March 29

This is Gigi- named for Gucci. She belongs to my dad and Susan, and is probably the biggest love whore you've ever met. She literally lives to lounge on anyone who will have her. Her sister's name is Coco (for Chanel, of course) and is a little more independent.

March 22

This is Alex, and his son, Gabriel. We all met up at Dinosaur BBQ for a snack and some beer... Gabriel's about to do a keg stand. :)

March 20

Went for a drive down to Lollypop Farm... I'd seen a dog on the website and thought another addition to our family was a good idea... this liile farm is on the way. Oddly enough, you really don't have to drive far out of Rochester to get in to farm country... I like it.

March 19

The first signs of spring... these little crocuses are always the first things to pop up. Happy little bursts of color after a looooonnng and dreary winter.

March 15

Today is the first day that "the Baby" has been out of storage- Chris couldn't wait to take it around the block and ger her juices flowing again... he was a little pissed off that there were cat prints all over it (if Jack get's stuck outside and the garage door is open, he LOVES to hang out in the car), but it just gave him an excuse to wash her. 

March 11

My money tree- the floral show came through, and we got to keep some of the plants...I like these trees- they're sassy.

March 10

Jill's contemplative face- or just the piss-off-and-stop-taking-my-picture face. I can't tell.

March 9

Taken from the Court Street bridge- the river was raging, and very high- I could feel it roaring underneath me. The bridge in the picture is apparently part of the Erie Canal- at one time you could bring your boat right into the city to do business.

March 8

Chris' sous chef Ryan is an avid hunter, and brought home a fresh goose for us- it was of major interest to Stump, who thought it might have been a new woobie for him to play with... the cat was a little less interested.

March 7

This is my friend Martha- like me, she had a milestone birthday this year (29! YAY), and we surprised her with a party at Tastings. It was a great time, and she had NO CLUE. I took the picture with my new flash pointed directly up at the ceiling- I think it made for a cool photograph.

March 5

This is Ben- he's our "go-to" guy here at the Conference Center... we plan it, he builds it, keeps it running, and tears it down. We keep threatening to have him cloned. 

He's also the victim of our all girl lunch time converstions- so far, we've cured him of ever getting married or having kids...we'll see what else we can do. ;)

March 4

Here's hubby!

Doing what he does best- slinging hash :)

In this case, it's for a wine dinner for Heron Hill  (a local vineyard). Food was excellent, as usual.

March 3

Today was the produce and floral show- there were fresh veggies and flowers everywhere! I love green beans- they are my favorite :)

March 2

Jackass...lord over all he surveys. I think he's really enjoying the sunshine.

March 1.1

Me and Gillian- at Bristol! It was a great day...got there about 1pm, on the slopes by 1:30, the place cleared out around 2:30, skied for the afternoon, the home, grilled cheese sandwich, beer, hot tub, and dismount. All in all, a fab day.

March 1

One of the great things about working for Wegmans is that they are really into taking care of their people. I had to work an event this morning- it was for the drivers of this company. They provided a health screening- blood prssure, cholesterol, bloodsugar, BMI- all of these can be checked. Since high cholesterol and heart diease runs in my family (thanks Mom and Dad!), I  really try and keep a close eye on things. These were my numbers for today. The nurse freaked out because by fasting blood suger was really high (it should be below 140), but it did not take into account the fact that I probably ate half of the icing I made from the night before. I went back an hour later and it was within normal levels (119). She also said my blood pressure was high, but she took it just after she told me she thought I was a diabetic.

February 28

I really enjoy baking... it's very therapeutic for me. I baked a series of circus themed cakes for a work friend whose son is having his first birthday... here's the ringmaster.

February 24

Another panoramic of our facility...this one from Ange Fantuzzo's 50th anniversary party. This is the second company I've worked for (the first was Marriott) where people actually work for the same company for 50 years. It boggles my mind, but I have huge respect for anyone who can pull it off... I'm too nomadic in nature to really put that much time into any one place.

February 23

This is my friend Marsha Faye- a fellow G.R.I.T.S. (Girl Raised In The South), she happens to be one of my favorite people on the planet. This was actually taken last year when she visited us...I stumbled upon this picture and felt it needed to be included. 

By the way- those are NOT her real teeth- Marsha is famouse for this lttle trick- she took an orange peel and made dentures out of it. Every time she does it, it just tickles me, and I usually laugh until I pee my pants. (I also laugh at farts- just can't help it...they're funny.)

February 22

We were in the mountains with my in-laws and friends for the weekend... all of us have dogs, so there were 5 in the house. Stump (the only male and the smallest) and his bitches- Polly, Sunshine, Molly, and Zoe. This is Zoe. She's a rottie on the outside, but a chiuauah on the inside. She's all about sitting on my lap, until the camera comes out- then she freaks out. She's like an african tribal person, afraid that snapping a picture will steal her soul.

February 21

Dick is preparing a little breakfast, and the dogs are ready! You'd think they'd never eaten before- they are all watching very carefully.

February 20

This is Jill's fish- and its pooping. Apparently fish poop, although I've never seen one do it before. It's the red teardrop looking thing directly below the fish.

February 18

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you- you are really looking at a chocolate bar flavored with bacon. Is it horrible? Quite the contrary- the smokiness and saltiness of the bacon goes wonderfully with the dark sweetness of the chocolate. Chris brought this home to try, and I can safely say that this is my new favorite candy bar. Anthony Bourdain once said that God lives somewhere between the skin and bones of a pig- I am truly a believer. 

And, by the way...you can buy this at Wegmans. :)

February 17

I've recently been playing around with panoramic shots, and photomerge on Photoshop- it's a great feature. I took these at our United Way fundraising kickoff event. The server in the right hand part of the picture is also the server walking away in the middle left hand part of the picture. 

I thought that was pretty cool.

February 16

Stump thinks he's a cat... he loves to lay on the back of the couch, and I swear he watches TV. It's really good to be a dog :)

February 15

My little man- all freshly coiffed with a Valentines Day do. This dog has tremendous patience- with me shoving my camera in his face all of the time. But he's just so fluffy and good!

February 14

Valentines Day! I was at the Rascall Flatts concert with my friend Martha and her boyfriend Mark. Why wasn't I with my husband you ask? Because my husband is a chef, and he was busy getting his ass handed to him at the restaurant. Valentines Day and New Years Eve are the two holidays when I can count on not having a date. No big deal- it just means I get to hang out with my girlfriends. 

The concert was fun- I'm normally not a big country fan, but these guys put on a good show. 

February 13

Being in an office with a bunch of people in cubicles usually leads to trouble, especially on food-inspired holidays...

Behold the buffet of sweets today! My giant cupcake, along with some ever-so-tasty butter cookies provided by Jill, and the remnants of a plate of chocolates brought to us by of of the new guys on our team (who gained added cool points by the cute note he attached to them).

Yay sweets!

February 12

Holy Giant Cupcakes! I was playing around with a recipe and a new giant cupcake shaped pan for a friend's sons 1st birthday- I'm going to make a tent for a circus theme...but in honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd make a tester cupcake to bring in. Cute, huh?

February 11

I like food. A lot. Always have. I had some leftover sliced baguette, so I was going to dry them out and grind them into breadcrumbs. When I looked down, I saw they were laughing at me. After a short spin in the cuisinart... who's laughing now?

February 10

When I got home from work, there were a bunch of drops all over my tree by my back door- they looked like crystals, so I snapped a picture.

February 9

This is our wine cellar. My darling husband built it- specifically the shelves and the table. Didn't he do a good job? The corks in the table are representative of the bottles we have shared with friends and family. Anytime we share a bottle, I write the date and where it was consumed, and stick it in the table. It reminds me of all of the good times. 

February 8

This is the shell of a snapping turtle. Specifically, the first one my husband ever killed in the name of sushi. He was in New york for the week, and was giddy over this little adventure- this was the souvenir he brought back for me. While I wasn't thrilled at the murdering of turtles, I thought its shell was beautiful and made for an interesting photo subject.

February 7

My birthday seems to keep going, and going, and going! My friend Martha surprised me with a birthday pedi today- and it was actually warm enough to wear flip flops! We completed the day with a wine tasting, chocolate tasting, and a dinner with the girls at Tastings. A great day :)

February 6

Jill will kill me for putting this up, but it perfectly describes my attitude on Friday- my wine group (Les Femmes Wineaux) converged on my house the night before, and I was feeling particularly over hung. Friday was an "ugh" sort of day.

February 5

Introducing the Wineauxs... Back in Charleston, I belonged to a little (girls' only) wine drinking group called "Les Femmes Wineaux"...ladies who love wine, but prefer to use a glass. 

How to play: whoever decides to be the host will open up her home, and provide hors d'oeurves for the group. the rest of the Wineauxs come over, and they each bring a bottle of wine- any flavor, any color. And we drink them during the course of an evening. It was a great group, and I missed them terribly when we made the move to Rochester. Soooo- I started the Rochester chapter! We have a great group- all different kinds of gals. Most I recruited by just being out and about- this is Molly and her friend Caryn- I met Molly taking a photoshop class at the Genesee Arts Center, and Molly brought her friend. As of now, we have about sixty-ish names on the email list, and we're growing every day. This picture was taken about 5 minutes before we broke out the bubbles, and created what was to be a massive hangover for the next day.

February 4

Here's my hunter dog! I let him out to pee this morning, and there was a wounded crow in the back yard- now Stump isn't what you'd call an agressive dog...he's a lump. He's not viewing this crow as a snack- more like one of the many stuffed animals he has, only this one moves on its own.

Jack, on the other hand, is hanging out underneath the truck waiting to pounce.

February 3

Today was very pretty- Jack was sitting on my kitchen counter (not something I normally let him do, but he was very needy and needed to be very close to me), and the sunlight was hitting him just right, so I snapped a picture.

February 1

Superbowl Sunday!

I'm wearing a birthday present from my Easton peeps (can you guess which team they are rooting for?)

I also had a Martha moment- anyone for a football cookie? 

Go Steelers!

January 31

This is my friend Gillian~  we did a ski day at Bristol Mountain, just us girls. She's a cruiser, like me, so it was a very nice day. Especially since we stopped in the bar for a litle rum and cocoa! Yumm!

January 30

Any excuse to have cake at the office is a good one, and I'm only too happy to oblidge... 

yay birthdays!

January 29

Owning a hot tub is probably one of the best things EVER. Chris is totally addicted, and often wants to get in when he gets off work. Keep in mind that it's 20-ish degrees out...I usually wear a ski cap on my head in the tub. Dorky, but true. I have to admit that its fun when it snows- the steam melts it before it hits your head. :)

January 28

We just got dumped on with snow, so the back yard is a winter wonderland for Stump- he loves to go jump around in it. He's managed to cut trails for himself to go pee in the back yard... it's like watching a mouse in a maze.

January 27

Our quarterly Leadership Meeting was today- I snapped this picture just as it was beginning. There were about 650 attendees, comprised mostly of store managers and corporate people- we also found out that we were #5 on Fortune 500's best companies to work for. Yay us!

January 25

We were supposed to be back home by 9:45pm- but didn't take into account a snow storm hitting Cincinati. We didn't get home until 11:30pm. Uck.

January 24

Day 2 of my birthday exravaganza! Any day is a good day when you can spend it  wearing a tiara... after all- it's all about me :) 

Not bad for 40, right?

January 23

The day I was born... 40 years ago. My husband and sister planned a spectacular weekend for me in Charleston, which is where I call home. Some people want glitz and glam on their birthday, but for me, just being surrounded by all of the people I love most in the world is my idea of a perfect day.

This is my dad. He is the best dad on the planet. Period. He's always been my rock, and has always accepted me for who I am, and for that I am eternally grateful. If you look up "daddy's girl" in the dictionary, you will see a picture of me and my sister.

This picture was taken on the back porch of a ROCKIN house we stayed in for the weekend- 11 bedrooms, right on the beach, and all of my peeps. LOVE IT!!!

January 22

The only thing I was told about my birthday was what to wear, and where I was going. Everything else was an unknown to me. Sooooo- I had no idea what to pack. This is 10pm the night before we fly out (on a 7am flight, no less). The black blob by the lamp is Jack, who was deeply pissed off that my packing was infringing on his personal nap space.

January 21

I'm an event planner. I work for Wegmans, which is a grocery store chain, but oh-so-much-more. Think of the best grocery store you've ever been in, and put it on steroids. My department, "Event Services", is responsible for planning and executing meetings, trade shows and charity events within the corporate arena of the company. Today is Cheese Show day- one of my favorite departments and shows of the year. It's a day of nothing but tasting product. The best part of this show is that I get to taste all of the cheeses too. This is a vendor cutting samples for one of the tastings for the day.