It was 72 today on this first Monday in December. I can’t decide if this is just “life in the South” or a byproduct of global warming. Right now though, I’m just enjoying the fact that we can still sneak out for some long walks in the stroller and tummy time in the park. We met my friend Kim and her little girl for a walk in Old Salem today, not considering what cobblestone roads would be like with strollers. Bo didn’t seem to mind – in fact, I think the vibrations sent him right into La La Land. He was in such a good mood when we finished walking that I threw a blanket on the ground and we did some tummy time right there in the big green space in the middle of Old Salem. Such a weird thing to see all the evergreen and Moravian stars and candles in the window indicating that it’s Christmas time – and then be outside in shorts and t-shirt! Somehow I don’t think we’ll be having a white Christmas this year…
(I don’t usually get to shoot outside in natural light so I had a bit of a field day snapping his picture in the perfect afternoon sun.)
My sweet friend Jamie took some maternity photos for me last Sunday and I just love them. Thank you Jamie for scouting out some fun places downtown, running all around in the crazy heat and using your gifted eye to capture this exciting time in my life! I know I am always going to treasure these photos of my first pregnancy!
Oh how I love the beach. I love any beach, any time of year but I especially love my family’s annual April beach trip to Garden City Beach, SC. Last year, Matt and I were able to join our family for the whole week at the beach but this year because of work schedules we had to make the most of our too-short 3.5 days there! We managed to fit it all in…
Saturday night we celebrated my mom’s upcoming retirement from her career as a elementary school teacher with champagne and cupcakes! The cupcakes were made by my super talented friend Abbie (the same one who made Matt’s birthday cake a few months ago.) Not only are they adorable, but they taste so good.
Congrats Mom!! My mom keeps telling everyone she got accepted for a new job position she applied for five years ago – Grandma. (I appreciate the gentle reminder we’ve kept her waiting a whole five years and like to tell my sister that that means now she’s married the clock is ON.)
We had GORGEOUS weather this week. April can be hit or miss weather at the beach – but that will never stop a bunch of Yankees from spreading their towels out and claiming the sun. It makes me laugh to look up and down the beach and see the scores of people splashing in the freezing ocean – you can tell immediately who has traveled down from NY, NJ and Ontario for their spring breaks.
Fortunately we didn’t have to wear our Yankees tough skin on the beach this week {since I don’t have mine anymore} – each day was warmer then the next and we got plenty of time in the sun. Even Buddy was totally content curled up on a blanket under an umbrella.
Speaking of Buddy, one of the “perks” of bringing your dog to the beach is getting to wake up at sunrise every day to take him out! He usually gets up around 6:30 or so to go out, and at home I just let him out the back door and if it’s not time for me to get up, we head back to bed. But here the back door was a wooden staircases that led straight to a wide open beach, so I thought it in my best interest to actually put the leash on and walk him. It turned out to be one of my favorite moments of each day. There is nothing so beautiful as the sun coming up on an almost-empty beach. One morning we were out just as it was literally coming up over the water, and we plopped down in the sand to watch the sun climb higher and higher in the sky from dawn to full morning daylight.
I am okay with this version of 6:30. Sure beats an alarm clock and fumbling to the kitchen to mash the Keurig button.
Ok, so maybe you still need the mash the Keurig button.
We also, of course, had our favorite Claffey family beach tradition – buttery rubber bands!
Katie and Drew posed for this picture while we were waiting for our last rounds of clams to come up and I’m pretty sure it looks like it belongs in a church directory. Awkward is their specialty.
It was a condensed version of our usual beach trip, but expert beach goers that we are, we managed in everything that makes a Claffey beach trip great: surf, sand, hot dogs, clams, golf, walks, family time, beer. Ok ix-nay on that last one for me…. maybe next year. I don’t think Baby C would take too kindly to that!
A picture perfect day in the park, a darling family, and a sweet 8 month old boy who hammed it up for the camera and only protested when we said “Hey sweet boy, walk barefoot back and forth in the cold wet grass for a few minutes!”
This was such a fun photo session to do. This is my friend Lauren, her husband Josh and little boy Jeffery. These are just a handful of my favorites. Isn’t he the cutest?
Back in May, my friend Jamie and I did a fun shoot to reveal via her blog that she was having a little girl. At that time, she was 20 weeks pregnant and we talked about doing another shoot when she was farther along and showing a little more. September seemed soooo far away in May.
Jamie posted her faves on her blog already, so I’ll refrain from getting carried away and posting tons and tons more here. It makes me so happy to know that I was able to capture this moment for her before her little one arrives. I already love this little girl as much as I love her momma!
Walked around the World Trade Center site, and into the beautiful hushed St Peter's Church. The last time I was here, there was just a big hole in the ground, so it was amazing to see the new growth. It's a comforting reminder of what it means to be American: you get knocked down by awful and unfair events, but you never stay down. And often you get back up and you're stronger and more beautiful when you started. Yay, America. Yay, New York. It really hit me how much this city had been through almost a decade ago (!!). I was holding back tears walking through the tribute at St Peter's, as the visual images really brought the event back to it's full magnitude for me.
Jamie and I walked outside into the bright sun and just sort of looked at each other and sort of did a little shake... like, wow. That really happened huh?
And then we...
Attempted to go to Battery Park, only the Subway that was intended to take us there wasn't running so we were waiting in line for a shuttle bus with a million other people in the blazing heat when I said "Hey! How about we go in Starbucks and get some water and reevaluate our plans?" This went over very well with my tough but still 26 week pregnant friend, so we did.
Our new plan was to take the subway to meet Kathryn at Rockefeller to go to top of the Rock. WHen we popped out of the subway, we....
Were in Times Square! Which made us laugh because when we were making our NYC plans Jamie and I kept saying to each other over and over again "But we definitely don't need to go to Times Square. We don't have ANY interest in going to Times Square." And here we were. And it was just as busy and crazy and touristy as we had both remembered, so we put our heads down and pushed through the crowds to find Kathryn. Before we knew it, we...
were staring out at the most amazing views of the city. Like my airplane post, seeing a world from this high up does weird things to my brain. I feel like part of a huge world and a tiny world all at once. I almost have to stop looking after awhile. We snapped lots of pictures up here. All 3 of us are nuts about our cameras, and having a playground of a vista like that was heaven to all of us. The tricky part was finding someone who would take one of the 3 of us.
After we managed to find someone, we...
refueled at the Wafel Truck. Matt called me at this point, and asked what we were up to. “Eating a waffle!” I exclaimed. “Eating a waffle?” he asked, a bit confused. (It was, after all, about 3:00 pm.) If only he had called an hour later, so I could tell him we…
were watching a roller disco in Central Park. (I have watched this video so many times on my phone and I can never quite decide who is my favorite person in this clip to watch.) Just so much unbridled happiness in this clip. Everyone who was there looked like they were pretty much having the best Saturday ever. From there, we…
wandered our way through Central Park, ending up in Bethesda Terrace. It had beautiful lighting and gorgeous architectural details. So, we took a few pictures. Just a few. I swear. It was getting close to evening and time for baby Q to wind down, so Jamie and I were on our own for a bit. We…
explored the Met for a bit (air-conditioning!) and then recharged our bodies with a little pre-dinner cupcake from Sprinkles. It was tiny. I swear. Jamie and I had just truly hit our sugar buzz, when Kathryn, our amazing tour guide / city hostess, came back to take us back to Soho for dinner. We…
ate at the quaintest little restaurant called Freeman’s. It was tucked down a little alleyway off the Bowery, and I never in a million years would have found it on my own but thank heavens Kathryn did because my life needed those shrimp and corn fritters. (Basically, fancy hush puppies. But that is not a complaint, not one bit.) My only complaint about this place was the emo, uber-casual waiter. “So, like, are we having any drinks tonight?” is not a way to win points for great service. (His service was actually fine, his attitude was just bizarro. And the food more than made up for his quirkiness. It is New York, right?) Dinner flew by in what felt like a matter of minutes while our conversation ran the gamut of everything from roasting chickens to New York real estate. (Both topics that make me a teensy bit squeamish feeling.) The check arrived, we headed out into the night and before we knew it, we were hugging our old/new (Jamie/me) friend good-bye as we got ready to go in different directions at the subway. Once we got back to our hotel room, I reported to Jamie that we…
walked close to twelve miles in the twelve hours we had been out. Twelve miles! We might have only had one had what amounted to barely more than one day in New York City, but I think we did a good job making the most of our time there. We had a few things left to see on Sunday, but we had packed in some classic NYC sights, some delicious food and some quality time with our friends. We…
Once upon a time, I had a blog. I chronicled a life in Spain, a heartbreak, 4 moves, a chronic illness and relationship rekindled. It's been a few years and it turns out I missed broadcasting my personal life for all the internets to see. So I'm back and bloggier than ever.
