Interesting

Interesting website of the day:

http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp

Tells you stuff about how old you are and your birthday - and if you click on the link at the bottom and fill in your name, it tells you stuff about your name, too. Interesting how it appears to be fairly accurate....

Frugal Miss President (...or am I just cheap?)

Like some others that I know, I enjoy a good bargain. Take, for example, my last trip to see the Woods in MA. Bec and I went to the House of Target and, among other things, checked out their dollar section. There is always a lot to see, and we noticed one whole section that was on clearance - 75% off. Yes, folks, that means that all $1 items were a whopping 25 Cents! And, of course, we are all familiar with my shopping piece de restance - 12 Polar Seltzer bottles for free, plus a nickel! :) (original post on that is Thurs, Feb. 17, 2004 if you're interested)

I have made a new discovery in terms of frugalness and kitch... Below Five. They opened one up near me fairly recently, and I've just had the opportunity to visit this week. How much fun is this store? I could easily spend large amounts of cash on a million rather useless-but-fun items. I almost walked out of there with mini-paper-lantern electric lights and a tin lunchbox (for which the grand total would have been $10) but, alas, I did not.... but maybe next time. ;)

Road trip adventures, roller coasters and... breakfast in Vermont?!?

Yesterday was perhaps not the first official day of Summer, but it was the first official day of my summer, and an adventure was planned to commemorate the day. I was instructed to be ready at 5am (eek!) and was told that clothing appropriate for Six Flags was in order. Being that I live in the same state as this, I figured that the bulk of the adventure was to happen there, with perhaps a quick trip to the ocean included in the package. I get in the car and find myself sweetly provided with blanket and pillow. It doesn't take much convincing to get me to push the seat back and doze off for an hour. When I awaken, I expect to find myself fairly close to the shore... and instead find myself near Hartford! Tricky, tricky... it ends up that I live practically between two parks and the goal was to get to Massachusetts! Imagine my surprise! So, we keep driving and enter the good 'ol Bay State, and keep driving. And driving. And then we get to a sign that says.... Welcome to Vermont. Vermont?!? At that point, it was obvious that something wasn't quite right. We stopped at a beautiful welcome center and found two earthy-crunchy-Vermonters ready to help. Since we were already there, inquiries were made as to how close we were to the location of this, to find that it was "just up the road, at exit 6," and that breakfast could be attained fairly nearby. Back in the car, armed with a brand-new Vermont map, we started off again, only to discover that exit 6 was 30 miles away! So, the whole breakfast-and-shopping-in-Vermont excursion came to an abrupt stop as we turned around and headed back down to MA. Upon re-entry, we visited a second visitor's center, where the story of our adventure became the topic of the day with the ladies who worked there. ("...those foolish New Jersey kids! Don't they know anything?") Ended up getting pancakes bigger than my head for breakfast and then arriving at the park a little after opening. It's a fun place - we hit all of the coasters (one wooden one twice!) and thoroughly enjoyed the day. On the way home, I requested a stop to purchase some of this, and ended up amusing the check-out girls ("...they came three states just to buy seltzer?") before heading out to get some dinner... which ended up becoming another birthday celebration complete with a wait-staff serenade! Yes, it was quite the adventure.

Well done, Anonymous! Your sneaky scheming worked, perhaps better than originally planned! :)

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! Hope you've enjoyed your day!

Packing, and packing, and packing some more...

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies..."

Packing up your career isn't easy. I'm finding it takes a lot of time... and a lot of boxes. Where those boxes will go when they get home.... well, such things remain to be seen. But I know that there will be a lot of them.

In the midst of all of my packing, I find myself thinking about the stuff in both of my desks, and how much I like office supplies. Paperclips - the big ones, not small - are vital. As are binder clips. And rubberbands. And Post-its. Oh, where would we be without Post-its? And Hand Sanitizer. Bless those dear people who decided to mass-market such a product.

...Ok. enough rambling. Back to packing.

Dad's Day

First of all, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my dad and all other dads out there. We appreciate you, even if we don't always remember to say/show it!

This weekend has been a busy one, even though it was a commitment-free weekend! After my final concert on Friday during the day (Cool weather! No rain! No big problems!) I ended up going to Barnes for a while after dinner to browse, buy and reserve this. Yesterday I went to a local town's sidewalk fair in the morning, took a long bike ride in the afternoon, went to dinner (pre-Father's Day) with Mom and Dad, and then went to see Cinderella Man with a friend. (I highly reccomend it - it's a strong film, well acted, and done well - even if I am not one for violent boxing scenes.) Today, we BBQ-ed (being that Dad received a "smokey Joe" for Dad's day and the fact that although a picnic had originally been planned, weather was proving to be too iffy for such an excursion), I went on another bike adventure and then returned home to watch this movie, which I found uber cheap at Best Buy last night.

On another good note, only one more full day and two more half-days of work! Tra-la-la, fiddle-dee-dee! I don't know how I'll pack up all of my junk in that amount of time, but will manage somehow - I'm determined!

Flag Day Baby

As probably discovered by the fact that this is http://junefourteenth.blogspot.com , yesterday was my birthday. It actually ended up being a very good day, even though I had to work! After work, I ended up going out for Thai food (chicken and mangoes... very good together!) and then to play some SKEEBALL! :) Then, it was off to our company's last performance of the season - an outdoor show at the bandshell, which was nice, but quite hot and sticky for those of us in costumes. I ended up having quite a late night for a workday, but it was well worth it. I find myself the recipient of some lovely presents, too - a bicycle, some spa-type stuff, an ice-cream scoop, makeup case, purse, candy, lovely earrings... all in all, it was a very good way to start off this upcoming year.

I only hope that the rest of the year will live up to the first two days!

good and bad, all mixed together... en flambe?

Bad first:
You know, I really need to start counting the minutes until I am done with this &%$#^@! job. I called on Thursday night about the fact that I was calling out sick for Friday, and somehow they did not get the message...?? So now I will have to deal with the fallout out first thing Monday morning... oh, what joy. I try to be responsible and prepared for Monday by checking my work email tonight and find 2 email about it waiting in my inbox. You know, really, what do I expect? Things to run smoothly? Not here. Not for me.

But some good from today:
Mom and Dad took me out for my birthday a little early, and we went here. At first, I was not sold on the idea, but.... wow. Especially dessert. And they lit it on fire! Very cool place. Great atmosphere, good food, even a little dinner theatre as they prepare things at the table. I need to go there again! :)

heat and humidity do not a happy Miss President make...

For those of you who asked, thank you for your well-wishes and whatnot for my Spring Concert. It went very well - for once, we didn't have to worry about rain, either! I am so glad it is over - it was so hot and miserable this week, and that combined with stress really knocked me for a loop.

We had a Pirates performance last night, and how thrilled were we to find the auditorium to be AIR CONDITIONED! Oh, joy, oh rapture! The audience was small and rather catatonic, but we had a good time and rejoiced at the fact that we didn't feel like we were going to die with heavy costumes, full makeup and stage lights! We will not be so lucky outside on Tuesday night (which also happens to be my favorite holiday!) but considering it will be the last performance of the season, we will take what we can get. What in the world will I do with my Monday and Thursday nights after this?

Stop the ride, I want to get off!

Wow. So much going on... my head is spinning!

This weekend was, well, insane. Friday afternoon brought Becky to NJ, and we went off gallivanting to these three places that evening. Saturday morning found me on the phone with these people for over an hour... and then I needed to go and visit one of their stores, too! Dumbheads! But then in the evening heat I had a performance and was greeted by quite the fan club of attendees, including a fellow blogger! I found myself the recipient of lovely daisies and roses and was thrilled with the concept of my own cheering section! Three of us indulged here post-performance. Mmmm.... mint with brownies. :)

Sunday I had another performance, which was unfortunately at the same time as my nephew's Confirmation. I was sorry to miss it, but I sacrifice for my art! ;) Post-show, there was a cast party barbecue, which was a fun time.

Monday was our Music Dept. pool trip. It was a perfect day - amazingly hot, which was great for the kids. They managed to get me pretty soaked, even though I did not get into the pool! All in all, the best work-day of the year!

Today, I had a looooong outdoor rehearsal in the morning. Again, heat and general rehearsal craziness caused for a tiring time - so tiring, in fact, that I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon for a while! Tomorrow is the concert - IT WILL NOT RAIN, IT WILL NOT RAIN, NO RAIN, NO RAIN!! The weather looks like it will hold out, for once! If only I can get to this time tomorrow night then I will be happier for the rest of the week, and not quite so frantic and overwhelmed!

In other news, go and sign up for the Baskin Robbins Birthday Club. It's cool, and free. Yay for cool and free. :)

There was an adventure to be had...

One day recently (I cannot specify here or I may incriminate myself), I went on an adventure. I only knew the where and when and what to wear... as to the destination, that was kept concealed until absolutely necessary... which succeeds in piquing interest even further! I met my adventure guide (at a hospital!) and we headed out in the sheep-in-a-Jeep on quite a long trek, almost all the way to Pennsylvania. We ended up in Blairstown, NJ - a true thriving metropolis of trees and open space. After lunch at a local diner, we proceeded to the mysterious location - the Paulinskill Viaduct. To enter, one has to climb up into one of the bases on either side of the river and then begin climbing, rung by rung, up and down the arches. There are a wide variety of styles of graffiti to be seen along the way, and "caves" to go through in the bases - some which have been made easier with the help of boards or ropes, others which involve climbing all the way into them and then back out - and all are definitely dark and creepy with extraordinary echoes! It is an amazing place on several levels - the view is spectacular, the climbing is good, some of the graffiti-artwork is beautiful, it is supposedly haunted, and of course, it is Weird! We climbed all the way to the opposite shore and then back again - although at about the half-way point we ended up climbing up and out on to the top, where there was a train track at one point. (I wish I could have taken my Jeep up there, now that I think about it!) Unfortunately, just before we climbed up and out, my guide's trusty hiking staff took a kamikaze leap off the bridge and into the river. We sadly watched it float away and then went searching the bank for it later, but alas... it is gone. Sadness.
But, all in all, a most successful outing, and quite memorable. Although the one bad thing about adventuring is that it leaves you wanting more...... ;)