea Stadium in July 16th or 18th! If you tried like me to get tickets then you know it was pretty much impossible. Unless you wanted to pay hundreds of dollars! I waited for over 40 min. Ticket Master just to get to the purchase ticket page. All it did was keep reloading and reloading. I was very disappointed. I really want to see him again and also bring my husband. He hasn't seen Billy Joel yet!
If your a Billy fan like me, you have another chance to win tickets! You just have to go to the Q104.3 website and submit your favorite Billy Joel moment and register to win. My favorite Billy Joel moment was when I finally got to see him when I was sixteen. My older brother took me and I couldn't believe how good he and his band sounded! Everyone around us was singing to every song. It was such a great concert! I have piano books with pretty much all his songs so I really appreciate how talented he is. Billy Joel is one of my favorite song writers.
marie @ 15:42 | comments(1) | Permanent link
It is the first anniversary of our first homeownership. Along with the one year mark comes a broken air conditioner! Thank god we had someone that was available to come sooner than later. One repair shop said they didn't have an appointment available until 2 weeks from now!
Luckily my husband was able to be at the house at the time the repair guy could come. It seems that the air conditioner unit ran out of freon and that is why our house was not getting any colder! He said the last owner did not put a sufficient amount in when the unit was installed. Well of course we needed to put in 12 lbs of freon! The freon cost about $25 per lb. So $350 later, (after negoitiating down from about $400) our air conditioning was up and running again. He also said that a full unit of freon will last you about 20 years. So I guess it all evens out in the end.
marie @ 18:32 | comments(1) | Permanent link
I am so excited we finally bought our propane grill! It has three burners and a side burner too. It is a Perfect Flame model from Lowes which came highly recommended by my sister-in-law and a parent of one of the students my husband teaches guitar. The price was very reasonable too. We decided to host the Father's Day BBQ at our house. It will be the first time we have both our family's in the house at once! It should be a great time. Hopefully the weather is perfect. Keep your fingers crossed!
marie @ 16:40 | comments(1) | Permanent link
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