The pride of Madison

During our little vacation up to NH we took a little detour to see the Madison Boulder.  Locate don the dump road.  In my town.  Yes, there is a road called the dump road in the town I grew up in.  What is Madison Boulder you may ask?  Well its just one of the biggest glacial erratics in the world!  In normal person talk- its a big effing rock in the middle of the woods.  Since the husband and Kiley (Ben's gf) had never experienced Madison in the Summer, we all felt it was absolutely necessary to bring them by this attraction.  You can just tell how exciting this little trip was by the astonished looks on their faces...

Just a little thing that we in the biz call awesome

Long time no talk people.  We just got back from a lovely summer vacation to NH- very exilerating-  believe me.  While we were up there, ma and paw Jean decided to use their little gift card that we all gave them for Xmas and go for a little ride in a bi-plane.  with no cover on the top.  Anyone who knows my mother should be impressed by this story already.  So we haul ass into two cars and head down to the quaint town of Laconia NH, otherwise known as tramp stamp central.  We arrive in a deserted parking lot and we sit in the hot lakes region sun for about 30 minutes, before realizing that we are actually at the wrong place, wrong side of the airport, wrong wrong wrong.  We again arrive at a parking lot, and head inside to meet Phil the pilot, walk to the hangar, and check out the plane.  It has a wooden propeller (is that what they are called?)  They climb into the tiny seat in the front, put on their headphones and took off into the sky.  We got back into the cars, and headed to the nearest arcade/bar so we could get our skee-ball/ bloody mary game on.  Photo sequence below shows all the action, check it:

walk walk walk, all day long...

wooden prop- told ya.

 ma and paw pre-flight

this is what we in the biz call a "happy dance".  Or the polish jig.  Dad watches on while already in de plane!

my photo skills are top notch.  Theres de plane!

and there they go

skeeball brain freeze

bloody mary heaven

she survived the ride!  and even got a slinky as a souvenir!

New Style Icon

Came across a fresh new fashion blog and I cannot stop looking at these amazing outfits that the author throws together.  I have been feeling a bit challenged lately in the fashion department (i.e im feeling like all my clothes suck) but now I am feeling empowered and inspired to take on some new risks...check it out for yourself at Atlantic-Pacific blog.

like rocking some fabulous accessories in the form of pearls and vests:

Or busting out the animal prints and pairing with my new leather shorts:

neon colors?  Sold for $10! What is better than a neutral maxi with neon jacket, cuff and lips:

plaid isnt just for farmers in Idaho anymore- just have to dress them up with some pop of color shoes:

fur? black and brown and plaid and chanel?  I think i just may:

Totally blushed out- light pink jacket/shorts/shoes and lips.  Perfect for an afternoon in the sun: 

Friday Eye Candy

All From Pinterest, my newest obsession- that is getting slightly out of control.  Lastly, I give you Boo, the facebook wonder of a dog who struts his stuff around in ridiculous clothing, provided by his owner (the human as he so lovingly calls her):

I have considered starting a FB page dedicated to our pup, who is cuter than Boo on a good day and has a far more refined personality...but since I cannot even keep up with this blog lately, I gave up the idea and honestly, I dont want to get into a war of the dogs.

Long Weekend

We over here at casa de Santagate have been gearing up for the annual Memorial Day Bash.  It's alot of work and frankly, I am burnt out (not to mention my allergies have reappeared...WTF who has allergies now???).  I am looking forward to a long weekend of relaxing with family (my parents and aunt and uncle are coming down, yay!) and friends and enjoying what is said to be a "summer like weekend".  Here's to eating and drinking well, and of course getting a kick start on my much needed tan!

Loving This

How beautiful is this porch?  Nothing crazy over the top, but simple and usable.  Definitely going in the "back porch inspiration" file for next year:

Tuesday Humor

Here's to the new Black

TGIF

Seriously people, thank god its Friday. I have been looking forward to this day since...well...Monday.  I have been cleaning out our house all week, looking for stuff to sell in our big yard sale that we are having tomorrow.  Lots of good stuff out there, if you happen to be driving by Broad St between the hours of 8am and 2pm.  I can tell you this, nothing feels better than putting all the crap you dont want in a pile and sticking a price tag on it.  Hopefully I have some good stories to share from all the rift raft that stops by tomorrow. I have been so sick all week though, all I really want to do is this:

And dont think I forgot, this Sunday marks the annual "buy your mother stuff to make them happy weekend" aka Mothers Day!  Just kidding mom!  Thank you for everything you do for me, for the husband and for your granddog.  Sorry for being such a pain in the ass growing up and thank you for putting up with me for 29 years (and counting).  Its an honor to be your daughter and most importantly your friend.  Love you!

Oh boy dont we look pretty! Happy Weekend everybody!

Happy Humpday and some new stuff around the house

Happy Wednesday everyone.  Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo, so after I tip back 3 too many margaritas, Friday is going to come awfully fast.  And I cant wait.  We went out last weekend to hit up some furniture stores in search of a new dresser.  The dresser we had been using is the same dresser I have had since I'm 2 years old.  Broken drawers, missing knobs, old necklaces jammed into the corner of the wood, its a real beaut.  So we headed over to some local stores and checked out the goods.  The husband found some huge ass dressers he "loved" but in the end, we ended up buying a Chesser (half dresser, half chest) on the spot from Raymour and Flanigan.  We arranged to have that badboy delivered on Monday when I was working from home and sure enough, at 11am on Monday, the delivery truck pulled up with two men and in came the chesser.  Only these men, who deliver large furniture on a daily basis, were idiots.  Lets back up for a second.  Our house has a stairway directly in the middle and a bit of an overhang above the steps.  The chesser is taller than it is wide.  These morons try to lift the chesser through our hallway and up the stairs, the long way.  With the legs still on.  They look at me, and they say, and I quote, "it aint gunna fit".  Well no shit sherlock, you are an idiot.  So I make them back down the stairs, take the legs off, and reposition the chesser, so now they are carrying it the long way (thats what she said) up the stairs.  And low and behold, it makes it with no problems at all. Clearly these two deliverymen had parents who did drugs.

So now we have this beautiful chesser in our room and it looks HUGE.  Like way beyond what I remember it being in the store.  I say this to the husband, and he agrees, although we have purchased a floor model which translates to "we are stuck with it."  It does have a ton of storage though, so thats nice. Cut to last night around 7pm, I hear the husband upstairs sounding busy.  I race upstairs because this, my friends, is something that excites me.  I find him picking through a large pile of his socks, which have been spread out all over our bed.  And he is picking through the socks, one by one, like they might fall apart if he moves too quickly.  I immediately situate myself on the bed and start asking questions like "why do you have so many socks?"  "Why do your socks have holes in them and why are you folding them?'' (seriously who the F folds socks?)  30 minutes later he has finished moving his socks from our old dresser to the new chesser.  I go downstairs because he is obviously going to be at this until midnight and watching it is making me want to scream.  This is the man who will wear a stained shirt and drink old milk, and he is folding his socks.  Unreal.  Cover your heads people because the world is ending.  4 hours later (really it was about 40 minutes) he comes downstairs with random clothing, throws it in a bag and tells me not to touch it.  I wait til he goes back upstairs and i touch it all, pawning through it for stained/ripped clothes that he is going to try and keep.  I take out the paint stained waffle shirt and throw it in the trash.  I feel so much better.  So now, here we are on Weds and the old dresser is cleaned out, and the new chesser is loaded up with his goods.

So what do you think?  I actually love it now, that I am getting more used to the huge size.  Its going to be great to store all sorts of clothes in and i love the modern lines it has, while not be too trendy. And for reference, here is the old dresser.  Sorry for the gross styling effort, and the missing drawer (oh and missing knob, crap).  The husband is repairing the drawer so i can sell it in my yard sale this weekend:

While we are on the topic of new things, here are some other additions to the house:

Whats that you spy in the first picture?  Why its my new Sputnik light!  Hells to the yeah.  I love love LOVE it.

And my subway sign from Paris.  I wanted the Brooklyn one but damn Homegoods didnt have any left.  So i scooped this up and hung it in the office.