It's August already?

Okay, so it's been almost a month since I've written, but it's been a busy one!  I've moved, been to 3 different beaches and plenty of other stuff as well.  On the goals front, I've been to 1 new restaurant, will be dropping 3 bags of stuff off to Goodwill today and tried a new class at the gym.  I've read 7 books as well, I'll have to start a list of what I've read this week to check how I'm doing on the "literature" resolution.  Not too bad all things considered.  I dropped another lb, only to gain 2 back during my last beach trip.

So, here's the brief overview of July.  The week after the party I spent 2 days on LBI with my mom and aunt Eileen.  We had a lot of fun talking, swimming, reading on the beach, the usual beach activities.  It was nice to get a jump start on the summer with a couple of days away and I bought a new beach chair.  I think it's the first one I've bought that was actually worth buying and it's been well-used already.

After LBI it was home for a couple of days then off to DE with Officer BF.  We had a fantastic time...and totally forgot to take a single picture!  It rained the first day so we had time to relax, watch movies and unwind.  The next few days were spent taking a bike ride, going out to eat, visiting the beach/boardwalk and just enjoying being away for a bit.  We had a particularly funny lunch when I decided to teach the man how to crack crabs.  It did NOT go as planned...he wouldn't even try it after watching me start it off.  Turns out he's not a fan of do-it-yourself seafood.  So, that was a half dozen crabs just for me, YUM!  We stopped at the outlets on the way out of DE and did some serious damage.  We both needed some staples (tanks, Ts, etc) and picked up an ipod player for the condo as well.  I think it maxed out his shopping time for the next few months, but we made it fun.

The yearly family beach trip to NC was the next week.  I'll post photos instead of detailing what happened.  It was a great week, and a little crazier than expected...but that's another story entirely.  The highlights were the beautiful beach, Mom's b'day celebration, really hot morning runs and the fishing boat trip.

The fishing boat

Bluefish...the star of dad's ceviche

Electric Lemonades on the last night

The week since OBX has been spent moving.  All of my stuff is now out of Nyack and in PR.  I have my work cut out for me this week.  There are boxes and bags of stuff in the condo that need unpacking, more stuff that needs to be tossed or given away as I go through things and LOTS of organization to finish.  We're doing well with compromises so far, here's hoping that it continues!

Summer vacay!

It's the first day of summer vacay here and I'm ready for the relaxation to begin. This past weekend was a whirlwind!

Officer BF and I went to a graduation and then boys/girls nights in Portchester on Friday.  Congratulations to Tishauna and her family!  The girls went out to dinner on City Island for Michelle's b'day.  So...check off one more restaurant.  Johnny's Seafood was a cafeteria style place with great fried seafood.  So much for the diet..but the fried shrimp and strawberry dacquari were well worth it.  YUMMY!!!

Saturday was Adam's B'day BBQ.  It's an annual event and this was my first year.  Heather and I made him and awesome Thundercats cake....it was a big hit!  I have to say, I'm so glad to have this people as friends, they make work more fun and have become real friends outside of work.

Sunday was a family BBQ at my sister's house.  It was her first time hosting the whole family and it was a great time.  Everyone always brings something and the menu was outstanding!!  There were chicken kabobs, dad's ribs (he even smokes them himself!), deviled eggs,, corn and green salads, yummy appetizers...a feast!  Erin commented that she loves hosting the family because she has so little cooking to do.  Everyone always brings something different....we're lucky to have a family of great cooks!  I made yellow cupcakes with chocolate ganache, a double duty new recipe this weekend.  Ganache is super easy and I think I like it better than chocolate buttercream for cupcakes.

This week begins the moving process.  We talked last night about moving furniture and storing extra stuff in the attic and basement of bf's building.  We're going to take the whole month to move me and I'm hoping it will be fun and not all work and stress.  I hate moving so much but I am excited about taking this next step.  Packing begins tomorrow!