Our house is a very, very, very fine house, but our garden is another story.

This year Jon and I both put a fair amount of effort into our garden. Scratch that. I put a small amount of effort in and Jon truly toiled and toiled. He made a special fence, he buried the fence to keep out the rabbits, he spent an afternoon tilling the soil with my brother, we planted everything together, but he finished the last minute additions after a black fly bit my chin and my right eye making me resemble Sloth from The Goonies.

After the initial set up, Jon diligently watered and weeded, put down hay to discourage more weeds, etc...you get the picture. And what do we have to show for it? My beautiful basil did nothing, the peppers never grew big enough to eat, the corn did nothing, there were maybe 7 pickling cucumbers, no onions, no potatoes, no melon, no tomatoes, etc. The only thing we were able to enjoy were some delicious grape tomatoes...we ate them like candy straight off the vine and will plant many more next year.

Here are a few pictures of the fruit (and vegetables) of our labors, including the world's smallest watermelon!

Ryan and Lyndsey's Wedding

A disclaimer before I proceed: My very expensive digital SLR has decided to become finicky about night time weddings and appropriate flash use. Translation? I couldn't get any really great indoor shots at Ryan and Lyndsey's very beautiful wedding as my flash would not cooperate. It was really frustrating, but I guess this means I can justify buying the external flash now. Below are a few of the nice pictures I was able to get outside and then a few inside pictures I borrowed from a friend. :)
The first picture is of Ocre Court at Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island. It's funny to think that while I was going to a public university, this was normal for students who went to Salve Regina. So pretty. This was the building Ryan and Lyndsey were married in.

The actual wedding was at Salve Regina while the reception took place at another venue a few minutes away. Here are a few more pictures of the evening:

Expired Course Waivers=Broken Heart

Today I received another course waiver for UMASS Amherst because I had a student teacher last spring. This brings my total to four course waivers, an exciting feat as I would someday like to obtain my doctorate...

However, my excitement was brought to a quick end today when I noticed (for the first time) that the course waivers have expiration dates on them. I have no idea why they would need an expiration date, but I guess it's a sure fire way to make sure they don't actually have to give away that many free classes as people will most likely forget or not notice. Add me to that list of people. I know it is 100% my fault that two of the waivers are expired, but my heart is still just as broken at the thought of two free classes down the drain. If I'd known I would have just taken them last spring.

The other two expire in the spring of 2011 so I essentially have next spring (yeah right, with a newborn at home?) or next summer. I guess I could do them next school year, but somehow I had imagined coming home after work to spend time with my future son, not to be in a classroom in Amherst. I am just really bummed out because I want the classes, it just isn't the right time for me.

I'm going to call UMASS tomorrow to see if there's anything I can do about the two that expired. I really hope they can renew at least one of them. I'd suffer through a once a week course in the spring if it meant the waiver didn't go to waste.

:(

Required reading--retch!

As a part of the AP grant our school has every teacher must attend a week of AP training each summer. To date I've attended four AP trainings and will attend my fifth in a few weeks. Not all of these trainings have been a full week...but that's still a lot of training.

For this summer's workshop we were given the names of two books and an essay that we are required to read, though I double-checked the email and it did say "have read or have knowledge of." I plan to use the latter to beg out of one of the selections. I've been reading one of the books (the one I was excited about) for about a week now and I just can't get into it. I think it's the format coupled with an overly verbose author who likes to name drop. Actually I know it's all of those things. As I try to wade through the dreaded thing, I feel massive guilt over the required reading of the AP students at my high school. But I honestly think they have been given a good selection this summer...of course, perhaps this instructor feels exactly the same way.

2nd Anniversary

Jon and I decided last year that we would make gifts for our anniversaries instead of buying them. We thought this would be a good idea for the anniversaries that weren't milestones. To decide what to create, we went with the anniversary material that each year corresponded to. For example, your first anniversary is your paper anniversary--that was easy.
Jon made me a very sweet photo book called "The Story of Us" which chronicled our lives together from 2002 to now. He wrote the whole thing in rhyming couplets and had it published on a website to create a hardcover book--very sweet. I made him a large, framed collage of our greatest moments.

This year, it was the cotton anniversary--a bit of a harder task. I made Jon the body pillow case shown above. At first, I bought the fabric because Jon loves sock monkeys and I thought I'd make something for the baby, but I realized it would be better served in making a gift for him. Still, what do you make for a man in his 30s out of sock monkey fabric? Since Jon's back surgery last year he has to use a body pillow to sleep in a certain way and so the idea was born.

Jon made me an apron with a great picture of the two of us from our trip to Ireland. He also included an Oscar Wilde quotation that I had never heard before but that we both agreed was something I would reference had I known about it. It was a really cute idea as I love to bake and could really use an apron and as he's not much of a seamstress. He even added a sweet label to the inside...

I finally felt the baby kick! Huzzah!

It may have occurred before but if it did I missed it in not knowing what to look for. I felt him for the first time on Thursday but yesterday and today he's been very active now that I know what the feeling is.

I've never been the type of girl to be excited about kicking, but this is pretty darn cool...

Last Saturday we had a bunch of friends and family over to celebrate my 30th birthday with an 80s theme party. This is the only picture in which Jon and I look somewhat normal so though I am not a huge fan, I will make it my first official image on blogspot. I know I seem like a horrible wife but this picture of Jon with his tongue out is actually better than the one of him smiling.

I am still impressed with his mohawk which I teased about for weeks and he actually let me do the day of. I think Carmen could have done a better job, being a hairdresser and all, but it still looked cool from the front.

Genevieve found a very cool "Make Art, Not War" shirt at Forever 21 and jelly shoes tucked away in the back of her closet. They even looked rather punk rock with the twisty tie keeping them together.

Though it's rather blurry I really like this shot of me and Corinne. Too bad her pink fishnet gloves with a pinky and thumb hole weren't in the picture...but if you look closely I think you can see her shoulder pads. She and Jon's mom were the only ones to attempt to pull those off!
In the photo below Carmen rocked neon green like none other and I was personally jealous of the black lace gloves which showed off her green slap bracelet perfectly. All-in-all I had a blast though I'm sad to report I have very few pictures of my bright blue sneakers and neon pink leg warmers. :) Jon bought me a very yummy cake from La Fiorentina and we had a lot of Pixie-Sticks, Lik Em Aid, and Ring Pops as we sang along to 80s tunes, played a trivia game and watched The Goonies.