The Dandelion Has It

Halloween in NYC

2009-11-01T22:32:00.008-05:00

My friend Sadie convinced me to get dressed up for Halloween and go into The City with her and her friend Rylee. We met up at Sadies house where she did all of our makeup, and we were off!

I was a witch, but the hat was really annoying so it got left at Sadies after a few photos were taken.

Sadie (Tinkerbell), Rylee (Angel of Death) and Me on the train headed to New York City.

We found Peter Pan and decided Sadie needed her picture taken with him.

These guys were probably my favorite. They were dressed up like this and just hanging out in front of the Chase Bank. I was about to take this picture when some guy walked behind me and was VERY rude to me. The redhead in me came out a little bit and I think I shocked not only the friends I was with, but also a big chunk of people hanging out at Times Square. The area got pretty quiet as I yelled pretty vigorously at him. He deserved it. Jerk!

We stayed out so late that I spent most of today sleeping. It was a lot of fun. New York City is kind of a freak show on Halloween, I love this place!!

My Wonderful Grandma Rose

2009-10-28T20:03:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I went out to get the mail, like I do every afternoon, this particular afternoon though there was a great little surprise waiting in the mailbox for me. There was a package addressed to yours truly with two cute little stickers on it saying "thinking of you" and "I love you" and the return address was from my grandma! It was so unexpected and sweet!! She sent me this really cute little pair of pants...um...let me explain...it was a small decorative pair of overall pants that a scarecrow might wear, made out of a felt type material and filled to the top with little candy bars and some candy corn. hhhhmmm....I'm not sure that description does it justice, anyway, it was cute. And it was so sweet! Thanks for thinking of me Grandma! Love you!!

Be Nice

2009-10-19T20:22:00.004-04:00

Chris and Dorothy went out of town for the night tonight, so its just me, Madeleine, Alex, and Cleo (she's the dog) at home. Before they left, Dorothy wrote us all little notes on post-its and left them on the counter for us to find. When I read them this morning Mads and Alexs said the same thing with their names being the only difference but maybe I didn't read them very closely cause tonight, Mads still says: "Mad, love you see you tomorrow, Mom" but Alexs now says "Alex, love you see you tomorrow, be nice, Mom" and oddly enough Dorothys handwriting changed just a little bit on the part that says "be nice" its almost like she reverted back to her youth and used the penmanship of her ten year old self....hhmmm.....

Or maybe...just maybe Mad altered her big brothers note just a little...I guess its a mystery....

Madeleine Playing Soccer

2009-10-05T22:16:00.002-04:00

Sunday was a beautiful day. Sunshiny and warm and perfect for going to the park to watch a soccer game.

Mad and her team won!

Visitors!

2009-10-02T20:59:00.004-04:00

Late last night I got a phone call from my moms big brother. Basically what he said was this:

Hey Michelle! We're in a hotel in a town about 10 miles from where you live. Wanna get together tomorrow for lunch?

Isn't that so great?! So today, I got to have lunch with my wonderful Uncle Harry and Aunt Judy! They came to my house to pick me up and we went to Pinocchio's Pizza. After we ate and talked for a while, we went back to my house where they met Alex and I gave them a little tour of the main floor and my room. Then Mad came home from school and they got to meet her too. What an amazing and wonderful surprise! Thanks Uncle Harry and Aunt Judy, it was so great to see you!

Apple Picking in New York

2009-09-29T08:39:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday, my dear friend April called and suggested we go apple picking. So, I drove to New York (state people, not city...that's where she lives...its not far) and we spent the day enjoying Fall. It was such a nice day and we really had a great time!

U2

2009-09-25T12:23:00.006-04:00

So the Pags have been planning, for months, to go to the U2 concert in New Jersey at the Giants stadium. What wasn't planned, though is that Chris would happen upon two extra tickets and take his very grateful nanny with them! Yeah, that's right, I went to see U2 last night!! Cool, huh? We started the evening by doing the "tailgating" thing. Sandwiches and beer in the parking lot with the Pags makes me so happy! Then we went in (to the outdoor arena) (along with over 84,000 other people...yeah, that many. It broke a record) to see the show. The two extra seats weren't by the other four, so to begin with it was just Louise (Chris' mom) and I while the other four were much closer to the stage in their seats. But Chris sent me a text a few songs in that said there were empty seats by them so we should sneak down. It was so great. We had a lot of fun!

Where I Currently Reside

2009-09-15T12:37:00.001-04:00

I realised the other day that I never did get around to posting pictures of my new home...sorry mom :) well, here it is. Their whole house is really beautiful...but I just added pictures of the outside of the house, and my room. Enjoy!

Hey! My lamps tilted!

Glenn Beck

2009-09-09T20:29:00.000-04:00

Hey guess what happened on Monday...

I went to a BBQ/picnic thing and you'll never believe who was there...or maybe you will cause the title of this post is Glenn Beck...and because there is a picture up there of me and Sadie with Glenn Beck...anyway, Glenn Beck was there! I don't regularly listen or watch him, but it was really cool to meet him just the same. He was really down to earth and nice. And it was fun to call Brandon after the picnic to rub it in :) tee hee, love ya B.

Rock On NYC...day two...

2009-09-08T21:12:00.004-04:00

Sunday was day two of my Rock & Roll tour of Manhattan (if you didn't read about day one, go back a post and check it out). Day two was just as great as day one was, and just like day one there were WAY too many photos to share them all here, but here are a few of them:

One of the stops on the tour was at Washington Square Park. A plethora of musical wonderments! I spent so long just wandering around enjoying the beautiful weather and the people who set themselves and their instruments up all around the park. So great! This is me in front of the fountain and the arch.

This is me in front of The Bitter End. If you have a favorite artist, chances are they have played here. It claims to be New Yorks longest running night club, and the list of names who have played here is unbelievable

And here I am at Cafe Wha? Yet another amazing place, but I'm only going to write two names. Jimi Hendrix. Bob Dylan. WOW!

Speaking of Bob Dylan (one of my all time favorites, in case you didn't know) here I am standing on the street where the cover photo for the album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" was taken. This was such a cool thing to me. I was slightly overwhelmed at the actuality of it all and I really, really loved it!

And the last stop on the tour...where else? The Hotel Chelsea. It would have been hard for the weekend to have been any better for me than it was!

Rock On NYC...day one...

2009-09-06T00:21:00.007-04:00

I'm not sure who in the blogging world knows this so I will say it as a precursor to my story. I LOVE music. I love almost all kinds of music with a passion that is hard to describe but I particularly love older Rock and Roll. The classic, groundbreaking, revolutionary, wonderfully amazing stuff. So when my mom sent me an email before I even moved out here (thanks mom!) about a self guided audio tour of a bunch of great Rock & Roll spots around Manhattan I was very excited. So I got on the website (citylisten.com if anyone is interested) and bought it (for $7.50) and downloaded it so I could do it today. The website said to plan on about two hours to take the tour, depending on how long you stay at each stop...I got through stop 10 of 26. Yup, all day long and I didn't even make it half way. It has been wonderful so far, and since its a long weekend I'm going back tomorrow to finish! Yay!

There are way too many pictures to share all of them, but here are a couple that I liked. I'm thinking the two day trip might turn into a scrapbook. Not a couple pages in a scrapbook, but a whole scrapbook all for itself, so ask me to see it sometime!

This is me on the train going into the city. I was so excited!

And this has been my favorite stop so far...although CBGB's was pretty cool...and I went on a non-scheduled (on the tour) stop to the Morrison Hotel that was also really cool...and the non-scheduled stop at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex was pretty neat too...

But that's not what this picture is of. This is the building pictured on the cover of Led Zeppelins' Physical Graffiti album! Cool Huh?!! I Know!! I seriously stood here and looked at this building for at least a half hour, at LEAST! It was really great! I asked a very nice guy to take a picture of me with the building in the background (he and his wife and daughter got very excited when I informed them what he was taking a picture of, by the way).

Anyway, that's it for today...I say that as if this post wasn't miles long, sorry :) I'll fill you in on tomorrows events later, you know, after they happen.

On Our Way Home

2009-09-04T23:27:00.003-04:00

Tonight we went to dinner at the country club. Chris, Dorothy, Alex, Madeleine and myself. It was a great meal and great company. Such a beautiful night and we were all in wonderful moods. After dinner Chris, Dorothy & Mad went home in their car and Alex and I took mine. What a great ride home! As we were walking out to the car Alex was singing the song to his dad and I that he had just discovered he "loves!" In my humble opinion, it's a stupid song. Its called "Party in the USA" and its by Miley Cyrus. Anyway, he apparently loves this song and he told me that he was going to search the radio until he found it, and we couldn't go home until he found it either. We got into the car, and guess what was playing...you should have seen his face! It was priceless, he was so, so, so excited! He turned the radio up, opened the sunroof and sang and danced along. Then he kept telling me where to turn so that we could take the long way home and hopefully hear it again. We did take the long way home. And we heard the song two and a half (the first time it was almost over so it didn't count as a full time) times on our journey home. What a great kid. It was worth listening to the stupid song two and a half times to see his excitement about it. Great ride home!

Excited About Getting In Shape

2009-08-29T20:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I joined a gym. I'm really excited about it. And today I went to the nearest Sports Authority store and spent way too much money on things for the gym...ie shoes, workout clothes, gym bag... Then this afternoon, I actually went to the gym! Its kind of silly how excited I am about exercising, but I am. And when I get excited about something, I try to blog about it. So here I am. Yay for feeling good about ourselves!

Yum, Sushi!!

2009-08-20T22:49:00.007-04:00

On Tuesday night I got together with some friends that I've made out here in Connecticut (April, Sadie, and Chef Patrick) (by the way, Patrick actually is a chef, that's not just a quirky nickname or something...ok, on with the story) and had a delicious meal. I learned how to make sushi!! We all went over to Patricks house and he taught us how to make sushi (mine might have been considered fake sushi since I am vegetarian and don't eat fish...therefore it had no fish in it. I call it sushi anyway!) and tempera (sweet potatoes and asparagus) and April taught us (I'm sure Chef Patrick already knew how...I dunno) how to make Won Tons (I don't know how to spell that so if its wrong, just pretend it isn't...thanks!). It was tons and tons of fun and so yummy! We mentioned that sushi night should be a new tradition and we should do it once a month, cause it was such a great night. mmmmm.....sushi.....

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me so I only got a few not very great shots on my phone, but here they are. It was so great!

New Jersey

2009-08-16T10:02:00.006-04:00

Guess what blogging world...I've been to New Jersey before! My employer, Dorothy and I needed to go to a cute little town by the South Jersey shore called Margate to make sure the house her and her siblings own was ready for the new renter to move in. So on Thursday morning we left Connecticut, crossed the George Washington bridge (which was so cool! You can see Manhattan from it) got onto the New Jersey Turnpike (which was also cool cause I've heard about it) and from there took the Garden State Parkway to the quaint little town of Margate. I was telling Dorothy on the approx. 3 hour drive down there that I was expecting to see the stereotypical New Jersey with the men in wife beater tank tops and lots of greased hair and gold chains and the women with huge ratted up curly hair, and she told me that does actually exist but its more typical of North Jersey, and we were headed to South Jersey which is the nicer and more upper class area of Jersey. It was so beautiful! I expected to hate the Atlantic because I love the Pacific so, so much and how could something be as wonderful as it is...I was wrong. The Atlantic is so different than the Pacific, it's darker and more foreboding, but its beautiful in its own way. I really loved it! Ok, I think that's about enough ranting...I'm a little afraid to read this back to myself cause I just started typing and didn't really pay attention to what I was babbling on and on about...and I DID babble! sorry about that!! Lets see some pictures!!

Wow. I'm weird! Here we go:

Here I am in front of the Atlantic Ocean!

And Look!! That is Atlantic City in the background...wait, I think you can see it a little better after dark...

Look!! There's Atlantic City in the background...well, maybe you can see it better in this picture in the light...ignore the people in the picture, I didn't know them...

Look! You can see Atlantic City in the background!! ...ok, the point is I got to see Atlantic City (from a distance...but not a huge distance). It's...um...well, it's not Vegas, but kinda cool just the same.

Here I am on the deck of some guy named Louis who was trying to hit on me...he was nice enough but I wasn't interested so I didn't drink the beer he offered at least 700 times or go to the pool party he and his friends were going to have. But I DID let him use my camera to take my picture cause its hard always doing self portraits.

This is Lucy. The giant elephant shaped building in Margate. Yup, you read that right. Its a building, shaped like an elephant. It used to be a hotel. Now its a museum I think...funny, huh?!

We stopped on our way home Friday morning to pick Alex and his friend up cause they had been down there at a friends house all week. They were nice enough to help Cleo get into the proper Jersey Shore attire. She looks good, right?

New York City

2009-08-08T23:29:00.001-04:00

Today I went to New York City for the first time since I've lived here. I went with my friend April, and a group of her friends who were all really nice. It started out as a group of 9 girls, but we were all moving at a different pace so we ended up splitting up and I went with April and Sadie to hang out and see the city. We had lots of fun. It was Sadies first time ever being to the city and it was fun to see it through her eyes. The first thing I did was to get a bagel at Hot and Crusty in Grand Central Station. YUM!

And I discovered something wonderful today...there is ANOTHER Hot and Crusty! Its a full bakery! One day I will go in! Note to self: its on the corner of 104th and Broadway.

Then we went to the meat packing district and walked along The High Line (which is an old abandoned train line that is about one story up and they turned it into a little walking path/garden area. It looks out over the Hudson River and its really cute and fun).

After that it was just the three of us and we went to get lunch at this place that April knew of. I forget the name of it, but it was SO good! On our way to the lunch spot we turned down a street that was all blocked off from traffic and it had all kinds of booths set up selling things. I bought a new dress that is really cute!

Then we went back to Time Square so that we could wander around and have fun and take all that excitement in. It was pretty cool to spend the day feeling like I could be leisurely and relaxed because if there is something I want to do in the city that I didn't get a chance to do...I can just come back, cause I live out here now. Wow! It was a really great day!!

For My Bathroom

2009-08-03T21:36:00.002-04:00

Um...before you read this little post you should be warned that I'm stupidly excited, and it's a really silly thing to be excited about but I am. There. you were warned. Yesterday, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and got some stuff for my bathroom. Before there was a rack that hung over the shower head but it was kind of small and rusty. So I got...

...a new one. I warned you that it was a silly thing to be excited about. But wait! That's not all. Since the organizer hanging from the shower head was too small to fit everything, the rest of the shampoo and shower stuff went on the floor, which was annoying to me. So for the stuff that was residing on the floor of the shower I got...

...a shelf! Not just any shelf, a cool suction cuppy shelf that sticks to the wall. Cool huh?! Man I'm lame! :)

The Maritime Aquarium

2009-08-02T16:50:00.002-04:00

Friday was a rainy day here in Connecticut which means our plans for Madeline to go to swim practice and then golf and tennis camp got canceled. Bummer, right? WRONG! Since we couldn't do that, Dorothy suggested we go to the aquarium instead. So Mad called her friend Nicki from across the street, and the three of us (Alex is still playing in the Hamptons) went to the aquarium. It was so much fun. We saw lots of sea life, it is an aquarium that focuses on things that are found in and around the Long Island Sound (which is nearer to us than the Atlantic is). We saw seals and sharks and sea turtles and penguins and lots of different fish. We got to touch a cow nose ray. They have a whole area with all different kinds of frogs and toads. I thought the blue poison frog thing (I forget his real name, but it was something about being poisonous...and he was blue...and a frog...) was really cool. He was so pretty! They have a IMAX theater inside the building so later in the afternoon we went and watched a film called Deep Sea. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet narrated it and it was really interesting and way cool to see the amazing picture and 3D effects. After that we got ourselves a treat (Ice cream. Yum!) and wandered around a little more then came home. We all had a really good time!

Nicki and Madeline being silly and cute

Mad and Nicki watching the seals swim around

Mad and I hanging out at the Aquarium

Me, Mad, Nicki, and a turtle shell

This is that poisonous frog I mentioned above. I googled him and found out that he's called a Blue Poison Dart Frog. He's pretty isn't he?!

Can You Hear Me Now?

2009-08-01T17:59:00.001-04:00

So when I moved to Connecticut I found out that my phone is really stupid. It didn't get service anywhere! So on Thursday I went to the Verizon Wireless store and spent way too much money and bought myself a new phone. I LOVE IT! I bought the En V Touch, and its great. The best part is that now I can call my loved ones who are so very far away, and half the conversation isn't "sorry, you cut out. What did you say?"

Time For Bed

2009-07-27T22:18:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, Steph went home. Which meant that today, was my first day of being a nanny, without having someone sitting right next to me to answer my "...um...is this where I turn??" kind of questions. All in all, it went pretty well. We got up in the morning and did the eat breakfast and get ready thing. Then a little later in the morning Mad and I decided to take Cleo (she's the dog) for a walk. I had assumed (silly me) that this was going to be a five or ten minute ordeal. Not the case. About halfway through our walk I said to Mad, "Wow, its taking forever to get back home. Are we almost there?" in response, Mad kind of giggled and told me we weren't even close. She had failed to mention at the beginning of the walk (but was quite happy to inform me once we were too far to turn around) that the path we took was about a 2.5 mile walk. And since I am not in the best shape, I was a little tired by the end of it...ok...by the middle of it. Anyway. When we got home from our walk we went to the country club to go swimming, and of course I couldn't tell that sweet little face no when she asked me to get in the pool and play with her. Anyway, what this rambling post is here to tell you is this: 1 - Day one of being on my own went well and 2 - I'm pooped! Ok, that's all I have to say for now.

The "M Project"

2009-07-22T16:33:00.005-04:00

This post is way overdue! I just wanted to say thanks to my wonderful friend Lauren. I was talking to her one day before I left about the company shirts I had with my name on them and said she wanted to make me something and asked if she could have them to do so. I gave her the shirts and for about a month I constantly heard bits and pieces about "the M project" as Lauren lovingly referred to it. She wouldn't tell me what it was, but I was aloud to know that everyone else at the dealership knew what it was, and I was led to believe that they all had something to do with it. It wasn't until the night before I moved to Connecticut that I found out what "M project" was. It is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen. She gave most everyone at the dealership a quilt square so they could write me a message, then she sewed them all together with my shirt in the middle. It means so much to me. I'm sure she thought it would mean a lot to me, but she couldn't have possible known HOW much...a lot! So to Lauren I have to say this...thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you...

Gifts From Home

2009-07-16T15:00:00.003-04:00

Mom sent me a package that I received in the mail today. It was so wonderful. Thanks mom! In it was a blanket that my mom made when I was little, it doesn't belong to me, but its my favorite blanket ever. She also sent me some books and a CD with a bunch of photos on it. The following might be my favorite part. Be careful watching though, it will make you cry if you're me....

Day One

2009-07-13T23:06:00.004-04:00

Got up.
Helped Steph get Alex up and fed and took him to school.
Came back to the house to pick Madeleine up.
Took Mad to the country club for Swim Team.
Steph left to pick Alex up from school.
Watched that darling little fish swim.
Got Mad a snack at the club snack area.
Played at the club playground with Mad and her friend.
Steph came back from picking Alex up from school.
Ate lunch at the club with Steph and Mad.
Played at the playground some more.
Mad got back into the pool while Steph and I watched from the lounge chairs.
Steph got into the pool with Mad (I didn't have my swim suit).
Alex got dropped off by his mom at the club so he could hang out.
Continued to watch the swimming.
Watched some more.
Gathered things up to go back to the house.
Got Mad into the shower.
Watched (helped a little) Steph do laundry and cleaning up of the kids rooms.
Fixed some dinner (chicken nuggets, tater tots, fruit and brownies for dessert)
Ate dinner.
Played Rock Band with Madeleine.
Filled out some paperwork so I can have insurance.
Took a shower.
Blogged.
Went to bed.

And that was my day....well, I haven't done the "went to bed" part yet cause I'm still on the "Blogged" part, but that's next...

Goodbye For Now My Ensign Friends

2009-07-13T22:44:00.002-04:00

These are just a few pictures of my last couple of days working at Ensign Imports. I know I'm a little slow posting this, since the last day I actually worked there was July 3rd but a lot of these people became really great friends to me over the last few years and I will miss them so much so i thought it was better late than never. I love and miss you, my Ensign family!! xoxo

Connecticut

2009-07-11T18:48:00.001-04:00

Well. I made it. I'm now officially a resident of Wilton, Connecticut....weird....