Piper's new Hang Out

Keeping a look out for the squirrels.


Looks like its too cold for the squirrely's today

It's Winter in Vermont

Look closely, the mercury hasn't hit 10 degrees...and this doesn't show the windchill factor, of -5 degrees!!!

BRRRRRR.....

Weekend Update

Friday I said to myself, "I am not leaving the house today and I am going to bake cookies".
6 hours later, I had finished baking my cookies, total count was 10 dozen cookies and 2 dozen Chinese noodle candies (that's what my Grandma called them)!


SUGAR COOKIES


J gets home and he asks me, "why did you make so many cookies, who are they for?"
My answer, "I have no idea!"

We did go to the neighborhood holiday party, I brought about 3 dozen cookies.
All the neighbors where asking if we were the new ones that just moved in, and we had to keep telling everyone that we have been here for 2 1/2 years. I guess that's what happens when you don't ever go to neighborhood functions! It's pretty crazy because there are a bunch of neighbors that are from CT. One guy even went to the same high school as my uncle. Small World!

Saturday and Sunday we worked on the bathroom. I don't think I have posted any pictures. Right now our guest bathroom is completely demo'ed. We are down to the studs.


BEFORE


AFTER

Now we have to decide what we want to do. Our goal is to do everything ourselves, as much as we can. J is good with electricity and some plumbing. We are going to try and do the tiling ourselves as well. We shall see.

That's a really beauty Clark!

Yes, we got the official Griswold Family Christmas tree (minus the squirrel).


10 feet...


1 new ladder, 300 lights...


250 ornaments and 6 hours later...


...It is decorated!

Random thoughts

1. I was at the grocery store on Saturday and there was a little boy behind me in line, maybe about 9 years old. He had flowers that he was going to buy. His father was standing a little farther away. The dad was teaching his son how to buy flowers for his mom. The dad said, "go ahead pick a lane. Get in line. You can pay without me being there. I want you to know how to buy flowers on your own in case you decide you want to surprise mom with something." How cute is that?!?!?

2. Someone called me "mam" today!! My goodness, I have only been 30 for a month.

Mouse in the house

So, we didn't get much work done on the bathroom this week because we are dealing with a mouse problem. On Tuesday night we were woke up my the LOUD mice digging in the walls. It freaked me out. They were loud and then all of a sudden we heard a weird vibration noise, I think maybe it was electrocuted. We haven't heard them much since, but we set about 10 traps, caught one 2 nights ago. The little stinker likes peanut butter to much to resist the mouse trap. We'll see if he likes Cheerios too, that was the buffet served last night.

Demo Time

This past weekend J and I decided we were going to demo the guest bathroom.
We knew it had to be done anyway because there was a small leak somewhere. That somewhere was behind the water faucet and certainly not the floor because the people that installed this "garden tub" poured a nice 4 inch solid cement floor.

Here are some pics of the bathroom.

Taking down the pink and white striped wall tile


All gone. Part of the garden tub ripped up


Found the floor under all of the concrete


Wall paper one minute...


...gone the next.


A view from the toilet. The bathroom is long and narrow.

Hopefully we will have more pictures after this weekend of progress...but I think we are still in demo phase.

Hello there

Well, not much to report from VT. The weather is getting cold. I am looking for a job.
Got a part-time job coaching swimming, which I am excited about. Haven't started yet, but soon.

Here are a few pics I took recently...of Piper.

Trying on her rugby shirt that is now too small.


Piper, the tennis ball hoarder. Maybe I should call A&E and get them to help her with this addiction.

...and the birthday celebration continues.

This past weekend many of my friends made it to Vermont to celebrate my 30th with me.
I rented out a bar on Saturday night and got the chance to see everyone.

Friday, my cousin came in from Milwaukee for the weekend. It was great to see her and have some time with her. The past two times awe have been together has been her wedding and her brother's wedding. Friday night we went to dinner at Butlers Tavern, which is a The Inn at Essex, which is run by NECI. They are part of the Vermont Fresh Network. They utilize fresh ingredients, sourcing locally, sustainably and organically. They also incorporate produce from their on-site organic garden. The food was amazing. I had the Chicken and Wild Rice soup as an appetizer and then for dinner I had the Fresh House-Made Gnocchi with crispy pancetta and sun-dried tomato cream sauce.

Saturday most everyone arrived in VT. We hung out at the house, ordered take out and then headed downtown.

It was a great weekend and so good to see everyone.
I will post some pictures soon.

A great start to my 30's

Yesterday was a great day. Went to the gym, went shopping and best of all, got lots of birthday wishes :)

A few things showed up at the door too :)


Chocolate covered strawberries and apples from Kristine, Adam, and Eli.
Notice the one missing...that was lunch.

(which also came with a balloon that Piper is not in love with. She is currently in the kitchen barking at it!)


More chocolate covered strawberries from Heather, Erik and Evie.
YUMMY!

Now everyone knows what one of my favorite desserts are :)


Beautiful flowers from my sister, Samantha.
They are so pretty and the best part is that there are a bunch that haven't opened yet.


The best birthday card from J's parents!!

For dinner J and I went to the Trattoria. Their food is phenominal.
I could not decide what to get between two dishes. I asked for a reco and both the waitress and another gentleman said the white sauce dish. I still could not make up my mind, so the waitress told me I could do half and half. PERFECT!

I got half Orecchiette con Fricone e Rucola
Fricone, dialect of the southern region of Apulia for a fried tomato sauce, made from vine-ripened tomatoes, crushed garlic, a pinch of red pepper and arugula, tossed with an imported handmade ear-shaped pasta and pecorino cheese.

And half Gnocchi alla Bava
Our handmade potato gnocchi in a fondue-like sauce of melted Fontina from Valle d'Aosta, sweet Vermont cream and white truffle oil.

So good and prefect balance.
With dinner we had a very good bottle of wine: Morgante Don Antonio Nero d'Avola 2004

It was a great night.

Thank you everyone for the kind wishes.
Love, Sarah

Happy Birthday

The big 3-0 today.

Let's see 30 years ago today....
Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).

Other exciting events that occured on November 4th

• 1984 – Dell Computers is founded as PC's Limited.
• 1994 – San Francisco: First conference that focuses exclusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web.
• 2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.
  

And a shout out to J's bro, who is 4o today, yes we share a birthday.

Guess who else is 40 today?!?!?
Matthew McConaughey (Heather-remember when we saw him at LAX and he was on our flight)
Sean "Diddy" Combs
Last but not least...

Only in Vermont

Dear Horse walker,
I am a good dog owner. I pick up the poop.
If you feel the need to take your horse out for a "walk" on the public roads, pick up the poop.
It's huge and all over the road.

If i pick up my mini dog's poop, please pick up your big horse craps.

thank you.

Tick

I found something strange on Piper today. I had no idea what it was. I was playing with it to see if it would fall off. It was tan and with a black spot and almost looked like a small pine nut. Then all of a sudden, its legs started moving...it was a TICK!!!

I always thought ticks were teeny tiny. Wrong.
I called the vet and they told me to use tweezers to take it off and then put some peroxide and ointment on it. I did just that. But of course since I am paranoid about this stuff I called back to tell them that it seemed like there was a lump now. They told me that it is like a mosquito bite. It swells a little but should go down in a few days....

Something like this always happens right after we are at the vet. We were there for her yearly check-up (where they also scanned her to make sure her microchip still worked!) a few weeks ago and she is a healthy dog. Then this happens...of course. I was about to bring her to the vet, but they said she didn't have to go in.

And another day in the life of a stay at home dog-mom ;)

A fall walk with Piper

Piper and I went for a 2 hour walk this afternoon. It was the perfect day for it. Sunny and 50 degrees. I hadn't taken any fall photos yet, so this was one of my last opportunities, since I think most of the leaves will be gone soon.


Heading out on the causeway

Pretty yellow leaves


Piper girl






me and pipes

Pulled Pork

If you are in the mood for pulled pork and don't have a smoker, try this recipe in your slow cooker.
I put the pork in the cooker at 1am and then at 11am took it out to shred it (it fell apart) and added the BBQ sauce and broth. Cooked it 2 more hours and then just left it on warm until we were ready to eat. I used STUBBS BBQ spicy sauce.

Came out great!!

Mehico

Sorry it's taken so long to post about Mexico. We have been super busy since we got home.


(the infinity pool)

(view of the house from the pool)

As I said in the last post the trip was amazing. We hung out by the pool everyday and sipped on fresh margaritas. The weather was perfect. We only had rain the first night for about 30 minutes. Monday night we had 50 MPH winds due to Tropical Storm Patricia. Other than that it was sunny and 90 degrees.


View from the pool while the winds were comin' in strong

...AND THEN THERE WAS THE FOOD

(breakfast/dinner table)

The food was fantastic. I am spoiled for life. I don't think I will ever have Mexican food like that again. We had a chef at the house, so everything was prepared in the kitchen, right there for us. Every meal was 3 courses. Breakfast was fresh fruit, pancakes or french toast or bagels and salmon. THEN it was onto 'Huevos'. I chose to have the Huevos y Chorizo every morning. Served with fresh salsa's and corn tortillas. AMAZING. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Dinner every night was better than anything we could have got at a restaurant. Here is a quick rundown of the dinners...
Saturday:
1st course:Tortillas with mole sauce and fresh salad and guacamole.
Main Course:Chili Rellenos.
Dessert:Flan

Sunday:
1st course: Tortilla Soup (the best i've ever had)
Main Course: FRESHLY caught that morning Red Snapper with rice and veggies (I really liked it and I don't eat seafood)
Dessert: Fresh brownie's with ice cream and berries

Monday:
1st course: Cesar salad
Main Course: Fillet with mushroom sauce and chicken parmigiana
Dessert: Caramelized bananas drizzled with tequila and ice cream

Tuesday was Birthday Night:
1st course: Corn soup (it wasn't as think as chowder, but was thicker than jut broth)
Main Course: Lobster tail and shrimp. They also made me a piece of grilled chicken because I am not a big seafood person. But I ate both the chicken and lobster
Dessert: Birthday Cake. I think it was carrot.

Wednesday was Italian Night:
1st course: Bruchetta
Main Course: Spagheti with maranara, penne with carbonara, angel hair with a spicy sauce and Lasagna (i think the best lasagna i have EVER had)
Dessert: Rice Pudding with cinnamon

As you can see, the food was not too shabby. For those of you that know my eating styles will be happy to hear that I ate everything that was served to me. My goal going down there was to at least try everything. I was pretty proud of myself.

On Thursday, my parents, J's brother and sister in law left and we moved to another house...without a chef :( We only moved 3 houses down the street though. Still a gorgeous house. We ended up going into PV for a day and walked around, stopped for 'cervesa's', the norm.


some other photos...

The approach into Puerta Vallerta



The private beach

Sunrise (at 8am)

So...in the end, we had a fantastic time with friends and family. Did a lot of relaxing...uh..and drinking. And cannot wait to go back.

I'm baaack...

Well, I have been back for a few days now. I owe you all a Mexico update and lots of pictures.
I am hoping to have it done by the end of the week.

In a nutshell, Mexico was amazing. We just relaxed, enjoyed the weather and company and had fun. I didn't wear shoes for days, didn't take my hairbrush out of my bag once (I was always in the pool, no need to brush the hair), and every morning I just put on a bathing suit.

It was a little slice of heaven.

Mexico here I come...

This is where I will be Saturday night :)

half and half

Half fall, half winter

No need to adjust your screen..

...the snow you see is real!


You heard it Ladies and Gentleman, Stowe had its first inch and a half of snow yesterday/last night. I am not prepared for this...at all. Thank goodness for Mexico in T minus 9 days.

CLICK HERE for more snowy photos.

Tri-State Tour

Last week we drove down to CT and then trained it into the city for a few days. Thursday night we went to NJ to see U2 it was AMAZING. Thats 4 states in 48 hours. Fun times.

Here are some pics...

Dinner at Macadito with Ash and Em.
Dinner was amazing. My favorite tacos where the chicken mole and the Tilapia. I don't eat fish because I don't like the consistency, but these were awesome.
The drinks were good too, I had a few of the "Jamaica's" which are tequila, Hibiscus, lime and orange juice. YUMMO!


Thursday we went to the Museum of Natural History for a few hours before heading to the U2 concert.

We went to BLT Burger for lunch. So good. I had a burger (what else) and sweet potato fries and a chocolate milkshake.

Off to U2 it was. We left a little early because we kept hearing a lot fo horror stories from the night before in regards to the amount of people using the NJ Transit to get to the Meadlowlands.


The stage aka Spaceship


Patiently waiting for U2 to take the stage


There they are, LIVE and in person.

Awesome show. Lots of old stuff and some new.

Again, the trip was way too quick. I was bummed we had to get back up here. Pretty much status quo when I leave NYC/CT, usually not a happy camper :(

A Manatee in Milford

Milford manatee mania

Milford (WTNH) - A manatee that was swimming off the coast of Milford Saturday afternoon has taken off.

The manatee spent a good portion of the afternoon entertaining a crowd while it swam around off the coast of New Haven Avenue near the public library.

Mystic Aquarium came to the rescue, but by the time their crew got to the scene, the manatee had already swam away.

Milford Police said there was a similar sighting up in Rhode Island last week, when a manatee spent time splashing around off the coast before swimming South.

Happy Autumn!

I love the fall. It is one of my favorite seasons. The food, the smell of the air, apple picking, apple pies...YUM!

To celebrate today, I am making a yummy dinner.
Pork Chops with homemade applesauce (a different recipe than the one in the link)
Stuffing
Maple glazed carrots (from the official Vermont Maple Cookbook)

...and Apple Betty for dessert, an apple recipe from the local farm where I apple pick.

Cannot wait for dinner! I will let you all know how the pork chops turn out. I have never done this recipe and I usually overcook pork...

Bedroom Color

So in case you all have been waiting and wondering what color I decided to do the bedroom, I went with a taupe. The actual color was "Riviera Beach" by Behr. I used their new ultra paint, which has the primer in the paint, and it was awesome. I could have got way with one coat, but I did two.
I love it. I will post some pictures later, its too dark to take photos now.

The part I love most about painting a room is being done, putting it back together and then buying the accent pieces for the room :) I think I am going to go towards red for the pop colors in the room. Can't wait until its done.

Labor Day 2009

This past Labor day, Ash, Andy, Lauren, Ben and Jeff came up to the VT.
We had a great time as always...boating, hanging out at the pool, dinner downtown, Church Street, picnic at the house...it always goes by way too quickly.


Annual 2009 group photo.