Category Archives: Sean

Mar1

Solemn Sunday in NYC

Posted on Thursday, March 1, 2012 by Dianne

The last day we were in NYC, Sean left to go to his meeting before us. We then all met up at St. Patrick’s Cathedral where we went to mass like we did almost 5 years ago when we attended Karin’s wedding.

This was taken the night before:

It was a nice service and not as long as our church services here! We then decided to head over to Central Park and Strawberry Fields to see the Imagine plaque in memory of John Lennon, the Beatle who was killed across the street outside of his home, the Dakota building.

Brian on the left there, our biggest Beatles fan:

The Dakota:

What pretty sights here! I can just ‘imagine’ how pretty it is in the summertime. We’d like to see it all green and lush too. I believe Sean said it had over 800 acres here.

For it being a brisk day, there were still a lot of people milling around.
Our next ‘must see’ place was the new WTC Memorial which was in lower Manhattan. We had timed tickets for it. Sean paid for the almost $20 taxi ride as Central Park was on his ‘wish list’ of places to see, so that’s why we went. I am really glad we did though.
When we got to the memorial area, we were a bit confused as to where to go as they had fences with blue signs all around the area (lots of construction here). We went down one way, though the signs had arrows pointing the other. I saw other people walking the wrong way. We got in the line, which moved quickly, but they have a security check point where we had to put our coat and belongings through the x-ray machine! I believe our tickets were checked 3 times. With all the walking, etc. and no lunch, I has a bit light-headed going in the memorial area-so I was keeping my head up, believe me as it was hard to go in there. It was quite a place to see-such large flowing squares of waterfalls where the twin towers use to go. You start to read the names, but then you start seeing names like ‘Sean’ and you can’t read them anymore.

This is the museum under construction

I read that the remains of about half the victims will be placed somewhere in the museum as they couldn’t be identified.

I happen to look up Vanessa’s name and read a little bit about her. Her mom is a writer who said 3 days before Bin Laden was killed, an angel fell off her table and the wings ‘perfectly’ broke off the back of the piece. She feels her daughter earned her wings then.
We only stayed about 20 minutes or so. We stopped to hear an excellent guide say how the letters are chiseled out to make the names, so something is missing, like the people here. The falling water is like ocean tears. He stood near a tree that survived the attacks, it was being nursed back to health and had wires, etc. to train the branches. It may have been a sweet gum tree. I had no desire to have my picture taken here, though Sean did and his face told it all. We nodded to the police officers standing near the exit to pay our respects to their deceased brothers and sisters in uniform.
We found a little place to eat a block down from here, after we had gone through the gift shop. We bought pens, a wristband and a ‘gold’ sweet gumball tree leaf to symbolize the trees they will be planting in this area. Most of the money goes to the memorial. They had moving videos playing and items like a wallet from a victim with his lucky $2 in it as he asked his fiance to marry him, it being the second time for both.
The restaurant was near the Freedom Tower

I believe they said a floor a week goes up. I heard there is also a Subway Sandwich shop a floor or two below that follows the workers up so they have a place to grab lunch or a drink.
The restaurant was nice with Picasso like painting and the shine from the Freedom tower coming in through the window

I ‘check in’ at the different places we go to with the phone app ‘FourSquare’ and this restaurant had a link to another NY app and we got $20 off. Too bad they didn’t take any off the price of beverages. I tell the guys to get water, but they don’t listen. They made me peppermint tea as I was chilled to the bone.
So we walked up a few blocks-it was about 4:30 and not one taxi was stopping. When we thought we had one, the guy asked where we were going and we said 42nd and he shook his head. The young woman said we should have just climbed in as they aren’t allowed to refuse passengers. After 20 minutes or so, a taxi did stop as he was headed in the direction we needed to go. A few times the 3 of us were squeezed in a Ford Escape taxi. We gave him a good tip for helping. He said that time of day the shifts change so they won’t stop that much.
We had a busy 3 days and saw a lot of neat things and we’d go back again! The more you go, the more you can find your way around. Not driving was a good idea. The bus was convenient as were the taxis.
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I got a Connect My DNA kit from a LivingSocial.com offer as I thought it would be fun to see the distribution of my DNA. I knew I was English, Danish, Swedish, German, French and Irish. They send you the cotton swabs on sticks to collect DNA off the inside of your cheeks and you send it back in an envelope with a barcode on it. I remembered to look last night and low and behold, they must have messed up or mixed me up with someone else as I am not, Russian, or mostly Irish or Syrian! I wrote to them this morning and let them know I know my heritage from genealogies from both sides of my family. I’d like a re-test for the money I spent. We don’t have one Russian that I know of in my family.
I guess I’m off to go shopping with my mom soon. The above info made my mind wonder a lot last night until I told myself it just couldn’t be true for goodness sake. : )
Last but my least:
Our view going home Sunday night:

Feb29

Leap year and hump day!

Posted on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 by Dianne

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It’s funny as we actually knew someone who had a birthday on Feb. 29th-Brian’s late auntie Rosemarie. I think she celebrated on the 28th the other years.
So to continue our NYC trip…..
Saturday we ate at the hotel’s free breakfast, one of the worst I’ve ever had. The eggs tasted like fish, so I’m thinking the container they were in had fish in them the night before? The hot water tasted like coffee and I had made tea. The next day I made a waffle as they had an iron which was much better. I mean, how hard is it to mess up scrambled eggs? Probably those dried ones they add water too. Ugh.
Sean went to the city an hour before we did for his conference. Through a few crafty ladies’ blogs, I saw where when they went to NYC, they went to a quaint shop with mostly vintage flowers and ribbons with paper items and cute items tossed it. We walked all the way to the store-at least 8 blocks so I could see it. Here I am in front of the Tinsel Trading Company on 37th St. :

And some goodies I bought. I could have bought many more things and I’m mad I didn’t at least get a yard of ribbon!

pretty glitter
The young woman in the shop was very helpful when we asked the best way to get to the next ‘must see’ location-Dylan’s Candy Bar. She told us to walk down (more walking!) to 3rd and catch the bus that will take us to 60th. Along the way we saw gorgeous architecture and brownstones.

What’s funny is we thought we could just pay the bus driver (public bus) as it said $2.25 a person, but when we got to the street, he wouldn’t take the money. Wow! I guess that happens a lot.
When we got to Dylan’s (this is the flagship store) we saw this guy-the Lorax from the new movie. I had to pose with him just for the fun of it!

We saw some neat things here and bought a big (expensive) bag of stuff. I figured I don’t go to places like this often.

This was the landing to the bottom floor.

These were some of the many celebs and what kind of candy they liked. John Travolta likes Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and Bill Clinton likes Payday!

The lady from Tinsel told us that chef David Burke had a nice little restaurant in Bloomingdale’s which was across from Dylan’s, so we headed in that humongous store. Every few feet, someone tried to spray perfume on you and this one lady got me to try some $50 lipstick (which she applied)she said looked nice with my complexion. I didn’t buy it of course. Here’s what it looked like (photoshopped to show off the lipstick):

Before this photo was taking and we were waiting outside of ‘Burke in the Box’ and we heard a distant German accent. A young man moved and there was Dr. Ruth Westheimer! I think most people my age know her. And I happen to see that she is quite the Tweeter!

I did say ‘hi’ and that I recognized her accent and petite size. She said, ” I guess I should keep my mouth shut!” (I took the photo without her knowing). When I went to use the restroom,she was having a grand time as she was near it in a booth.
Our lunch was nice, grilled chicken for Brian and sliders for me:

We decided to head to Grand Central Station as I read there were some shops there. It’s a neat place and had a few shops we looked in, but we were getting tired.

We met up with Sean in Times Square again, but by that time it had gotten cold and windy again. Brian and I decided to go back to the hotel and at the last minute, Sean stayed in Times Square where he went to see ‘Ripley’s Believe it or not’ museum.
Later we went to Houlihan’s (bitter cold) and had a late dinner.

(Brian took many of these photos besides the ones of me). : )

Feb28

Getting around NYC

Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 by Dianne

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I’ve not been vegetating here, well maybe a little. We’ve been trying to get ourselves on our regular schedule again as a few days away can mess up your system. Brian’s dad was suffering with his right leg so much, Brian took him to the ER on Monday. They said it looks like arthritis to them. He’s going to get to the point where he won’t be able to get around or drive-your right leg is important for that. I think the next few months will be very telling in what the future will be for Brian’s dad. We all have to face this I guess.
Yesterday Sean took me out for pizza and I headed across the street to Kmart to get plastic boxes. There must have been a dozen or more racks with the sign ‘$5.99′ displayed for nice things like corduroys, Jaclyn Smith items (I got a $79.99 jacket for $5.99), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) items. I bought several pieces and tried some on that just fit too snuggly, so they are going back shortly.
We got home from New York late on Sunday, after 8:30 pm. We arrived about 2 pm on Friday, grabbed lunch at an Olive Garden and then got on the bus to the city around 4:30 pm. Repeat this, never take a bus to NYC between 4-7 pm on a Friday. A 15-20 minute ride took 1 hour and 15 minutes. There were 4 of us on this huge NJ transit bus. The one problem with that is I saw dozens of near empty buses-so that made more traffic. We were punchy when we got off the bus and found our way through the bus station. We got outside and it was raining and very crowded. Silly me thought Sean knew his way to the hotel where his GIS conference was-he didn’t. It had been almost 5 years since we were there to boot. Sean was like a deer in headlights and didn’t know where to go! A cop directed us to the Hilton in Times Square-nope, we needed the one near Rockefeller Center. So we walked a block or so out of the congestion and hailed a cab-got us to the Hilton, he signed in and then we headed across the street to the Museum of Modern art (MoMA) as it was free on Friday nights between 4-7! And it too was crowded. I love art and got to see so many masters’ work like Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso,Matisse, Gauguin, etc. Here is Monet’s Agapanthus

There are two of these large murals by Monet which took him 4-5 years to finish:

I was thrilled to see ‘Starry Nights’ by Van Gogh:

We didn’t get to see Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell soup cans or Jasper James Flag-some other time.
We then headed to the Rockefeller Center area. It was raining off and on, so we were glad to have umbrellas. Unfortunately the bottoms of our pants and shoes got very wet.
I thought this was cute of Sean near Radio City Music Hall.

We then saw this pretty area.

Prometheus lit by colorful lights

We asked the young lady guard in the concourse, under this area where we could eat and she suggested Billy’s Burgers. So we headed there where Sean enjoyed a large turkey club (yes, he blew Lent) and Brian and I had shrimp burgers, though we messed up for Lent in Olive Garden earlier.
We walked along and saw the following:

Set from Today Show

Chase Bank

Window of Christie’s Auction showing the Elizabeth Taylor auction (I think one took place already and they sold one of her Van Gogh’s)
We ended up back in Time’s Square-we walked many blocks too.

Sean would go here Saturday night

And we stopped and bought cupcakes to eat later-Sean had a toasted coconut and I had a white chocolate and Brian a Chocolate Snowball. I thank them for showing the calorie count (about 1/3 of your daily intake if you are a lady on a diet-oy).

And yes, they were yummy.
I’ll talk about the next few days in different posts.

Jan12

Winter Blooms

Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 by Dianne

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It’s so nice to see these blooms and ‘will be blooms’ during the bleak days of winter. The month is half over already, and as many of you probably do, I also count down the days until spring.

The white Amaryllis has been blooming since Christmas! (This is the second stalk). The poinsettia came from the same place as the paperwhites-Terrain. They are about to bloom. I have them in a aluminum pie dish with sea glass in it.

The tree came down yesterday and I still have some the boxes in the living room. I have major tidying to do in the basement, but will need help with the lifting and stacking part. I’ve been having lower back issues (on the right) that I feel is from standing so long and vacuuming for 45+ minutes-all the pushing and pulling. Certain things are aggravating it, so I have to be careful. Then my right eye is really red in the corner. I called the doctor’s office yesterday and she called an antibiotic drop in for me. I can’t tell you the last time that happened (not having to go in for a visit-but I will if it gets worse)! I have to use it for a week and it’s still a bit red, but it was weepy and filmy Tuesday night.

I’m going to start my new year of dental repair on Tuesday. It’s going to be quite pricey and they said we could space out the visits. The first visit will be two crowns on the bottom and a filling. I have an older crown on top where the tooth underneath has a cavity. I hadn’t had my teeth cleaned for over a year, but went there 5 times last year. This time they did bitewing x-rays and the very thorough dental hygienist found all my issues. She was kind of rough, but surprisingly my mouth only was sensitive in a few spots. I can never seem to be debt free with the dentist.

Sean is going to a GIS conference in New York City at the end of February, so I guess we will tag along. It’s been almost 5 years since we went up for Karin and Michael’s wedding. We will not drive in the city, but look for a place with bus transport right over the bridge. We learned the hard way. We will probably take a tour of Chinatown. We’d really like to see the 911 Memorial. Not crazy that it is in February, but maybe it won’t be as crazy up there as it was in June. ; )

Of course I am loving the iPad2. It’s worth every penny. I do love my laptop and phone too. I have 23 apps on it and a lady on Facebook has about 150! A neat one is Hulu pro, sort of like tivo for your iPad. It cost $8 a month, but you can watch tons of tv programs and movies. For instance, I missed ‘Parenthood’ the other night, so I’m watching it in my leisure now. The picture is so sharp! If you take lots of weekend trips or are waiting for people at the doctor, etc. it’s a great device as you can sit all cozy on your sofa and do most of what you do on the web. Am I selling it to you good enough? LOL

Of course I need to get down to doing the crafts I love which I haven’t lately. Everything is gathering dust. I have some ideas up my sleeve and I also have some new yarn for crochet (and new stitches to try thanks to Pinterest).

Jan3

2011 in retrospect

Posted on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Dianne

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I’ve been a bit busy with work on New Year’s day (12-6, very boring) and running around to after Christmas sales with Brian on Monday. He goes back to work today. I was thinking though 2011 didn’t start out that great, we still got the nice 2005 Mariner at the end of January:

It was my vehicle for a few months until we spotted this one on the internet in July:

Yikes….it’s not a Ford/Mercury (my family loves Fords) and now we have two car payments a month for the next several years. I do love my little Ina who just turned 10. I’ve only seen two other gold PT Cruisers since July. She’s a rare one in these parts.

We decided we needed to take a few trips, not a week…but usually one or two nights.

First we went to Baltimore, MD and loved it there!

Baltimore’s World Trade Center

And we took the ‘side trip’ from Baltimore to Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write our national anthem ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.

(Opps-that’s my funny shot)

We got to see Chincoteague Island and really loved the place too!

Because we had the Mariner, we got to travel more than we had in previous years.

Sean and I saw the taping of a local Philly talk show and one of the guests was ace Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee!

We went to the tribute band event ‘Beatlemania’ down in National Harbor, MD

We took a little time to see Alexandria, VA. and liked it there as well.

At the end of September, we finally got to go to a mini reunion for my high school class in Ocean City, NJ! It was fun and we enjoyed seeing the town of OC and Cape May, NJ also. My mom was along for that trip.

Brian took me up to York, PA again in October so I could attend the rubber stamp and scrapbooking show and we looked around the town a bit, not as much as I would have liked. But we went over to Mount Joy so we could eat at Bubbe’s Pub.

I got to see my little pal Nick and his mom Jenn on his second birthday when we spent the day at Longwood Gardens:

And oh Longwood…I really went there so many more times than I have in the past and hope to do so this year too!

And the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in November up in Oaks, PA was fun too-never been to that either. I found some nice gifts for people there.

So, it was a good year that we got to go places and see new things. We got to spend time with old and new friends and our family. I always like spending time with Brian and Sean, but this group-my ‘almost’ children (and mom too). : )

I want to get back on the weight loss track, one reason I posted photos of me at different angles. I plan to keep walking in the lovely local park and Longwood too!

And I can’t forget about getting the job. I’m wondering if I’ll still be there next week, only time will tell! If not, I’ll be taking a break for a month or so to get the house in shape and do some art.

Dec26

Some holiday shots

Posted on Monday, December 26, 2011 by Dianne

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For some reason, we left the camera on a high ISO rating, thus the photos are not as sharp as they could have been.

Mom’s Christmas fairy display

Part of her massive lighted house display (my brother did a ton of decorating)

Me and her dog Kelsey

The Comcast offered a roaring fire for atmosphere

We had turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce with walnuts and mandarin oranges and what I made puffy cauliflower casserole and ultimate green beans. The recipe called for a pinch of hot pepper flakes and must have really ‘activated’ when my brother reheated them. They were way too spicy.

I’m wearing a vest I’ve had for a while with a new top. Both Brian and Sean are wearing new shirts. You can tell Brian’s been sick from his dark circles. He’s getting there. These were taken before the tablet cracked. After that, we were kind of sad for the rest of the evening.

Update-Sean was able to return the tablet and get a refund. We’re saving up for a better brand that doesn’t break as easily.

Dec18

Cookie love

Posted on Sunday, December 18, 2011 by Dianne

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Well… I finally got around to whipping up a few batches of cookies. I started with chocolate chips and did some 7 layer (Sean’s favorite) and some with a cookie press. That cookie press didn’t work too well. I got a Martha S. one I found for $1 at a resale. I think my dough got too warm. I squeezed out about 2 dozen and forgot the sprinkles on the first batch. I will do a few more tomorrow. I’m happy to be getting this done. Cookies are a special part of Christmas to me.

Sean is bringing me home ingredients for Rum balls (update-he got the wrong kind of cookies-I needed Nilla wafers and he got those rectangular vanilla wafers) . And I love Chocolate Swirl Peanut Butter cookies too. I hope I have enough peanut butter! Opps.

Sean and I went to Walmart and Peebles in Parkeburg (near Lancaster) after church last night. He had given me a gift card for my birthday and I got Monkees (they were my brother Don and my favorites as kids for a time) and Christmas karaoke cds. I bought myself a little karaoke machine and Brian hooked it up to a tv Sean used at PSU. The lyrics are right on the screen. I ordered popular music and Beatles cd to use. I do like to sing (I have a soprano voice and have sung in choruses and choirs in the past), so this is for me to blow off some steam or pretend I am a popular singer. ; )

I went in the Peebles and it has half the merchandise that our store has here! But believe me, I used that discount for some shoes and clothes at this store too.

I am placing an order at a place near Brian’s work for some meat and cheese platters, tea sandwiches or fruit. I got a voucher from LivingSocial for $40 worth of food for $20. I have to give them 48 hours . It’s near where my uncle lived and mom said their sandwiches are great. What’s nice is that they give you half orders, so I will probably order a few things.

I hope everyone is taking time to relax. I was on call today, they didn’t need me. I work two days (one morning, one evening) and am on call two more days. They are having a little party on the 24th (I don’t work that day) and I only heard about it through the lady at the cosmetics counter. I haven’t signed up to be in the ‘Secret Santa’, but I do have a gift for it. I just can’t believe not one manager mentioned the party to me. I guess I’m stuck in the back of the store and they all talk up in the front. I was talking with a young lady in the ladies’ clothes (she’s about 19-20) and probably her parents are my age. We were laughing about something just when the manager came around the corner. It was 8:40 pm and they were closing at 9. He couldn’t let it go and asked if I had something to do in my department. I did a lot that night and I guess he was still peeved that I didn’t notice I was on call Thursday. Sean gets his schedule online-much easier. Oh well…nice to have some spending money!

Nov19

52-25

Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2011 by Dianne

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I was the second child and the only girl of four born this day in 1959. I’ve always loved Barbie who was ‘born’ in February of the same year. Lots of celebrities are my age like Marie Osmond, John McEnroe and Sarah Ferguson. Jodie Foster, Meg Ryan and Calvin Klein share my birthday as does a good friend of Brian’s Kathy. My brother’s late friend Carol was also born today. Mom almost gave me a 1st birthday gift the following year when my brother Don was born on the 28th of the November. I tell Sean he was my early 27th birthday gift and Sean is 25, the reverse of my age!
Brian and I got engaged on my 23rd birthday too. Lots of nice things associated with my big day. Not sure if we will go out for dinner, we’ll have to see how Brian is later.

Found this yesterday blooming in a very dead looking garden. It’s the Julia Child rose that Brian got me as a gift a year or two ago.

Chocolate cupcakes (gluten free) with butter cream icing.

My mom and brother sent me Stargazer lilies, a teddy bear and chocolates. I got some awesome cards and a Target gift card from my pal Carole (Pea) and calendars from pal Angela. Sean gave me a Walmart gift card, the Jackie Evancho Christmas, candles and a t-shirt from the college he is attending and needs to return as it’s too big. Brian gave me a ‘D’ necklace and a heart necklace from Peebles. He had gotten me the other necklace from the craft show a few weeks ago. I bought myself the Sephora make-up kit and a few cross stitch charts for my collection.
Brian didn’t go to the restaurant with Sean and me. At the last minute we went to a pub at a golf course as I had an entertainment.com coupon and Sean’s dinner was practically free. We brought Brian home some onion soup. Sean tends to walk way a head of people and he was already to the car and I tripped over the curb. He said he looked over and I was in a bush. I sprang up fast, but my right hand is sore and I scraped my left boot. I felt silly! I’m just relaxing now.

Oct31

Happy Halloween!

Posted on Monday, October 31, 2011 by Dianne

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Here’s wishing you a fun-filled, ghoulish kind of day.
My photo is from 1995 when we use to have to go around to different towns to trick or treat. I made Sean the pizza costume. He is holding a small take out box pizza that lit up.
We sure had a lot of fun on Halloween. Our youngest niece isn’t trick or treating this year and I know her daddy will miss that as he love Halloween. We’re all waiting to trick or treat now with grandchildren which is going to be a long wait I think.

; )

Oct24

One quarter of a century…

Posted on Monday, October 24, 2011 by Dianne

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This of course implies to my only child and son Sean who turns 25 today! We were able to spend the day together on Sunday, the three of us, or ‘The Mod Squad’ as Brian sometimes refers to us when we are doing a bit of mall walking. He decided to drive us up an hour to Lancaster to ‘The Park City Mall’, one I was to years ago. Brian didn’t remember going, but maybe we did. I definitely remember going with my mom and family and getting a t-shirt made, the kind of place where they press the design on for you. Anyway, it was a bit crowded and reminded us of other malls closer to us. He did buy himself some jeans and a watch. He picked up and thumbed through a book about neat places to visit and I made Bri go back and get it for him. And we got him the Phillies division championship shirt.
We were going to hit ‘The Olive Garden’, but it was really crowded, so we went to a smorgasbord place and he liked that. I was a bit stuffed and felt blah, but some Chamomile and mint tea helped me when I got home.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Birthday Portrait

Newer Son/Dad shot

My only photo of the lovely Lancaster scenery from Sunday-taken out of the car (and edited)

And finally, I wanted a photo of me in my ‘owl hat’. Animal hats are really popular right now!