wow - it's been a loooonnnggg time

I cant believe that it's been so long since I posted. Well to carry on from my last post - as all true Scarlet Knights fans know - we made it! We came back and had a good 2nd 1/2 season and are on our way to the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL.... ok well the the team is on THEIR WAY - Eric and I are not on our way anywhere!

I've got 9 weeks left (can you believe it?!) till my due date and so the holiday season is made even more hectic as we get her room ready, wash clothes and blankets and make sure we have all of the essentials.



My sister threw me an amazing baby shower in November and I was overwhelmed by the love and show of generosity from my friends and family. This kid is gonna have a lot of love in her life - what more could I ask for?



I had my last pre-baby business trip in November as well - being huge and on a tropical island w/ your husband dont always go together but Eric and I made the most of it!


Here are some photos from our fall adventures :)

Scarlet=Sadness

I cant express to you my sadness and disappointment over the performance of my guys last night. (yea, in case you didnt know it I have a personal investment in the Scarlet Knights so they're 'my guys' lol)

I swear that we went back about 6 years in the game against UNC...they ran all over us. We made some ridiculous plays and looked like we were randomly lobbing the football around. I honestly think that my girlfriends in high school and I played better when we were in powder puff football.

(sigh) my poor hubbie. He's so distraught :)

Hopefully we'll come back on the 20th...if we lose to Navy I may have to go into mourning.

It's been a long time...

I've been completely remiss in my postings. It can partly be attributed to a crazy hectic summer, and partly attributed to me being lazy...and then partly because you never know who's out there in cyberspace reading your business (right?)


That being said, we had a great summer.


Eric and I celebrated our first anniversary in Hawaii and renewed our vows on the beach in Maui. We had a ridiculously awesome time. It was exactly what we needed to unwind, refresh, and make brand new vows to each other as our marriage grows and evolves.

We spent our days relaxing in the sun, snorkeling and just enjoying each other's company. Oh and yea, I sprained my ankle and broke my toe....we can all laugh about it now :)

Here are some of our photos from our awesome anniversary :)

Then, we came back to reality and soon we realized that we had brought home an important and life changing souvenier from the islands....

And so our hectic summer of doctor's visits began :) mix that in with some business trips for me and we were really flying through the warm weather months...Of course, what is the natural thing for a woman to do when she finds out she's pregnant? She starts taking classes towards her MBA - doesnt that make a ton of sense? :)

That being said, I have no photos of my ever growing belly to share with you :( bc they havent been downloaded yet (yes, bad me I know) BUT I can share with you that today at our ultrasound appointment we found out that our little bean (who's not so little anymore)

is a GIRL :) I say she's giving us a thumbs up in this lil photo but who knows? Anyway, we'll keep you all posted. Thanks for all the good wishes and loving thoughts. Keep 'em coming.

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." Albert Einstein

A little note to my husband...
I love you. I truly do :) Through it all, I know that I have a partner for life who will love me and support me in my darkest moments and applaud me through my greatest achievements.

Four years ago yesterday, Eric and I met for the very first time. Of course I thought he was cute (and he tells me he thought I was cute...) but nothing came of it for a while. Unbeknownst to both of us we were handling a lot in our lives at the time. Our conversations started out innocently enough - asking about work and general life. And as the time went by, and about a million emails were exchanged, a strong connection was formed.

Eric and I have stood by each other through more than most young couples. We've fought (like cats and dogs) and loved (like it's nobody's business) and the love always wins out.

My amazing husband sent me the most beautiful circus roses to mark the anniversary of the day we first met, and I was deeply touched. For us, we have no "dating" anniversary. Ours was a relationship that just grew - so this marks a special occassion for us. The day that I feel blessed to have met my match.

Our first anniversary is coming up and we can't believe it's been a year. We're both so thankful for our families and friends who are there to support us, make us laugh and who make everyday of our life so worthwhile.

We hope to see you all SOON!

GFAW :)

Aptly named, our GFAW nights include lots of good food and wine...it just so happens that gfaw is also indicative of the enormous amount of laughter that is produced when we're all in a room together. I'm still waiting for the photos that Bob took at our house in February but here are some from the last GFAW (april @ Pri and Anthony's house). It was a blast!















It's never a good thing when Ms. Pri has that look on her face...let's hope she didnt rename the child "bubbalicious"

















Even Annalie, at her young age, is thinking "What in the world is this woman doing to me?!"
(you know I love you Pri)

















The three ladies with no child related responsibilities stopped to take a shot (a photo!! not the other kind)








while lil miss slept...so angelic

All I needed was the rain...

It's that kind of night (hell it's been that kind of day) where you just want to sit in your pjs and snuggle with the dogs and watch tv. I sat down to check my email and realized that I had neglected to post photos of our closet redo as well as to post about the Coulianidis hosted GFAW!
I'm pretty sure that our 'good food and wine' (hence GFAW) night was in late April - the 23rd I believe and Miss Annalie Lucia Brice made her first appearance at our dinner party. You know that we're all friends like family and it's a beautiful thing when our dinner circle begins to expand with little ones...forcing us to put a place setting of a bottle and pacifier at the table :)
So I'd like to share some photos with you - first of the crash boom closet redo and then of the lovely Annalie...she's an amazing baby with so much love around her. I can't wait to spoil her rotten like a good aunt should! If I have technical difficulties (which I often do) I may have to post the GFAW photos separately, let's see how it goes!

This is, of course, after we emptied and gutted the closet as best we could....

Eric put up some new hardware...

the lovely wood floor (ahem ahem) in the closet...though I WOULD like to know what the heck that slanty thingy is...

YAY! New, clean closet with a new light and carpet!!

Of course Ginger helped A LOT during the re-do process. Morgen was absolutely nowhere to be found, as usual; since she usually hides from the mamarazzi.

This was Ginger's gift to her Daddy for giving her Mommy a new closet. Honestly, I'm pretty sure that this is how Eric wakes up EVERY morning :)

And here's the closet team resting after a long night's work. Ginger's in her usual position and so is Morgen - she just can not bring herself to look at the camera. So instead, she tried to make herself look like Eric's hat.

We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong...

Today, Tiffany and I (or as we're collectively known - Tiffamin) went to a Women's Conference in Princeton.
Some people may laugh at the idea of a women's conference. They may say that in the year 2008, women have every opportunity to excel and succeed. And "they" are right in a sense. Women have been making amazing strides for decades (centuries if we go past what's been written) but there is still something to be said for the professional woman that often goes unnoticed...

We are Super Heroes.
That's right - I'll say it...I'll toot my own horn and I dont care!

Women (and some men - I'm not knockin the men who do all this too) go to work each day and work in an office, then they come home and work at home and if you have children and a husband all of that gets multiplied exponentially...I can't even calculate it. We are the nurturers, the problem solvers, the democrats (sometimes the Republicans but you know what I mean), the cooks, the housekeepers, best friends, party planners, bill payers, travel agents, lovers, wives, sisters, mothers, daughters, CEOs, masters of school projects, queen of last minute cupcakes for 60 and much more. Did I leave something out?

I found out in a text message from my husband that "he relies on me." REALLY? I think I knew it deep inside but it was a little nice to know that he acknowledges it too. The cold hard fact is that these million roles we possess are not going away any time soon. Years and years of living has proven that we're actually GOOD at all of this stuff. We know, inately, how to dry the tears while perfecting last quarter's market share reports while cooking a (healthful) meal for 2.5 children and a spouse.

Doesnt that amaze you? It amazes me...and then I realize that that woman IS me. And my chest gets tight and I start to tear up thinking of all the other things I need to do...scratch that. Want to do.

Do you ever feel like you want to do something but then have an excuse why you don't do it? I run that scenario all the time. I want to paint, I want to run, I want to do yoga but I can't because (I'm tired, I don't have time, I don't have this or that). Today was about no excuses...no complaints. Basically, telling you that you're in control so prioritize and do what's most important to you - focus on it, no distractions, time yourself, and then reward yourself for it...with something that you love. The facilitator suggested chocolate but we all know that that would leave to very bad things for me. :)

So many of us feign being totally put together all the time - I know i do it from time to time. But I'll tell you - I feel stress like the rest of us too. I realized that the tight feeling in my chest and my physician's tendency to take my blood pressure 3xs before giving me a lecture on stress - these were not good things.

So today was about me. Well about women everywhere really but since I was there and this is my blog it was about ME. It wasn't so much LEARNING how to take charge and be assertive because I think that I know those things. I find myself to be a fairly diplomatic and take charge kind of gal. I think that I'm a natural leader and one who takes other's feelings into consideration. What I needed from today was the permission to take charge - permission to be in control - to say no - to stand up and just get done what I thought was most important.
And best of all - to not let all those "Mr. Grumpy Pants" (thanks Shirley) ruin my day.

I was talking to a young mom/wife today who was telling me how much her husband frustrates her because they run a business together and are polar opposites. I kept saying, "but you LET him frustrate you." and then I came home and got frustrated with my own husband.
No one is perfect. But we all need to live our lives and lead our destiny...hopefully with the one that we love by our side because that makes the journey so much sweeter.

So tomorrow I'm going to wake up and think positive, I'm going to be amazing and know that my frustration and stress comes from my reaction to others' actions...and those idiots down the hall.

(just kidding - the people down the hall from me at work are really nice. The idiots are someplace else...)