notes, quotes & anecdotes of a year fast passing

so i’ve been meaning to write up my july and august post for a bit now and the thing that pushed me over the edge to finally get it done? knowing that this post would push ryan lochte off the front page of my blog and he wouldn’t start yapping every time anyone went to elizpaige.com. ha! my fault for putting him on my blog, but seriously… pipe down, ryan.

anywho! onto the second part of my summer and every wonderful thing going on that i was grateful for. i’m sure i’m forgetting things, but i’m sleepy and need to be up for work at 4:30 tomorrow morning, so i know you’ll forgive me. here are some highlights:

1. my aunt and uncle celebrated their25thwedding anniversarywith a surprise party and vow renewal. so romantic of my uncle to plan it all and yes, their vows even made me cry a bit. it was great seeing them and my cousins and celebrating a lifetime of love between those two.

2. two of my best friends, janelle & dustin, welcomed their son, tyler joseph, into the world in july! i was in their wedding two summers ago and it’s crazy to think what life has brought since then. he’s such a sweet little baby and i can’t believe my friends are parents!

isn’t that picture too funny?! he looks so deep in thought. i love it :)

3. we celebrated both my parents’ birthdays with mom in july and dad in august. mom’s celebration involved a trip to new york to see the lion king on broadway and dad’s included a trip to boston to see bruce springsteen at fenway park. both were so fun and i’m spoiled that i get to share in such fun activities for other people’s birthdays!

4. i had a very well-timed and random day off perfectly in line with a just jack party for my friends chris & brian. the weather - again - was perfect for the fun party and in addition to gorgeous chocolate covered strawberries, i even learned how to play ladder ball!

5. after many summers of trying to plan a trip, i finally visited my buddy whitin hyannis port and had an amazing couple of days with perfect weather, picnics, beach, shopping and relaxation. her family is always so hospitable and it was such a nice getaway! ps - did i mention there were s’mores? because there were.

i would whine and say”take me back to summer & the cape immediately,please!” but i’d be lying if i said i didn’tlove the fall. it’s been coming through lately and i’ve been enjoying the beautiful weather andpumpkin flavored everything.

in fact, i think i’m going to go whip up some vegan pumpkin muffins in honor of the season :) any excuse to bake with fall flavors is fine by me! september has been off to a fantastic start, including a trip to NYC, finally seeing my flauty after almost 1.5 years apart and by the end of the month, my other half will be in connecticut for a whopping FOUR DAYS for a gigantic wedding celebration. i cannot contain my excitement!

i hope your summer was memorable and that your fall is off to a wonderful start.

xxoo,

eliz

previous monthly recaps: august 2011 | september 2011 | october & november 2011 | december 2011 | january 2012 | february, march & april 2012 | may 2012 | june 2012

…yeah, what ever happened to those monthly recaps i was doing to remind me of all the little and fun things i have to be grateful for?! i better hop to it and get back into the groove. instead of lots of posts, i’m going to combine february, march and april into one grand slam post and then hopefully i’ll be right back on track for a magnificent may recap in a few weeks, eh?

in case you need a refresher on the whole point of these posts, it’s to remind me to be thankful for all the great things i have in my life. you should take a step back every week, month or season to do the same. perspective is a wonderful thing, my friends. and, as they say…

anywho… where to begin. i’ll try to categorize rather than chronological-ize.

and the final two performances for our season tickets to the bushnell. (mini reviews: the addams family was fun but morticia’s costume was hella inappropriate. les mis, on the other hand, was absolutely amazing. one of the best plays i have ever, ever, ever seen! i know it won’t be the same, but i can’t wait for the new film version to come out)

there was that quick jaunt to new york city (in love with that ad i saw on the bottom left. “eats flies. dates a pig. hollywood star. live your dreams - pass it on.) our trip involved a delicious brunch with alex, seeing my godsister (if her mom’s my godmother, that’s an appropriate title, right?) in a play and then dining on some delicious italian with the star herself. i don’t get to the city nearly enough. note to self: go more.

springtime. no words necessary.

my birthday! from a banana-dark-chocolate-chip pancake breakfast to a visit to the newport mansions and newport restaurant week on the water to a scrumptious seafood dinner, this birthday was low key and special.

it was only a two-day event, but i got to pup sit this little pooch and after an hour-long standoff, we became fast friends. look at those ears - how could you not just love him?!

there were trips around new england for some college sports action, including boston, lowell and providence. alas, my favorite sports season has come to a close and i will soon start the countdown to next october when the puck drops again!

that’s all for now, i hope you’ve got some equally fun things going on in your life. this weekend i’m off to philly, but you’ll have to wait for my may recap to hear more about that!

xxoo,

eliz

stupid adjective, i know… what’s another good j-word i could have used for the month?! eh… i’m not too concerned.

january absolutely flew by (but then again, i’m saying that all the time, aren’t i?). obviously it’s midway through february, already and i’m just getting to this! anyway, here were some of the highlights :)

1. a daytrip to foxwoods with mom to see the princess diana exhibit, diana: a celebration. this was such an amazing exhibit. even though it was in glass, i was inches away from her infamous wedding dress, got to see so many of her iconic dresses up close and even saw personal home videos from her childhood. everything was so tastefully done and i loved it!

fun piece of trivia… do you know i’ve met princess diana’s brother, charles spencer?! yes, the same one that gave that famous eulogy at her funeral. see, when i was an intern at a magazine the summer between my sophomore and junior years in college, we covered the unveiling of a home furnishing line called the althorp collection. it was designed by charles spencer to model the pieces at he and princess diana’s childhood home at althorp and there were some beautiful pieces. i know this is a crummy picture of a picture from my phone, but here i am with the brit!

he looks like a wax figure, don’t you think?! anywho… he did a great job helping to create the exhibit and i’m so glad i got a chance to see it while it was in connecticut.

2. the first weekend of the year, hockey east recreated its frozen fenway from 2010 and i got to enjoy some outdoor college hockey at america’s favorite ballpark :) i saw games between unh/maine and umass/vermont. both games went to OT and were so exciting! i also snuck in my first BU game of the year at agganis and it was nice to be “home.”

3. continuing my whirlwind of musical theater at the bushnell this season, we saw MEMPHIS in january and it was fantastic. i really didn’t know what to expect, but it was such a great story and fun cast. i think that wicked will always have my heart as my favorite for this season, but this was a pretty close second.

4. i spent a good chunk of time in boston last month (and this month!) seeing my amazingly strong friend whitney. she was in a terrible car accident and has been such a trooper during her healing process. we’re all so lucky it wasn’t worse and i’m so grateful i get to still visit her and she’s up and about these days - her strength is incredible!

5. i FINALLY got back to lowell to see my guys kick st. mikes’ butts in basketball and visit with some of my favorite former coworkers and friends. it was so nice to be back sharing nachos and laughs postgame and a completely different experience to be able to walk around socializing during the game instead of keeping stats and working hard!

6. i had lots of great catchup visits and even a special visitor (hi danielle!), but somehow neglected to take pictures of most of them… anywho, here’s a shot from dinner with my OTHER family :)

i hope you’re all having a fantastic february and that i don’t take forever to post next month’s recap! so far, this month has been filled with loads of work and will have lots of travel coming up (nyc! boston! lowell!). i need to start planning some trips outside of the northeast…

xxoo

eliz

another month has come and gone and i’m reminded that the title of my blog is so true - notes, quotes & anecdotes of a year fast passing. where did 2011 go and hello, 2012! i’m so excited for this year, but am so thankful for all the great changes, events and people that made 2011 such a great year. rather than recapping the entire year (because i don’t have the memory for that!), i’ll take a look back at the past month, instead.

1. finally bought myself a gift in a little blue box. a silver pendant necklace inscribed with an “E” and a note that read, “my ‘why not me?’ philosophy began” was my holiday gift to myself for a year of hard work. i love, love, love it and it was worth every penny.

2. holiday cheer makes december one of my favorite months of the year. from holiday cookies (i made these puppies for my work holiday potluck), my christmas movie marathon (always includes love actually, dr. seuss’ how the grinch stole christmas, home alone and elf), christmas tunes or lots of red, it’s such a happy, fun time and i can’t get enough! i made the cupcakes below with my mom and brought them in for everyone that had to work christmas eve at my office!

3. also in the holiday spirit: i took my mom to the cirque holidaze show at the bushnell (so many crazy acrobatics, i think my jaw was down the entire show!), we resumed our christmas day tradition of visiting our family in fairfield county (no pictures. womp womp!) AND i was thrilled to finally be home for hannukah for the first time in years. remember these baked latkes from last year? (side note… mom’s are better, albeit not baked.)

4. i am SO GRATEFUL for all of my fantastic visitors, guests and friends from massachusetts that visited me or met up with me this month. it was amazing to see them all so much and even though i’m glad i moved on from there, i still miss all of my friends. karen’s pitstop for breakfast, holiday shopping with keri in danbury, laura & pat’s espn tour, and the river hawks’ trip to storrs with sean in tow… just missing scott and my lowell family would have all been around this month! and even though she’s not a part of the lowell gang, i even convinced ccbrown to visit the nutmeg state. i’m so spoiled :)

i hope everyone had an equally happy holiday season and is looking forward to 2012 as much as i am.

xxoo,

eliz

apparently the fall was pretty busy for me… too busy to find enough time to post my october AND november thankful posts. i think i have an excuse for october, though. at the end of the month, i was away on the cape and i came back to a snow storm and no power (yes, again) for a week. by then, november was in full swing and now, here we are in december. either way, this was a fantastic fall, so let me tell you a little bit about it…

1) i went to the happiest place on earth with my family. yup, disney world! i hadn’t been to the parks in florida in about five years and they’re just as awesome as i remembered. i love every detail that goes into every decoration, ride, attraction and piece of the property. my favorite rides are still tower of terror, splash mountain, haunted mansion and pirates of the caribbean. i was a HUGE fan of the baby elephant (we named him bill) that was running around during our safari at animal kingdom, though. he really stole the show. also, props to jason for being equally as excited for my family vacation as i was.

2) also in october, my friend cassy tied the knot and married her fiance jon! the wedding was incredibly beautiful and held down on the cape the last weekend of october. it was a beautiful, fall-themed wedding held at the wequassett resort & golf club (so pretty and hospitable) and they even had a halloween masquerade after the reception! it was great to reconnect with some people and have a blast with my daniel.

3) my ashley (more affectionately known as ashenalily) and were the best of friends in middle school before she and her family moved to pennsylvania. we stayed close through high school and even ended up going to college together, but these days we don’t get to see each other often since she’s been in med school in philadelphia. during one of her rotations, she landed back in the nutmeg state, though and i got to see her not once, but TWICE and… get this: i get to see her again next week, too :)

4) mom and i have continued our cultured tradition of going to the theater and most recently we saw jersey boys and peter pan with cathy rigby.

5) this fall marked my first college basketball game of the year and my first NHL game of the year. stanford at uconn women and islanders at lightning, respectively. the home team won in both cases and i was so impressed with some of the upgrades the bolts have made to the st. pete times forum! i love visiting new arenas but still can never get over wearing flip flops to hockey games. also, shout out to aunt mo for the great uconn seats and the elderly couple who sold us their seats super cheap for the bolts! the old man told us he only wanted to make enough off his extra two seats so he could get a beer. too cute.

6) i took two special trips to boston this fall. the first, in october, was to bid farewell to one of my mentors from college. after more than a decade at BU, my programming council advisor and the asst. director of student activities, jeff, was heading onto a new, exciting opportunity. i was so happy be a part of his farewell celebration. also on the docket in the bean, i got a chance to go back to my freshman seminar class, COM101, and be part of a panel of alums that talked about careers in sports. it was such an honor to be asked and i am SO excited to go back again next semester.

7) last, but not least, thanksgiving with my family. no explanation needed there. these posts are supposed to keep me mindful of everything i have to be thankful for and that’s a whole day dedicated to the same topic. i love it!

and that, my dear friends, is what i’ve been up to while i’ve been MIA for a bit. check back soon for a yummy recipe and to see what’s going on in december :)

xxoo

eliz

oy. already halfway through october and i haven’t even posted my september highlights yet! i guess that’ll give you a snapshot of how busy things have been around here. better late than never, though, so without further ado…

sayonara, september:

1. a delicious evening full of wine, apps and cupcakes (!) with friends, making me very, very happy to hopefully have some nights off in the near future so we can do it again :)

2. and an impromptu shoreline lunch date to see brian’s (gorgeous) new digs.

3. finally, finally, finally seeing WICKED and singing “for good” and “defying gravity” nonstop for weeks on end. needless to say, all the hype was worth it.

4. celebrating my beautiful, thoughtful and kind friend cassy at her bridal shower. i had a great time and caught up with some fun ladies, enjoyed the scenery at a fun inn in middletown, chowed down on great food and played such fun bridal games (bridal shower bingo, anyone?!). now i just can’t wait for the wedding!

5. heading to boston for another milestone: the bat mitzvah of an extremely special girl, miss eliza. i used to be her babysitter and now she’s all grown up, mature and such a spectacular young adult. i was so overwhelmed and honored to be a part of her day and be a part of her “family.” such a great celebration at a picturesque boathouse!

things to look forward to in awesome october include: FNL! mickey! sunshine! hockey! wedding bells! more theater! hopefully i’ll get that post done before thanksgiving ;) hope you have lots to be grateful for and find the extraordinary and exciting hidden in the everyday.

xxoo,

eliz

a lot of my favorite bloggers do monthly recaps and it got me thinking that this is a really good way to remember all of the things you have to be grateful for and see everything you have to look forward to. also, once i’m a good girl and get back to posting recipes, i can include my favorites from the month.

without further ado…

adios, august:

1. going to boston to see my bestest buddy, while he visited from a far away land called utah. (i owe you all a recap of some fantastic meals i had there!)

2. returning to the bean with old friends to see sara bareilles in concert! she speaks to me.

3. enjoying the simple (amish?) things in life when we didn’t have power for 4+ days thanks to hurricane irene.

4. starting a 5k training program and hopefully sticking with it!

5. returning to lowell to surprise everyone i miss :)

———

things to look forward to in a super september include… the theater! bridal shower! more boston! pumpkin coffee! pbf book club!