Moose Hall - Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Thanks to my sister I am officially raising money to help the fight against Breast Cancer. Any support you can offer is greatly appreciated. I have included a link to our team page along with a view of my personal goal for this year.

Thank you for your support! Together we can make a huge difference.

Click Here
to view my team page for Moose Hall

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer - 2008-2009

Busy Bees

We had another whirlwind weekend!

I headed down to NY for a client meeting Thursday and stayed overnight to have dinner with my parents and to relive the good old days - road trip with Tracy from NY to Boston Friday night!! Even Mason enjoyed the day Friday at work with Aleks.
The girls (Risa, Tracy and I) took Max shopping for the day on Newbury St. We had a great time and enjoyed lunch at Stephanie's on the terrace - perfect for people watching. It was nice including the guys (Scott and Aleks) for dinner in the 'ham. Aleks was busy with house projects all day Saturday, as usual. If he wrote more posts to this blog you'd get more detail on those.Sunday Aleks and I drove down to Narragansett for the day to visit with Robbie, Kate, and her friend Geena who were all in from LA. It was great to also see Dan, Jess, and Jenna on the beach and catching the surf around the point - FUN! As you can see by the pictures, Mason was with us for the day and had such a great time with Sherlock.
On our way home we stopped to have dinner with a friend Aleks met Freshman year of college. It was fun hearing stories about his hair styles (perms to waves) and gossip about people I don't even know. It was so nice of them to invite us to their home in RI and spend time with their family - Sophia is 5, Maya is 2.5 and a third due in 9 weeks.

We were non-stop all weekend, but the weather was great and we had a blast. We hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend.

Newport 2008

It's back to the grind after another great trip to Newport, RI this summer!

We lucked out with the weather - sunny and only partly cloudy Friday, Saturday and Sunday while the rest of New England had rain and thunder showers all weekend.We also lucked out by overlapping our trip with Aunt Lys and Uncle Richard Ciappa. Only two weeks until Kristen and Jesse get married in Florida!! For parents of the bride two weeks out, they seemed very relaxed, organized, and excited. It was nice spending time with them.

And as you can tell by the pictures, it was great to spend quality time with Beckett!! As his aunt and uncle, we really got to bond and play with him this weekend. My favorite picture is shown, he was splashing around in the morning dew on the deck of the condo getting soaked. (click on the image to enlarge and see the water all over his face)It's always nice spending time with family. It's great that we will all see each other again in two weeks at the wedding. Thanks everyone for a great long weekend in Newport this year!

work it

We were busy this weekend!
We finally had a weekend at home and we were extremely productive.

Aleks finished installing the medicine cabinet and new lighting in the 1/2 bathroom while I worked on getting our ketubah finished (the one signed at the wedding which we've had hanging since was only temporary - and is now on the back of our final one).
We put together the fire pit and found a home for it in the left corner of our upper tier. Someday we'll find time to move rocks from the front of the house to the back to finish off that space.
We took an outing to Lowes and Target (no surprise to anyone). The surprise was finding things we've been looking for the past few months. We got a runner for the upstairs hallway and a bar height table for the family room. The rug was easy but Aleks spent time Saturday night assembling the table and chairs, and we love them - even Mason likes it!
We saved putting together the adirondack chairs for Sunday. Too bad we ran out of time and energy after the first one. We were hoping to have "his" and "hers" by the end of the weekend but for now we are happy with the one "theirs" chair we have for now.


Enjoy the pictures. No more house projects for us for a while. We finally got things back in order [which is usually right around the time things get trashed again]. I'm excited to enjoy things for a while as we have a busy August/September schedule.

Stay tuned for pictures and stories from Newport, RI early next week.

Happy Birthday Aleks!!!!

It's too bad our birthdays are mid-week and we're busy working, like any other day.

Aleks got a birthday card from Mason this morning and promises of gifts if he gets home before we are asleep tonight (he worked a 15 hour day yesterday getting home close to 10:30 PM).

What a great mid-day break. We had lunch together in Watertown with a few friends to celebrate. The mexican place where we ate (right in the same complex as Molecular) couldn't seat us outside but we had a nice break from the office.

We're both looking forward to heading to the farm this weekend, relaxing a bit, and doing some belated birthday celebrating with his family.

Update:
Aleks got home just as Mason and I returned from a long walk, which was perfect. He opened his 'surprise' gifts first - a pole hole digger and a pole saw. Hey, they were on his birthday wish list. What can I say? I also threw him for a loop with two large boxes, identical in shape and size - two Adirondack chairs. But wait! The fun doesn't stop there. He gets to assemble and finish the chairs himself!

The celebrations continued at the farm with his family. What a great weekend. Other gifts for Aleks included a fire pit!!! We managed to pull of a themed birthday this year. FUN! It was also great to watch Beckett explore in the water - at the pond and the stream. We can't wait to all be together again in Newport.

Clam Fest 2008

Yarmouth, ME Clam Festival 2008!

What a great weekend! Thanks to the Wilsons for hosting another successful Clam Fest.We got to Yarmouth Saturday morning just in time for the Clam Shucking contest. Aleks didn't have much luck upgrading his third place medal from last year with 4 clams shucked in 1 minute, but we're happy for Aaron placing 2nd in the finals with 7 clams (first place winner got 9)!

We didn't do much shopping or browsing the arts and crafts booths this year with Mason but we had such a great day. Mason had fun playing with Pippen, Betsy, Clyde, and the other dogs. It's shocking to see how much all the kids have grown since last year (especially Carter and Olivia), and we welcomed newcomers like Chase. and there's soon-to-come baby Trainor.

After a fun day of ladder ball, beer frisbee, flip cups, eating, drinking, and hanging out we headed back to see fireworks and enjoy the carnival. Aleks tried, and tried, and tried, and tried unsuccessfully to beat the ladder game [see picture below] and came in a close second in the water shooting game. The fireworks were great to see too.

We finished the night with a huge bonfire and rounds of jell-o shots. A perfect way to end a weekend. It only took me 2 hours to vaccum and fabreeze my car after a 2.5 hour ride with a dirty wet dog.
Enjoy these sample pictures. We don't have any of our tent used in the front lawn of the Wilson's house. We love it!! It's huge - even Aleks can stand up in it! It fit a queen size air mattress plus Mason's crate, it was perfect.
I have, however, included a picture of our tent partially set up in our living room!
...until next year...

home sweet home

What a weekend!
The weather in the Boston area was perfect all weekend with warm sunny days and cool, bug-less nights. We enjoyed a great BBQ at our neighbors house Saturday night and really enjoyed being home and doing work around the house. We have a fun filled summer so weekends with the both of us home are going to be rare, but we really enjoyed time together at home this weekend.

Homeowners can relate - there's always something to do around the house! And with a handyman husband there's always something gong on! Just when we thought we got the house in order, cleaned, and organized, the house gets flipped inside out with another project.

I spent Saturday dusting, moping, and doing a real clean of the house (I could have never imagined myself sitting on the kitchen counter scrubbing the cabinet doors clean, but I was this weekend!) while Aleks was busy mowing, doing yard work, and refinishing our back door - sanding, replacing hardware, priming, painting, and reinstalling. ...sounds like a lot of work just typing all the steps involved. HA

Sunday was another perfect day so we took Mason to Mt Misery park, about 20 minutes from our home. It was a perfect place to take him for a long walk and let him explore new sights, sounds, and smells while keeping him in control on the leash. I think we all enjoyed the walk and being outdoors together. If you want to read more about where we were, here's a great web page:
click for more information about Mt. Misery in Lincoln, MA

Once everything was in order around the house Aleks decided to continue our Phase 1 of the 1/2 bath remodel. (Phase 1 includes getting a new toilet and sink, so I thought). Apparently Phase 1 also includes replacing the medicine cabinet, getting new lighting, and painting. Aleks removed the early 1960's medicine cabinet (with light bulbs included) only to find a huge hole in the wall behind it. You'll also notice in this picture some remnants of old wall paper.

We removed the wall paper and quickly ran to Lowes and Home Depot to find a recessed cabinet to fit into our new hole in the wall along with a new light fixture. I strongly suggested we stop short of re-wiring the bathroom lighting at this time. For anyone who knows our home, or any home built in the late 50's/early 60's, it was common to put light switches outside the rooms so our bathroom switch is outside the bathroom and across the hall ...go figure.

Enjoy the pictures. I'll continue to update the blog with more pictures as we make more progress (aka filling the hole with our new medicine cabinet, installing the new light fixture, and possibly painting the walls to match the doody brown tiles).

Going Green

Hi everyone.
Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you're very aware of skyrocketing gas prices along with continuous talks of global warming and the uber-trendy term "going green".

Aleks and I have always thought of ourselves as somewhat eco-friendly people. We try to appreciate the beauty in our surroundings, clean up after ourselves, and do our share of recycling. Apparently that's not enough, by any stretch.

Whether it's shopping around for a new car or doing repairs and upgrades to our home, the word "green" is now first and foremost in our minds. Please post comments if you have ideas or suggestions on how us 'ordinary' people can get creative in helping our environment. (We recycle, created a compost pile, grow some of our own vegetables and herbs, upgraded to eco-friendlier appliances, use CFL bulbs and turn off lights when leaving a room, etc.)

In the mean time, check out National Geographic online. They have announced the New 7 Wonders of the World - an addition to the Ancient 7 Wonders. They also posted the 8 Natural Wonders of the World added to the UN Heritage List, for those of you who weren't involved in the American Idol style voting that took place over the past year.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/photogalleries/natural-wonders-photos/index.html

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

RLGC | 4th of July

What a great weekend at Raquette Lake!!

Some highlights include:
Thursday - the beautiful scenery and a great trip getting there, dinner at Red Dog then drinks outside the Tap Room. [Aleks was busy working almost a full day Thursday]

Friday - trip to Old Forge for breakfast at the Muffin Patch then a morning of shopping (my favorite was "The Adirondacks Most General Store") then a full afternoon on Steve's boat out on Raquette Lake. I've included a picture of us beached along with many other boaters - think tailgating but with boats. We ended a great day with sparklers, glow-stick earrings and necklaces, dinner at the Tap Room, and Raquette fireworks and tailgating. [Aleks was busy working around the house and taking care of Mason. He also went into Boston to visit with his family for a bit.]


Saturday - another beautiful day, but this time Lisa was back to work and I got to see her in action. She's amazing with the little campers and their counselors. We were inspecting bunks, watching activities, then headed over to boys camp for an afternoon of Olympics, pig-out dinner, and more fireworks! [Aleks was still busy with his house projects - installing a new sink in our 1/2 bath, fixing our back door to the porch, cleaning his car, cleaning up his piles, and many other things]


I had such a great visit. Sunday was a long drive home but fun to stop at Barnell Farm along the way for lunch with the parents and the Rosens. It was nice to come home to find Aleks as tired and ready to crash as I was! He did a great job with projects around the house and taking care of Mason while I was away. It's definitely nice to be back home again, but it's hard leaving such a great place.


And as a tribute to Helene - Raquette is definitely in our blood and I'll always appreciate the Dancing Diamonds out on the lake (or any lake or stream for that matter) and find something special in the nights moon.

Not again!

This is a quick update on Mason.
We were home in WP this weekend for Kristen and Jesse's Engagement Shower, which was fabulous, and we're so excited for the wedding in Florida this August!

Unfortunately Mason started limping off his back left leg some time Saturday. This is the same leg he just had surgery on. We immediately limited his activity and started giving him his pain/anti-inflammatory meds when we got home Sunday night.

The good news is that he seems to be improving already. We were told he'll be prone to limping, especially after prolonged activity. It's just hard to limit a lab puppy from running around, playing, and just being a dog. We're only taking him on short leash walks this week as he recovers and playing plenty of games around the house that stimulate his mind and keep him entertained a bit. We're also not exactly sure what caused this episode, but we plan to get him back to running around soon.

I also want to take a minute to say that our hearts go out to cousin Sarah and we wish her all the best. We hear that big sister Lauren has been fabulous and I wish we could be there for huge hugs and kisses. Extra love goes out to the Schoeners this week!

Wonder Dog

I feel the need to brag about Mason this week. I still refer to him as our monster, but he's really the sweetest, well behaved dog (most of the time). He came to the Bit Group office with me last Friday and was a huge hit. He'd been coming for a bit until his injury months ago so he was missed and overly excited to be back. I probably won't make it a regular/weekly visit until he outgrows his puppy-runs (bolting full speed with all his power around in circles) and begging everyone for constant play time, but it's great to know that days the boss is out or we have a schedule conflict, it will be ok.

This morning I took Mason to the park across from our neighborhood and ran into a Golden puppy about the same age. This is one of the first times he "played" with another dog since his surgery and I was shocked that he wasn't the one doing most of the jumping and mounting. He was so well behaved and excited to make a new friend.

I was daring enough to let him off the leash for our walk through the trail in the woods and he blew me away. He didn't run too far ahead, stopped to look back at every turn, and came when called. He also went right back on the leash at the end of the trail. I'm amazed! He was so good that when we got onto our block, a few houses down from ours, I took the leash off again - and he bolted! My heart stopped until I realized he was running onto our yard, up the front hill, and sat at the back door and waited for me to let him in. As usual, we finished our morning routine with plenty of cuddles and kisses.

We can't wait to be back at the farm to run around and play in the stream and go for long walks. Also, his new favorite game is "hide-and-seek" with his bone. Our goal is to teach him "left" and "right" which we shout out as clues to where we hid his bone. Good luck to us with that one.

Next stop - White Plains this weekend for Kristen & Jesse's Engagement Shower. Fun!

Photojournalistic blogging

As Aleks and I start to grow our blog we plan to use images and stories to keep everyone connected. I've recently come across an amazing example of Photojournalism created by Alan Taylor at Boston.com. Please use the link below to view this site.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

For anyone intrigued by Life, National Geographic and such, you will probably find this quite interesting. As a web designer I'm amazed at how he was able to push the boundaries of a web page and maximize it's real estate for such large images. As a human being I'm amazed at the emotional connection being made through his stories. I guess I'm also a fan now that we live and work in the Boston area and there's a good balance between local and global news stories.

I have already added an RSS feed to my daily reader (I've been pleased so far with Google Reader). I don't plan to use our family blog for sharing internet "stuff" often, but I thought this was worth it.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

NYC was a hit!

Good thing the Wilson's thought NYC was a hit, because the Yankees didn't - not one run scored in this Saturday's game. At least it was fun to be at the game and work our way through the maze of city subways and survive Yankee Stadium with no running water!

We started on a train from White Plains to 125th Street, then transferred to the #4 subway up to 161st St/Yankee Stadium. After the 8th inning we took the subway down to 42nd St/Grand Central Terminal.

We walked up 5th Avenue from there stopping at Rockefeller Plaza and Radio City Music Hall (the Ice Rink Cafe didn't have seating for 4 in the shade, oh well). We eventually made our way into the heart of Times Square (stopping at the M&M store) and hit a glitch when three of us made it through the turn style to the subway at 42nd street and Aaron got stuck with "insufficient funds" on his Metro card! Two of us found another entrance that finally worked and we all managed to meet at the N/R subway to head downtown.

Next stop - Union Square (Staci's old neighborhood)!! We cooled off and rested at Heartland Brewery for beers and salads before heading to Russell's apartment on 14th Street between University and Broadway for a quick visit followed by some shopping and a night of drinking at Pete's Tavern on Irving St. in Gramercy Park. We didn't get lucky enough to get picked up by the Cash Cab when we hailed one to get us back to GCT and Metro North back to White Plains. What a day!! Oh, and we also saw a rainbow - a full arc from end to end (but no pot of gold).

Mason's First Birthday

June 15, 2008!

Mason had his first birthday this past weekend. There was no cake, no candles, no special treats, just tons of play time and a lot more of his every-day treats and extra raw hide's. Here's a recent picture of him at the farm (still on leash while he's recovering).



Speaking of recovery...
He was such a trooper when we brought him home from the vet after his surgery on his left rear hock (hock OCD is the official diagnosis). We've since learned that he had an abnormally large piece of cartilage removed which will hopefully keep him comfortable and active for many, many years to come. Here's a picture from the week of this ordeal, purple cast and all. As you can see, he quickly returned to his usual playful self.


We're slowly increasing his activity level. Our goal is to let him run free and play with his friends at Clam Fest in Maine in a month. For now he gets short stints in the field behind our house chasing tennis balls or a quick swim in the pond at the farm chasing after sticks - and to know Mason is to know that by "sticks" we mean large branches and tree trunks.

Mason's really looking forward to getting back to Bit Group for Dog Day Friday's. Tomorrow's the perfect day to see how that goes as I only plan to work a half day and the boss is out of town, not to mention that on a typical Friday we're lucky to have more than 5 people working in the office.

We'll keep you posted. Literally. Thanks for all your support through his recovery.

It's officially unofficial

We have a family blog!

We hope this will become a place for us to share what we're up to and keep everyone (friends and family) connected.

Highlights and History of Team Dubonk:
Aleks and Staci met in the 5th grade, graduated high school together, went separate ways, reunited just after 9/11, dated, married on 9/9/2006, settled in Framingham, MA (for now) and welcomed Mason to the family in August 2007.

And that brings us to now...
Enjoy and visit often!