Mystery Tubes....

What is up with all of the tubed spreads at IKEA? It kind of freaks me out!

Cross Island Walking

My friend and I went walking last night and it was beautiful. One of our expressways here is called the Cross Island Parkway and it follows the bay that divides Queens and the Bronx. There is also a green way path that bikers, walkers, runners, etc, use avidly. The scenery is beautiful and I had always wanted to walk there. Too bad I didn't realize that I had my camera with me until we had already gone to the boat dock and finished most of the walk. Oh well!Here is part of the path and the bay on the right. The parkway is on the other side of the path.Do you like my red face from the humidity and the fast walking? How about Christine's closed eyes? Ha!

Uh oh....

I feel soooo bad now! Remember how I posted about going to the Big Apple BBQ Block Party a couple of weeks ago and I wrote about meeting this guy with the most ANNOYING voice? Well, he died! I feel guilty that I vented about how he SHOUTS out infomercials for every product under the sun. How weird that I met him 2 weeks ago and this morning his wife found him unresponsive in their home in Florida. How sad! You can see my post about him if you click HERE and you can read an article about him dying if you click HERE.

Fireworks on the water.....

The city celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the Queensboro bridge a few weeks ago. I knew that they were going to have fireworks that night but wasn't sure if I would be able to make it. Jose, Berna, and I took off about 15 minutes before they were supposed to start and hoped to make it there in time. As we approached, we could hear them start to explode in the sky. We parked as fast as we could and just started to follow people to the waters edge. Little did we know how we were about to score big! There was a movie set studio that had opened their warehouse on the water for a big party. They had the gates open and we all just WALKED right in. People passed by offering us food, etc. They made us feel very welcome....one girl even tried to give Jose a bottle of beer and when he declined she said, "I love you man." Ha! I really don't think that they even cared that about 50 random people jumped on their waterfront patio to watch the fireworks. I was just glad to be on the water with the amazing views.....the guys playing the "Jack Johnson-ish" music in the background weren't too bad either.

Summer Flowers...........

The hydrangea is my absolute FAVORITE flower! I love them and I get to see them EVERY summer on the east coast. They are beautiful and there are many different colors and varieties. I saw these flowers the other day and I thought that they were SUPER neat too. I think that I may have seen these at the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple before but I am not sure if it was the same exact flower. Anyway....I really like them too.

Say What????

I am totally in a funk right now. I just stopped by the library on my home. I decided to use the computer here and all of a sudden I saw a bunch of crazy headlines on MSNBC.com. Farrah Fawcett died today...that one wasn't too big of a shocker though since she has been battling cancer. MICHAEL JACKSON died today too. What? Can you believe it?! Then I logged on to my Facebook account (which I NEVER go on) and I saw that a guy I served with on my mission died. Ugh! What a sad day.

Surprise Retirement Party

I went to Arizona two weeks ago for my dad's surprise retirement party. It was a SUCCESS and we pulled off a great surprise. Here are just a few pictures from the party. I had a ton of fun with my family and Beak while I was there...I'll have to post those pictures later.I had a few different pictures hanging as decorations...this one was my favorite. My dad loves to mountain bike and we had a "workhorse" theme to the party. I searched google images and found a picture of a guy on a bike with a horse head. I cut and pasted my dad's head on his body and then threw on a caption. It turned out great!This picture is of my dad and I when he first walked into the room and saw all 50+ people there to honor him. He was sooooo shocked to see me there since I live a gazillion miles away from him...and he just froze!Here is my mom and brother trying to kind of explain what is going on and snap him out of his shock. There was a TON of food that my mom had catered in and Beak made some awesome salads to go with it.We had a program where people could roast my dad. I LOVE this picture of my dad....he looks so happy. Someone gave him that "Indiana Jones" hat to wear on his adventure to Costa Rica and he was listening to the song "Hit the Road Jack" that was playing from a greeting card.This is the BEST though! My brother makes these insane piñatas that are almost impossible to break (it started as a joke years ago). He brought one to the party so that my dad could release all of his "work tension" from so many years at the office. It was great!

Another Tradition.....

I think this was my 3rd year attending the Big Apple BBQ Block Party. It was fun again! LOTS of people, lots of BBQ, lots of BBQ smoke, and LOTS of freebies. Rachael Ray is the host of the 2 day block party and they have a ton of great sponsors that are very generous with the free things (dry rub packets for meat, Snapple, small bottles of hot sauce, bags of pretzels, ice cream bars, mini spray bottles of Clorox spot remover, etc.). I hardly took any pictures this year. I HAD to take this picture (I declined being in the picture with him) of this guy. Does anyone recognize him? He is on about EVERY infomercial that has ever been made. I laughed when I saw him endorsing one of the products at the block party.....my parents have mentioned on a few occasions that his voice DRIVES THEM NUTS. My dad wakes up WAY before the "roosters" every morning and the only thing on that early is this guy screaming about various products. I dedicated this picture to my parents....ha!

Baby Shower

I went to a baby shower last weekend and had a really nice time. My friend Salma (on the right in the blue and green top) is due in July and so her best friend Jennifer (also her team teaching partner) gave her a "fancy schmancy" baby shower. It was at a restaurant and so we chomped and chatted for a few hours. Jennifer's husband is a florist in the Bronx and so he decked out the entire place with flowers. I scored this lovely vase to take home. Congrats Salma...cant wait to meet the little guy in July. I thought that this gift was really creative (sorry the picture doesn't really show it too well). Anyway....there was a cord tied to the top of the gift box and attached to the bottom of the box. Then they hung all of the baby clothes on the line like they were being hung to dry. Very cute!

The Proposal

I saw The Proposal and loved it! It was a breath of fresh air and was really fun and cute. It had a lot of laughs and funny scenes (some really cheesy ones too). Anyway....I hadn't seen a "carefree" movie like that in a long time and I really enjoyed it. The scenery was beautiful too. Have fun if you see it!

Shrimp Boil

Beak got me hooked on making Shrimp Boils years ago......she is the "Queen of the Boil." You might remember seeing her boil in the New Years pictures from this year. If not, you can click HERE to see them. Anyway....I especially have a fond liking to them after going to New Orleans....that is why I made this boil a couple of weeks ago and threw on some spices I bought on my trip. Yum!

Memorial Day Weekend

This post is super late...but oh well! Memorial Day weekend started out with a trip to Jones Beach in Long Island for the NY State Air Show. It was a lot of fun and in a beautiful setting. Thousands (no joke...thousands and thousands) of people smothered the beach and surrounding areas ( highways and parking lots) to watch the planes fly above the Atlantic Ocean. It was beautiful and a nice way to start out a fun summer (the beaches in the city opened on Memorial Day) and a fun weekend.

A Flower Tradition....

I heard about the Macy's Flower Show a few years ago and I havent missed it since. I guess I have started my own tradition. I love going there and seeing how they transform the HUGE store into a flower garden. It really is amazing! This years theme was all about the pink flamingo. Very cute! It was fun because I saw the show in NYC and then I saw the show in Chicago the next weekend when I had my little "stay" there on my way home from New Orleans.I thought that the pom poms in this display were great! They kind of remind me of the pom poms that I made (thanks to my best friend Marth Stewart) for my friends baby shower last September.