That CA & NJ were somehow not so far apart

Stephanie & Sadie came to visit at the end of August. I hadn't seen them since March, when I went out to visit them in California. I can't believe how much Sadie has grown - she is walking, not crawling - and saying TONS of words. She's such a smart little thing, it blows my mind.

I picked Stephanie & Sadie up in Middletown Sunday afternoon, so they wouldn't have to be on the train so long. We drove on a road and passed a school with a really funny name.

It was really hot and humid the day they arrived, so we mostly just sat around the house and tried not to sweat. In the late afternoon, we went up to the beach where I surfed and Sadie and Stephanie played on the sand. We didn't eat dinner until SOOOOO late - first all the sand had to be washed off and food prepared. Nothing too fancy, just some pasta & sauce with some fresh Jersey tomatoes thrown in.


Monday we stopped by Kate's house before her next European adventure and then I took Stephanie for her first Wegmans experience. In the afternoon we hit the beach again for more surfing and running around.


Tuesday we made some Cantaloupe Soup in the morning (the recipe is from The Joy of Cooking) and then hit some stores, did a lot of walking around, hit the beach late in the day again and then took Stephanie and Sadie to Vic's for the first time. The food there is always delicious - Stephanie loved it and for the holidays I will try to overnight her some sauce. It's THAT good.



Wednesday was kind of sad, since we had to go to the airport and say à bientôt. Stephanie wrote about her time in on the Right Coast here. You can also see her photos of the visit by clicking this link. You can check out the rest of my photos of their visit by clicking here.


I wish Emeryville wasn't so far from Bradley Beach... (sigh)
Can't wait til the next visit!!!!
xoxo

not much

I don't have much these days...
Sadly, I haven't taken a non work-related photo since last week. That's really, really pathetic actually.
However, I have been surfing most days. Sometimes twice a day - in the morning before work and then when I come home, before it gets dark. In between surf sessions, I'm commuting or at work. It doesn't leave time for much else. Therefor the fridge is getting bare and the laundry is piling up...
Tuesday night I did go to the movies with Christina. We saw the latest Harry Potter.
Otherwise, like I said, there's not a whole lot going on.
This weekend I'm determined to take some photos.
I shouldn't let so much time go by without at least one snap.
I'll see what I can squeeze in between more surfing. Gotta get the waves while they're here - I can do the rest when it's flat.

i guess this is really birthday week

When I got home from work the other night I found all this amazing stuff on the kitchen table complete with a beautiful hand-made birthday card from Kate and Christina. It's a whole bunch of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flours, a bag of dairy, soy and gluten-free chocolate chips and a little piece of paper telling me that the new Babycakes cookbook has been ordered for me. What a birthday it's been!


Photo courtesy of www.babycakesnyc.com

When I went to SF last month, Stephanie had given me an early b-day present of a powdered sugar shaker and patterned templates for when I bake cakes, like my recent favorite, from Karina's Kitchen.

I have the greatest, most thoughtful, most loving group of friends that a girl could ever hope for. Lots & TONS of Happy Friday love to all of them. (And I'm not even drunk!)

Now I'm off to finally write Stephanie that email I've been trying to send all week...