Happy Memorial Day!

Phillies versus Yankees

I do NOT want to talk about how the game went. Or how the series is going. Or about Cole Hamels.

All of that aside, here are a few pictures taken at Game Four of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park over the weekend. Geoff and I took pity on my sister and father, who are both Yankee fans, and brought them to the game with us. We should have known better ;)

Go Phillies!

Honor and dedication

This past weekend, Geoff and I visited my sister in Washington D.C. More pictures to come of our rainy weekend, but here's my favorite shot. It was taken at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. If you've never seen the changing of the guard, please add it to your bucket list. It's a must see.

Fall fun

This post is long overdue, but better late than never, right? Geoff and I went out to Bethlehem a few weeks ago to visit his grandmother, Grace. We had a great day, checking out the Celtic Festival in town, going apple picking, walking her dog, and enjoying some nice meals. Here are some pictures from the day.

I ♥ Faces - Week 38 - Blue

Well, it's a good thing for I ♥ Faces, because it's the only posting I'm doing these days. I was hoping to take a new picture for this week's challenge, but I ran out of time.

So, I'm going to submit this shot of my favorite little model, Jack. This was taken a few months ago, before he was walking, when his favorite thing to do was to climb up the stairs. He'd go up, someone would carry him down, and he'd go up again.



I figured this works for the blue challenge since he was rocking his ADORABLE blue plaid shirt. What a stud.

Check out the rest of this week's entries at I ♥ Faces!

I ♥ Faces - Week 36 - Contemplative Faces

This week's I ♥ Faces challenge is for "contemplative" faces. As soon as I saw that, I knew which picture I wanted to post.



I took about 30 different pictures of my cousin's son Jack devouring his little cake at his first birthday party last month. Looking back through the pictures was so fun. Some of the pictures showed pure joy, some showed nothing but his face stuck in the cake, and a few, like this one, look contemplative.

Why's everybody staring at me - can't a man just eat his cake in peace?

Why are the making me wear this stupid hat? Is this a punishment? Hmm, what have I done wrong lately?

I wonder if this cake is going to give me a tummyache...

How am I going to get that icing out of my ears and nose?

Oh, to be able to listen to the thoughts of small children!

Big birthday weekend

Happy Monday everyone! This past weekend was pretty crazy, because my mother's birthday was on Friday (yes, September 11th) and my mother-in-law's birthday was on Thursday. So, we had to try to figure out how to see everyone to celebrate. And the fact that my husband had Phillies tickets for Friday night didn't help.

So Friday night consisted of me and him sitting in raincoats and under ponchos at the Phillies game, a game that they luckily won. On a side note, the guy who has the season tickets next to ours wrote a book about the 2008 Phillies and included a picture of us after they won the World Series last year. Can't wait to see the book, but I hope this doesn't count as my 15 minutes of fame.


(Here's us at a much sunnier game, since I didn't take pictures on Friday.)

On Saturday morning, we drove out to Jersey to spend the day with my family for my mom's birthday. There was good food, lots of laughter, a serious game of Taboo, and of course presents. Then my poor husband had to sit (read: fall asleep on the couch) through yet another round of "Who's the latest high school classmate that's pregnant/in jail/married/still living at home." It's a game that my mom and I seem to play quite a bit. There is no question where my love of gossip comes from!

We headed back on Sunday morning so that Geoff could get back for his first softball game of the season. Being a delinquent wife, I stayed at home and took up residence on the couch since I was tired from being up so late chatting with my parents the night before, while Geoff snoozed on the couch. I caught bits and pieces of the Eagles' game, and then topped off the weekend with a fabulous dinner at Legal Sea Foods to celebrate Geoff's mom's birthday. Wine, seafood casserole and chocolate mousse all in one meal = a happy Jessica whose pants are a bit too tight.

Good times, but once again it's Monday, and I'm exhausted. On the bright side, fall TV is back in full force, and tonight I get to indulge my inner 14 year-old girl with Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill! It's the small things that get me through the day...

Wrapping up the summer

Summer may not officially be over for another two weeks, but it certainly feels over today. Although, as my husband wisely pointed out last night, summer doesn't have quite the same appeal after college graduation, unless you're a teacher. And let me tell you, if I saw one more Facebook status update from a teacher friend who was traveling to Europe during their vacation, I was going to lose it.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be posting more regularly now that the crazy summer is over.

While Geoff and I seemed to be the only people in the Philadelphia region who didn't trek down to Avalon or Sea Isle City this weekend, we still enjoyed the gorgeous weather. And we hosted our first dinner for more than four people last night! Both of our sets of parents, as well as my aunt and Geoff's younger brother came over for dinner last night. It's amazing how a relatively simple meal becomes quite a bit more complicated when you're making it for eight people. However, dinner was a success (largely thanks to my helpers -- both moms and my aunt) and Geoff only had to be sent on errands twice (one missing ingredient and an empty propane tank). Overall, I consider it a success.

Sadly, no pictures to share -- I was too busy directing everyone around the kitchen and making lime margarita cupcakes. Mmmm. Email me if you want the recipe!

Photoshopping babies

My cousin's son turned one last week, so there was a big birthday party for him over the weekend. Full report and pictures to come, but for now, here are a couple of pictures that I've been playing around with on Photoshop. The first one is Jack, the birthday boy, and the other is Ben, a friend's 4 month old. Such cuties!

Down by the boardwalk

I have no regrets about taking a full two weeks for our honeymoon, but it does mean that I'm left with very little vacation time for the year. Which also means, no summer vacation. However, my aunt and uncle rented a house down in Ocean City for a couple of weeks, and they were generous enough to invite my family for a couple of nights.

Unfortunately, we managed to time our trip perfectly with monsoon season at the Jersey shore, so we spent most of our time in the house, but we squeezed in a trip to Atlantic City and to Brown's for homemade donuts.

Overcast skies didn't keep the crowds of people off of the boardwalk.



The sun was nowhere to be found, which is for the best for me and my pasty skin.





Hanging at the house.





Playing hairdresser. Clearly we were bored.



I hope that everyone out there is going on fabulous vacations that are not getting rained on!

Does that come in my size?

My cousin's wife is pregnant with their first child, which will mark the first grandchild on my dad's side of the family. Over the weekend we had a baby shower, where the mommy-to-be received some ADORABLE gifts. And really -- I would like some of those clothes in my size.











I can't wait to meet this baby!

Saying goodbye

Last week, I lost my grandmother. She was an amazing, one of a kind woman, and she will be missed by many people. Geoff and I spent the weekend at my parents' house in New Jersey helping to to prepare for services on Sunday. If there is a silver lining in the cloud, few things get more people together than weddings and funerals. It was amazing to see how many people came out to say goodbye to her, and it is always wonderful to have family together, even on occasions like this.

Here are a few pictures taken over the weekend.







And one of Nana at our wedding. I'm so grateful that she was able to be there.