Chris, this one's for you...

Meet Francie...

We are officially a two dog family...

35 is half of 70!

For the last ten years or so, I've cried on my birthday. Somehow the day just seems to disappoint. Maybe it's because it's supposed to be "my day" and it usually seems to end up about everyone else. The nature of being a mom I suppose...

Well, I'm 35 now. This number was looming with a large amount of heaviness for me. Thirty-five is half of 70. Thirty-five is half way between 20 and 50. How is it possible that I am just as far away from 20 as I am close to 50? Seriously, I was 20 about 3 years ago. Everyone says that the time flies by. I just had no idea.

My birthday present this year was my trip to Martha's Vineyard to see my brother. My mom and I had a great time! But when I got home, there were still surprises waiting for me.



The evening of my birthday, my mom came over and brought dinner. She made homemade potato ham chowder and fresh baked bread. It was delicious.

And I didn't want a cake this year. While we were in Martha's Vineyard last week, the fudge shops were just starting to open back up for the season. Fudge sounds good to me...

Mom made fudge with toffee chips for me... yum!

And my husband... for those of you that don't know Chad well, he is the "handiest" person I've ever met! I truly believe that he can do anything that he sets his mind to doing. In the course of our marriage he has saved us "millions and millions" of dollars by doing things himself that the ordinary person would have to hire someone to do. If you are not yet married, and are looking for a life mate, I highly recommend adding to your list of desirable attributes the ability to fix and build and install things.

Anyway, this was our family room when we moved in. Two gaping holes in the wall where a built-in entertainment center would go...

This is how we've lived with it for the last year. This beautiful set-up consists of a plastic Costco table holding our T.V. and relevant electronics, with all of our DVDs and CDs in Rubbermaid tubs under the table.

When I got home from Martha's Vineyard last week, this is the incredible work of art that was waiting for me when I got home...SURPRISE!

Chad and his brother, Billy, who is the other "handiest" person I know, spent much of the week I was gone and some of the week before that, building this beautiful entertainment center from scratch!

I honestly can't complain this year. I didn't cry. Not even one tear. Thirty-five started off pretty well. Maybe it won't be so bad after all...

Visiting Jordy

I was six and a half years old when my baby brother, Jordan was born.


We grew up. Now he is a chef on Martha's Vineyard.


He's been on Martha's Vineyard for almost a year now. We miss him. My mom and I decided that we needed to go visit.

We explored the island a little on our own while Jordy was at work.

We visited him at work and he gave us a great tour of his kitchen.

We got to stay at his beautiful resort. He got us a two room suite.

Our suite was in this beautiful cottage.

He fixed us the most fabulous meal I've ever eaten.

Artichoke Barigoule - artichokes, carrots and onions, boneless chicken thigh, dehydrated orange slices...wow!

Parisienne Gnocchi on Spring Vegetables with shaved pecorino...wow!

He brought us two sandwiches that we shared. Rock Shrimp BLT on Brioche and Pastrami on Rye with homemade pickled cabbage...delicious!

Citrus Pannacota with white chocolate shavings and madeleines

Cream Puffs with vanilla ice cream and "Chef Jordan's Famous Butterscotch Sauce"...oh my goodness!

We ate at some other great restaurants and toured the island.

We got up early our last day. We had to catch an early ferry, so we went out to watch the sunrise. Beautiful...

I'm so glad that we got to go see him. But now I miss him even more! He is such an awesome person. In fact, he's the coolest person I know. I admire him so much and I am so proud of him. He is the kind of person who goes out into the world to see what else is out there.

Love you Jordy!

P.S. My mom is going to blog about the trip too. Check out her blog here.