New lifestyle center is a mall of confusion - The Boston Globe

 New lifestyle center is a mall of confusion - The Boston Globe

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The above link is a great article from the Boston Globe about the newest craze in shopping experiences, "Lifestyle Centers" or as I call them, outdoor malls.  I guess it's not really a new craze, but it is a fairly new craze.  I used to love the idea....instead of being confined by fake plants, escalators, and wall to wall stores, one gets to enjoy the outdoors, the sky, real plants, all surrounded by your favorite chain stores.  And that's where it gets uneasy for me. 

Now, don't get me wrong...I love shopping.  I do not hide the fact that I love J.Crew, but just this past Saturday, while shopping at the Wrentham Outlet Village, I began to question my love for J.Crew and chain shopping in general.  The outlets were MOBBED with people...and it's not even close to peak shopping season yet.  Stores like J.Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, Guess, were so over run with people and so disheveled  that it made me ill.  And as I shopped around, taking it all in, I started to wonder...where were these items made, with what kind of care and craftsmanship, and why do they always look so much better on the model than on the racks at the store? 

It's hard to not be sucked in though, especially when you can walk out of a store with a $150 winter coat for only $70, which I did.  A few years ago I would have dove right in, spent hundreds, and shopped til I dropped...but this time I just couldn't.  Every item that I picked up was already in the hands of 20 people around me, making me feel like a drone.  And when Adam and I walked up to the line of people that wrapped around the store, I just lost all interest in following the masses, and left my "great deals" on the racks.  Really, did I need another poorly made, ill-fitting garment selling for the "sale price" that it should be anyway? 

Out and About in the World

Adam and I both had today off of work, (thank you Veterans!!) and it was much needed...Monday and Tuesday were stressful and LONG.  We had planned to visit New Hampshire and hike Mount Manadnok...but no dogs...stupid rules.  So instead, we headed west to Charlemont, MA and hiked the trails of Mohawk Trail State Park.  It's a good size park and campground with a huge trout river (Deerfield River), tent sites from October to April, and cabins year round...no dogs in the cabins though...story of our lives!  There are a few trails up to mountains/look outs, but not all of them were marked well on the map we had.  After some of our own exploring, we found the Indian Trail which leads to the summit of Todd Mountain, 1, 594 feet.  It said 1.25 miles, but what we didn't know was that the trail was pretty much straight up!  It was tough, partially because of the incline, but more because of the fallen leaves making every step slippery...especially on the way down!  It was a great hike, there were only a few spots where the tree cover was slim and I could see the drop down.  It was such a good feeling to make it to the top, though it was cold once we got there!

I made it!!

 

Our little family and some very large trees

Sesame Street and sweet, sweet disasters

Can you believe Sesame Street is turning 40?!  I grew up a Sesame Street kid and I know I'm better because of it.  If you love Sesame Street and Cake (really, who doesn't love cake?!) hop on over to Cake Wrecks and check out the gorgeous cakes in honor of their anniversary.

If you don't know much about Cake Wrecks, you should change that.  Cake Wrecks is a blog site devoted to documenting what happens "when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong."  Each day they bring you cakes that are horribly decorated, hilariously misspelled, or just plain wrong!!!  And to balance out the terrible with the fantastic, "Sunday Sweets" brings you the most gorgeous professional cakes you will ever see! 

Today, I was fortunate enough to meet the creator of Cake Wrecks, Jen Yates, and her hilarious husband John at the Barnes and Noble in Framingham, MA.  They have just written their first book and are holding a "world" tour...and by world, they mean US:)  The book gives you a background on where Cake Wrecks came from and show you some of the best, and never published wrecks.  The reading was complete with a slide show, plenty of laughter, book signing, a cupcake "wreck-plica" contest, and of course, CAKE.  Two local bakers (one from Vermont!!) brought some of the most beautiful, and creative cakes!  My favorite was a Fenway Replica made by Erin of Cakes by Erin.  (such a great name!!!:)

Have a great week everyone....and don't forget to laugh!!

Wish List Wednesday - Luxury

Happy Wednesday Everyone!  My Wish List this week is all about Luxury!  We all have things that we secretly would love to have, but would never really spend the money on, or have a reason to...unless money was growing on trees in our backyard!  Here are my Top 5 luxurious wants!!

Rutledge Avenue Red Petal Dress

By Carol Hannah, a Brooklyn based designer

Silk Duponi Rosette Dress

Currently available from the J.Crew Collection.

This delicious Burberry bag can be found here.

Photo credit: http://www.polyvore.com/

Christian Louboutin Peep Toe Pump

...nothing more needs to be said.

A Diva Divided

This statement piece made by:  BellaBeadjeweled

My profile, myself - The Boston Globe

My profile, myself - The Boston Globe

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This is such a great story....it deals with the love/hate feelings some of us (including me!) have with Facebook!  Every now and then I go through a "friend" deleting stage, and then about half way through I start to feel bad and worry what people will think when they find that I've deleted them.  Question, why should I care what they think if I don't EVER connect with them, through Facebook of otherwise!?!

And I am guilty of posting overly happy status updates to "one up" people that, as listed above, are not really my "friends" but I want them to think I'm fabulous.  Does that make me a bad person, not really, does it make me feel bad, no....because I know I'm not the only one guilty of it:)

It has been nice to reconnect with people, find people that I've been out of touch with....but then again I feel like I'm back in High School again...caring too much about what people think about me, and judging people I don't really know.  And besides...do you all really want to know what I'm doing every moment, good or bad?!? 

Monday Memories

I'd like to tell you a story today.  The story of Maggie Mae and Libbey Lou, our 2 wonderful, and very different pups.  Maggie, a Black Lab-Golden (read MUTT) mix, and Libbey, an English Springer Spaniel.  Maggie...very smart, and obsessive.  Libbey....not as smart, and very funny.  Both loyal and loved...the best dogs in the world (to us at least:)  Enjoy!

We got Maggie from a friend of my mother in law.  Her son was in the military and so she wanted a puppy to take care of.  The problem was that she worked a lot and just couldn't take care of her.  She mentioned to Kelly that she was going to give her away and Kelly told her to bring the puppy over.  Maggie jumped out of the car and ran right over to me, sat down, and wagged her tail...as if to say: Hi..you're my new mom! 

Maggie lived with me in Ohio until we moved in with Adam in MI.  When we finally moved in together Maggie was so happy.  But Adam used to travel a lot for work, so Maggie would find things that smelled like him and cuddle with it.

Then while traveling home from our good friends, Mel and Andy, wedding we stopped at an outdoor store where they were having a breeders market.  Adam found someone selling Springer Spaniels and right then and there we fell in love with Libbey Lou.  She was sleeping, all of her brothers piled on top of her, and when we took her out of the box, she just smiled at us.  We took her home and gave her a bath.  This is their first night together.  All little Libbey wanted to do was cuddle and Maggie wanted nothing to do with her.

 Here they are in Michigan for Libbey's first snow.  Sometimes they would play, most of the time they would ignore each other, but slowly they became friends.  They were very opposite.  Maggie was easily trained, Libbey...not so much.  Maggie liked to play with toys, Libbey...again, not so much.  I worried that they would never get along.

Eventually one day though...it happened.  Maggie warmed up to her and began to love her.  They started taking care of eachother, cuddling, and playing...no more fighting or ignoring.

 

And we've never been the same since.  We like to think they're pretty happy...I know we are! 

The End.

Project Wedding Photos 4

I'm slacking A LOT with this project *story of my life* but I'm determined to get it done and soon!  I now have 127 photos scanned.  That's a little more than half way...123 left to go!!!  Adam hung out with me while I did this last batch...he's glad I'm doing it, but will also be happy when it's over.  I let him pick a favorite from this batch, though I knew what he would choose.  And then I also picked a favorite.  Happy Saturday:)

We did a "noggin" from Finding Nemo (the little turtle and his dad)

These are my mother's parents, married for 66 years and still going strong.  Such inspirations!