My Month in Review

In an effort to avoid working on my dissertation, I decided to write about what I have been up to this month and other random thoughts. I have ideas of what I want to write on my blog almost everyday but I'm either too busy or too tired to actually type them out so here are my thoughts for the month in one blog:

My Parents Visit: In June mom and dad came to visit Bill and I for a week. We had a great time. I took them around Philly and to the zoo, and we caught a couple of baseball games. For pictures of my parents visit, see below:

Mom and Dad at a ballgame

My visit to Maine: When my parents went back to Maine, I went with them for a week. I love visiting Maine because I get to relax, get mom's delicious home cooking and go to all my favorite restaurants that are only in my hometown. I also got to visit with Mandie and Lisa. We had a girls day. We went to Margaritas which was our college hang out and went to the movies to see Sex in the City (awesome movie, by the way). It was nice hanging with my girls for the day. I also got to visit with two of my favorite people, my grandmother and Shellie (she lives at the group home I worked at in college) and my favorite canine (my parents dog, Mindy). I had a great time. For pictures of my trip to Maine see below:

My Parents dog Mindy
July 4th and Our Engagement Anniversary: I got back from Maine on July 3rd and we had a very laid back 4th of July. Mari and Ian game to visit and we went to see the Somerset Patriots minor league game. We didn't even go see the fireworks cuz it was cloudy and we were all too tired to leave the house. The 4th of July is a special holiday for my because in 2006, Bill and I got engaged on the 4th of July at RFK Stadium. For Bill's take on this see his July 3rd blog (I don't know how to make a hyperlink, so you're just going to have to find it yourself). Anyway, if you were able to read Bill's blog you find out that Bill had our engagement planned for a year. Here's our engagement from my perspective: I was convinced that we were never going to get engaged. Just the night before our engagement, I told Bill that I didn't think it was ever going to happen. I should have known Bill better and known that he would carefully pick out the date, location, and people with us when we got engaged. We got engaged during a Washington Nationals game on the 4th of July. The reason Bill picked the 4th of July is because in a weird coincidence, Bill and I both had engagements broken up on the 4th of July. We both kind of dreaded the holiday and Bill wanted to give us a good memory on the 4th of July (It worked, I never think of the break up on the 4th anymore). Bill got tickets for the 4th of July game for us, my parents (who didn't know I was getting engaged), his sister Mary, her fiance Jimmy, and her kids (now my nephews) Jeremy, and Josh. He also got tickets for Mari, Ian, and Sharon but as usual, they were late so unfortunately they were there when we got engaged. Bill had Screech, my favorite mascot, come down and get on one knee as Bill pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I was so surprised. Up until I saw the ring, I didn't know what was going on. I was so shocked I forgot to say yes for a few seconds (probably seemed like longer than that to Bill). I did immediately take the ring out of the box and put it on my finger through. I will always cherish that memory and the 4th of July.

Our Birthdays: Bill and I will be celebrating our birthday on Sunday. Bill will be 35 and I will be 33. It will be a quiet celebration compared to years past which will be a nice break from the hectic month we had.