Who was that?

She's talking about the nightclub in Florence. Dancing on speakers, shots of schnapps, being overly tired. Laughing while she's talking almost slurring her words as if she's still intoxicated, but not. Then she starts talking about the Pope. The camera pans and you can see the Vatican and a big window with a flag draped under it. People everywhere sitting at tables waiting for the Pope to make an appearance and bless the crowd with his service. She giggles some more as she talks about sitting in Rome waiting to see the Pope.

Her hair is gently weaved into french braid pigtails. Her t-shirt, a blue ringer with Rainbow Brite on it, fitting not one stereotypical thing about her. When in Rome... doesn't apply to her. The bright blue eyes shining in the sun without a hint of a hangover gleam with excitement and love. Her shotty mascara job making her eyelashes ten time longer. Freckles dot her face so innocently and more seem to appear the longer she talks with the rays of the sun.

She's not talking to anyone in particular as her friend talks to her through the camera. She can't seem to stop talking as she rambles on and on. Then a hush takes over the crowd and the camera pans again to see the Pope at the window. It's quiet in front of the camera and you can faintly hear the beautiful Italian floating through the air from the Pope as he addresses the crowd. For a brief minute she's mesmerized.

Then the talking continues. The camera pans back to the girl. She's grinning ear to ear. Not overly religious but definitely sentimental you can tell she's thinking. Maybe she's thinking of the last time she was in Rome with her grandparents a few years ago. Maybe she's thinking of her last trip to Italy. The time when her stuffed dog, the one she took everywhere and slept with every night even at the age of 18 (and still at 22), got left behind accidentally in Milan. How she cried the entire flight home and how after many confusing phone calls between her non Italian speaking mom and an Italian hotel her stuffed dog flew back across the Atlantic back home. She could be thinking about that memory and smiling fondly.

Her mood changes and her happy smile turns a bit melancholy. Maybe now she's thinking of her stuffed dog and her mother. Maybe now she realizes she hasn't seen her mother in a while and misses her terribly. But her smile doesn't stop. She's thinking and smiling. The camera zooms and you can see this young girl so full of life. Not one bag under her eye. Not one heavy burden on her shoulders.

The blonde streaks in her hair glisten in the sun and for a second you lose the image because of the glare. She is back on the camera looking up at the Pope still speaking. She is taking it all in and doesn't want to forget one second of this experience. The camera abruptly cuts out and then goes to an Italian flag. I paused the clip.

My daughter looked at me watching the video on the computer screen and asks, mommy who was that? Was that you?

Caring for Coconuts

Yesterday friends and family joined together to walk for the cure as part of the Komen for the Cure walk in Hartford.  Our team was Caring for Coconuts.  Jared designed our awesome palm tree shirts, we wore leis, and Lyla sported her grass skirt.  We had fun and hopefully they raised a lot of money!

Jodie, Amanda, & Stacy

The whole team!

Jodie, Mom, & Me

Lyla

Lyla after the walk aka after her nap :)

Hanging out with auntie

Lyla's Very Hungry Caterpillar Party!

We celebrated caterpillar style!

Check it out here.

Picnic at the Park

I love Harkness Memorial Park in Waterford, CT.  It has the beach, lots of grassy land, sand, and great fun for picnics, flying kites, and just taking a walk.  We invited our friends, the Pazz family, to join us for a picnic at the park last night and we had a blast.  The Pazz family includes twin boys Zachary and Owen, and little Parker (oh and their parents too!) - all of which loved Lyla.  

We had fun watching the boats go by, playing in the grass, watching the boys ride their bikes, eating bbq, and counting the F-bombs coming from the obnoxious punks the next picnic table over. I got some cute photos of the kids to share.

The three boys having a picnic.

Parker waving hi to Lyla.

Lyla posing.

Lyla eating her hands.

Lyla is the petting zoo.

Having fun!

Jared cooking kebobs...yum!

Zach playing with Lyla.

Hmm..what's going on with these two?

Lyla wants a cookie too...

Parker joins the fun.

Getting ready to go home...tired baby.

One last smile in her!

Holly Got Married!

My last friend has gotten married  The four of us from high school still hanging out once a month, Betts, Kathleen, Holly, and I, are now all married.  I can't believe how fast time flies by.  One minute we're going to the prom together and the next we're all changing our names, owning homes, and working our careers.  I'm so happy for Holly and Troy and their wedding was a blast!

The ceremony

This is an awful photo but I'm posting it just to piss off Jared for making this awful face...

Brian and Betts

Bride and Me

Brent and Me, he did break my heart so many moons ago...

I love self portraits!

Kathleen and Hol dancing away

Brent and Allison, who he better marry because I really like her!

Congrats Kathleen and Brian!

Kathleen and Brian got married last week. I still can't believe how fast time went since she got engaged, then the planning, and the wedding. It's over already? Wow!

As a bridesmaid, we started celebrating early with the rehearsal and dinner last Thursday night which was a lot of fun. Friday was the big day though. We all went and got our hair done up so pretty and then went to the bride's parents house to get ready. When I pulled up, Mrs. T had had a huge sign made up in front of the house to congratulate the newly to be wed couple which set the tone perfectly.

As we sat around doing make up (me just watching - not a make up kind of gal), I learned a stretch hummer would be arriving soon to pick us up. Instant freak out from, moi. I have never been in any hummer and to be honest, I don't even like hummers. But just the fact that they can make stretch hummers and they are so huge and awkward looking, I have always wanted to go in one. So I was super excited. I yelled out that I need to go call all my friends. A second later I realized all my friends were there...

After getting dressed and ready, poor Holly had some contact issues. She had a ripped contact stuck in her eye that she could not get out, poor girl - I'll touch upon the relevance later... We all jumped into the hummer once we were ready and the dude informed us there were no tunes unless we had a CD or iPod. Yeah, so hear we are all dolled up, ready to get Kathleen hitched and we have no music to sing to in the hummer? I don't think so. I remembered my little iPod I always keep in my wallet for emergency situations like this (okay, so it's really there for when I walk at work). So I ran and grabbed it so we could sing and get pepped up.

Funny moment number 1: We get to the church and all lined up with the bride to strut down the aisle. Then my husband shows up. He is in the middle of the wedding party line trying to sneak into the church totally embarrassed (he ran there straight from work and I was shocked he had made it that early...). He got in not disrupting the flow so that was good.

Funny moment number 2: We are settled in the pew for a reading from the MOB during mass. Holly looks over and points her finger at me and Betts. "My contact came out!" she exclaimed in a whisper all excited. We were dying with laughter.

Funny moment number 3: Realizing my small iPod is full of Abba songs as the entire bridal party is counting on me to keep them entertained for the 30 minute drive to the reception...

Funny moment number 4: Holly, Betts, and I all discussing in length that we will not be THAT girl at the wedding - Betts in particular saying how we are all grown up and mature now. Betts being the one that resembled THAT girl the most! But no, really, none of us were THAT girl. Thank goodness for that.

Funny moments number 5: Taking the camera out to the dance floor after a LOT of cham-pag-ney has been drunken (the last of the photos...)

All in all we had a blast and I'm so happy for Kathleen and Brian. Congrats to the newlyweds!

The bride getting dolled up!

The hummer!

Inside the hummer

Jess, Betts, Hol

Me and Betts getting introduced with Kathleen's cousin who looked 19 but was 11

Troy and Holly getting down - our last couple to get married next!!

Holly

Brent and me (wild!)



Brian and Betts

Betts and Jess

Jared and me (my bangs were not having a good hair day...)

Ladies Night!

Last night, 19 girls helped celebrate our friend Kathleen's last single night out before her big wedding day. Although yesterday morning I was dreading it a bit for a number of reasons: A. I feel too old to be clubbing. B. I can only drink one beer before I feel ill. C. Did I mention I feel too old to go clubbing?

In any event, we all got to her house to eat pizza and pregame it. Kathleen's sister got us all matching shirts that were super cute. They were black and said on the front: She's marryin' fella... And on the back they said, named Brian Mazzarella. We all looked adorable, especially the bride-to-be in her getup.

When our first friend, Katie got married, our 'ladies night' crew got her all dolled up with a boa, funny pins, a sparkly tiara, and much more. After she got married, it was handed down to me, the next girl who got married. After me, Betty got the bag full of goodies and some of her friends added more! So by the time Kathleen got it last night, she was full of goodies.

We started out at the piano bar and had a blast including: being called on stage to dance with the bride, turning around and doing the big butt song on stage while we all shook our rumps, and having all our drinks being drunken out of penis straws (I gotta say, the penis straw was the best part of the night! who comes up with that stuff!)

We eventually made it to our final destination bar (while walking in the pouring rain, stopping to dance at another bar, getting a free shot for ALL of us, etc) where we/they danced and closed the place. When we got to the last bar, I got my second wind and was able to boogie down. But after another 30 minutes I was exhausted! We stayed until almost 2:00 a.m. and then all crashed on the floor in Kathleen's house where I'm pretty sure I got one hour of sleep and hence the reason for the huge bags under my eyes and ultra pale skin...

But we had a great time. I limited myself to 2 drinks so I was normal all night. Well, my version of normal: dancing like crazy on tables and stages, shaking my ass on stage in front of shitload of people, drinking of out of a penis straw, using said penis straw as my microphone, and bringing two penis straws home to use for Easter dinner :)

Here are some great pics of the night!

Opening dirty goodies...are those penis' on your head?

Dancing on the stage!

Hottie alert! (I love how some random dude is on my blog...sweet...)



Oh yes it's ladies night! Kathleen, Holly, Me, and Betts


Penis straws



Our next bride-to-be!!!