Wonderful Weekend

This past weekend was so much fun and very productive. Friday night Christopher and I had a little date night. I have been craving the Pizza Hut pizza with the triple cheese - cheese topping, stuffed crust and the asiago on top of the crust. So he indulged me and we had dinner there. Perfect Friday dinner in Lent AND it was everything I could have hoped for and then some. But you all know that I am a cheesy chick. Then we went to the golf dome and played miniature golf. Christopher was incredible and got 3 hole in 1's!!! Needless to say he beat me, but only by three :) I am so ready for warmer weather to get outside and play the real thing!

We then relaxed and watched some TV in bed. Christopher left very early Saturday morning with his Dad to visit J and go see Canisius BBall play in the MAAC Tournament. They had a great time but unfortunately Canisius lost to Monmouth. Next year guys!

I on the other hand had a wonderfully productive day AND got to see one of my very close friends Reese. We had lunch together and I made a dairy free cheesy potato recipe. It was one of our favorite dinners we made when we were in college. Yes - we made cheesy potatoes into a main dish. It was so great to see her and catch up. Looking forward to our next girls date soon.

I was pretty pooped by dinner time, so leftover pizza it was! The pups and I then snuggled and watched some TV and had a glass of wine. Sunday was another productive day! I missed Christopher, but man do I get a lot done without him distracting me.

He left Kingston earlier than expected and was home for dinner! It was so great to re-cap the weekend together and I made him his favorite Mini Taco cups. Looking forward to the week ahead!

Middle of January Already?

I can't believe it is the middle of January ALREADY!!! Work for me has been super busy with year-end, PwC audit, export metrics and my SOX testing due - all at once.

Christopher is enjoying his new job at Nativity Miguel School and has started a "bow tie Friday" trend. I got together with one of my close friends and found out she is EXPECTING!!! Baby Urban coming July 1st! I can't wait to be an aunt again!

Christopher's brother Chet gave us his Bandits tickets while he and the family were out of town - Thanks Chet! We had a wonderful time and got to see the Bandits start their season with a win.

Little Jameson had his neuter performed. He is doing fine and was back to his normal self in...two hours. Seriously. He is resilient and was playing, eating and bugging Marv within a few hours of being home.

The rest of the month is busy and exciting for us too. We have our friends wedding "reception" party to attend. They were married the same weekend as Dave & Abby, but in Jamaica, so their family is throwing them a little party here. We have networking events, board meetings. I am looking forward to a date night with Christine!!! Woo hooo! And we are squeezing in a visit with the Simm Family in Rochester. Looking forward to meeting baby Emma!

July Summer Fun

Us Musialowski's were quite busy in July (not sure when we are ever not!). My cousin Lindsay and I went to see Justin Timberlake in concert! It was amazing. He is quite the performer and put on an amazing show. I think we both feel very "Justified" with the concert - especially since we had to wait after it was postponed.

Our backyard garden has really come to life! It is so great to see our hard work and three years worth of digging and planting really take root (haha). 

In July I also went to see Sara Bareilles at Artpark with Reese. Sara literally took the stage and it downpoured...the WHOLE time. Reese is lucky I love her because I would have headed straight to the car. We were soaked to the bone but Sara put on a great show for all who stayed.

Our friends found out they are expecting baby #2! We are thrilled for them and look forward to meeting their new bundle of cuteness (and celebrating baby#1's birthday in August!). To celebrate, we had pizza and cake!

 Our little Marv is also enjoying summer and spending oodles of time outside. He has us pretty well trained as he now refuses to poop in the backyard and demands walks several times a day. Yes - he has us wrapped around his little paw.

Speaking of little paws, at the end of July we watched our neighbors TWO dogs for a couple of days. They were all a handful but had so much fun playing together. Marv was happy to have some playmates but also excited to have us back to spoiling only him.

I was also spoiled in July as Christopher surprised me with a Disney Vera Bradley bag to use in anticipation of our December trip to Disney :) I am a pretty lucky girl.

One of the things I love about summer is cooking out on the grill. Christopher and I spoiled each other this time and splurged on some lobster!!! (future note: never take Christopher shopping unless you are willing to splurge!) Christopher selected these two bad boys that totaled over 6 pounds! But they were delicious. Totally worth the splurge!

And that is about it for July! August is going to be a really busy month for us as well. Birthdays, cocktail parties, go live for my system conversion, J's golf outing, family visits, etc. Looking forward to the craziness of it all!

Renovation - DEMOLITION

Every renovation project has to start somewhere, right? Well ours started with demoing the current space.

For those who have not heard us talk about his project (although the project has evolved, we have been planning this for a year now) we are putting in a master suite complete with a new bedroom and full bathroom, library/office space and additional storage. This is all going upstairs in our "spare" space which he had been using as storage. The spare space has no plumbing, no heating/cooling, super old insulation and very old, barely there electrical. So a lot of work needs to be put into making the space livable.

For demo purposes, we had to tear out the existing walls which consisted of really thin, cardboard like material that is used in trailer homes. Then rip out all the insulation, which was old and non-existent in some parts. We removed the ceilings and non-weight bearing boards.

Phew - it was a lot of work. We split up the work over a whole week. We were blessed to have help from our dads and friends Jonathan and Reese. Our goal was to have the whole space demo'ed and garbage removed by Sunday, April 13, as it was our neighborhood's bulk trash pick up that week. By having the demo done by bulk trash pick up day, we would be saving a ton of money by not renting a dumpster.

We made our goal! It feels great to have this step done! Pretty soon we will be meeting back up with our project coordinators and general contractor to start the work! As of right now, we will be completing the project in three parts:

1) Putting in the framing, electrical, heating/cooling and insulation.

2) Completing the bathroom

3) Finishing up the rest of the space with final touches and completing the library.

Happy July 4th Everyone

Okay...so July 4th was last week, but...it was a wonderful weekend filled with spending time with friends and family. On the 4th, we went over to our friends house to hang out, play yard games, grill and relax. It was truly a perfect way to spending the holiday. We also got to meet one of our friends new baby girl who was absolutely precious. This year we did not make to fireworks :( But I am sure we will get our fill in a couple of months when we are at Disney World.

Friday I had to work..bbboooooo...but after work we had fun with our friends - Reese and Jonathan. We went to the Liberty Hound on the waterfront for some drinks and light food. It was a perfect night to walk around the marina and it was great to catch up with our friends.

Then Saturday we ran LOTS of errands and did stuff around the house. Then we went out to dinner with our friend Ray and went to see Drew Carey live at the casino. It was a great time. Although I was a little nervous sitting second row center to get picked on by the comedian. Thankfully I was not one of the jokes for the evening; the couple next to us was. Drew was great and I think I laughed the entire time. The warm up act was okay (I can't remember their names) but their specialty is improv.

Sunday night was girls night with my best friend Beth and our mama's. We had a great time despite the poor service at the restaurant. It is hard to believe we have been best friends for about 26 years. Craziness.

This weekend I also worked on some shower prizes and games for Christine's shower coming up. I will have to take pictures and post what we did. I think it all came together nicely. Little Molly is going to be one spoiled girl.

Long Time No See

It has been a while since I have last blogged. We have been busy with our activities. I feel like the last couple of weeks have been filled with sporting events, bridal showers and home projects.

In March we went to a Bandits game (courtesy of Chris’ brother Chet) and met up with a bunch of friends before and after the game. The same weekend, Chris went to the CHS State Championship game with his family and helped cheer CHS to state victory! I was asked to become a mentor for the No Boundaries program run through Fleet Feet and sponsored by New Balance. Our first run was yesterday in the bitter cold and wet weather. I was happy to see the weather did not deter the participants and about 75% showed! Looking forward to next week and the rest of the season as we prepare to race in the Koman run.

Lets Go BANDITS!

In March I also attended two showers and had a shower discussion. My friend Jenn Moore had a lovely shower at the Buffalo Yacht Club hosted by her family and Therese had another shower hosted by the Urban Family. I hosted my family over to discuss and plan my cousin’s shower. The Aunts are sure funny when they all get together. We will be meeting again in May to go over the final details.

Chris and I are still deciding on where to go on vacation. We were so sure about Punta Cana, but lately, we have been missing Disney…we shall see what happens! Any suggestions, please let us know!

Our First Anniversary Disney Trip :)

This past weekend I began our first home project of 2013 – refinishing our hardware stairs. I prepped, sanded, cleaned and started to stain and paint the stairs. So far, so good! I am looking forward to finishing the project this weekend and will take more pictures of them completed.

We also attended GAMBIT, CHS’ big formal fundraiser. Chris and I had a ton of fun with our friends and came home with a bunch of loot! We cleaned up well, don't you think?

Chris & I at the fundraiser

Our friends Abby & Dave

I think guys should wear tuxedo's all the time!