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August 29, 2007

Black Bear

So a few nights ago, my friends and I went to Black Bear in Stamford, CT for drinks. We ran into a bunch of people we know from high school there which was a lot of fun, and we all took a ton of pictures. This first group of pictures comes from my camera, but then I have lots more from Jenn and Vanessa who were nice enough to share with me!

Hayley and Cathy:

Vanessa and Me:

Taylor and Ryan:

Ryan, Hayley, and Jenn:

Erin and Tony:

Tony's really awesome photography skills:

And now some of Jenn's pictures....

Molly, Hayley, Jenn, Vanessa, Me, and Cathy:

Ryan, Hayley, and Jenn:

Jenn and Molly:

Erin:

Vanessa and Jenn:

Jenn and Me:

Cathy and Jenn:

And Vanessa's pictures....

Me, Hayley, Jenn, Vanessa, Molly, Erin, and Cathy:

Tony and Molly:

Black Bear isn't really a dancing place, but that didn't stop Molly and me. This is a really unattractive picture, but I had to post it because we were having so much fun:

So while Molly was dancing with me to Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" some weird old guy in business clothes came up and started dirty dancing with us which was really awkward. Vanessa said she tried to get pictures but too many people were in the way, probably watching the spectacle we were making.

All in all, we had quite a night. Vanessa and I got proposed to by some random guy in a Red Sox hat who claimed he was off getting a ring but never returned! The nerve of some people.... Anyway, we're going again tomorrow night I think so check back!

Posted by lauren at 10:59 PM | Comments (2)

Morning Sunrise

So back when we were still in Florida, I took a lot of pictures of random stuff to entertain myself. Here's a creepy looking fishing boat out in the haze one morning:

My dad catching the morning sunshine:

Periwinkles:

Beach rentals:

Pelican guarding the beach:

Better drive carefully...

Biggest seagull on the beach:

Under the boardwalk:

Poppy is so lucky to have a hottie like Grandma putting his lotion on at the pool:

Tricycles for big kids:

Yum:

Me, Grandma, and Poppy at dinner:

Mom and Dad:

And finally, a BEAUTIFUL sunrise over the Atlantic:

Unfortunately, a lot of my pictures came out really out of focus and the color of the blood-red sun didn't come out at all, but I guess you can try to imagine:

I obviously messed with this one a lot on Photoshop but I thought it came out sorta cool:

And here are my favorites (with no Photoshopping at all):

Well that's all I have for Florida. Time to move on... come back for pictures of my night out with my friends in Stamford!

Posted by lauren at 04:05 PM | Comments (3)

August 27, 2007

Rocky the Chiweenie

Even though this is a little out of order, everyone wants to know what Rocky looks like so here he is!

This is Rocky's first picture on the way home with us:

So here's Rocky's story...

Rocky is a chihuahua/dachshund mix (a chiweenie!) who came from a home in Tennessee where he was abused. Then, he was sent to a kill shelter where he was going to be put down, but a really nice woman thought he was too sweet and adorable to have his short little life end like that and took him home to be his "foster mom." Well, I think ALL dogs are too cute and sweet to be put down, but at least we got to be part of little Rocky's rescue! He was born on January 1st of 2007 so he's almost 8 months old. He has the sweetest disposition of any dog I've ever met and loves his new family so much.

My dad with Rocky:

Rocky loves car rides, so we got him a little car seat that lifts him up in the air so that he can see out the window, but also has a little seatbelt so that he doesn't get hurt.

Here's Rocky on his first car ride with his new doggie car seat:

Rocky's first walk in the park:

Rocky's first playdate with Jake, Cathy's dog:

He's so little and cute!

When Rocky first arrived, he wouldn't play at all. He'd run around excited and happy, but he was terrified of the squeaking noises that his toys made. We're not sure if maybe they're attached to some sort of bad memories from his past, who knows. Anyway, he warmed up to us very quickly and we taught him how to play and have fun so now he plays all the time:

Anyway, Rocky is SO cute and SO sweet and I'm sure you'll all be seeing a lot more of him on The Blonde Excuse.

Check back for more Florida pictures and some fun nights out with my friends soon!

Posted by lauren at 09:15 PM | Comments (3)

August 26, 2007

Dark Side Of The Moon

Some nighttime shots in Florida:

A gingerbread house in the mall:

Isn't that the best one you've ever seen? My gingerbread houses always used really original and creative techniques like frosting icicles. Why haven't mine ever been featured in a glass case in the mall?

Sunset:

Dolphin tail:

My dad taking an evening walk down the beach:

Mom and Dad walking the beach:

I think this is a sandpiper:

Birds:

Fishing:

I really like this picture for some reason:

Chasing the seagulls:

Not a bird:

Lots of little holes in the sand:

Crab tracks:

Dad in the pool:

Grandma, Mom, and Poppy swimming:

Grandma, Poppy, and Me:

That's all for now. I know I hardly wrote anything at all this time, but I've been really preoccupied with our new puppy Rocky! He's actually almost 8 months old but that's still a puppy. He's a rescue dog from Tennessee who was abused as a puppy and was sent to a kill shelter where he was saved from "doggie death row" by a very nice woman who put him up for adoption because he was too cute and sweet to be put down in a shelter, especially after the tough life he had. He's the cutest thing you'll ever see and has the sweetest temperament of any dog I've ever met. Anyway, he's kept us all pretty busy today (and yesterday when he arrived) so I haven't had a lot of time for posting. I'll be putting up a "Rocky" entry soon, though, with lots of pictures and stories!

Posted by lauren at 02:42 PM | Comments (1)

August 24, 2007

Daytona Beach

For those of you who don't know yet, our amazing little dog Chloe passed away on Monday. I'm still not ready to do my own Chloe entry with pictures (including some new ones taken last weekend) but Jocelyn was nice enough to post some HERE so please take a look and say goodbye to the best dog in the whole world.

I still don't really want to talk about it, so here are some fun pictures from Daytona Beach, FL.

Giant grasshopper:

Brent and I went to play mini golf and to go go-karting one day. Brent beat me in golf but only by one point! Brent is consistently pretty good and I did pretty badly, but with A LOT of accidentally amazing shots. After a refreshing game of mini-golf on a pleasant sunny 100 degree afternoon, Brent and I fed the baby gators in front of the course:

In go-karts, Brent would have won if he hadn't accidentally taken a victory lap, letting me pull in before him. I think that makes me winner! When we got home, Brent shaved which I found picture-worthy for some reason:

We got ready to go out to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Carrabba's:

We had a delicious meal and for some reason, this is where the pictures end. I have more Florida pictures coming, but this is the last one from this particular set.

In other news, Brent got his tonsils out on Monday! He's needed them out for a long time and finally got a doctor to agree to it. I went to visit him on Wednesday and he and I ate lots of ice cream, pudding, and fudgesicles while watching season two of House, one of the best shows on TV. Also, Brent has started blogging again! I know, we thought it would never happen, but he's back! Check out yes, considerably for a brief post about Brent's tonsils. We can't let him slack off this time, so get over there, comment, and let him know we're watching him!

Posted by lauren at 09:49 AM | Comments (1)

August 20, 2007

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

As you all know, I was in Florida for the past couple weeks. At the beginning of my trip, Brent came to visit for five nights and we had a great time. First, we went to Universal Studios where we stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort and spent one day at Islands of Adventure and the next and the regular Universal Studios.

To travel from our hotel to the parks, Brent and I took the water taxi which would have been a lot of fun if it didn't involve 20 minute waits in the heat. To entertain myself, I took pictures of this weird looking duck:

On the way, we passed the Hard Rock Hotel. Having been to both the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas and the actual Colosseum this summer, I wasn't overly impressed by this:

First stop was Islands of Adventure:

Actually, first stop was really a little hot dog stand where Brent wanted me to order and eat a hot dog in the sunshine with a heat index of 110 degrees. I said no and we ended up getting lunch at a really cool little restaurant right inside Islands of Adventure.

Here's Brent in Seuss Landing looking a little out of place in his Rehab t-shirt I got him in Las Vegas. Why doesn't he look excited?

We went on a Cat in the Hat ride that really creeped us out in the kind of way drug addicts must get when they overdo it. There were all sorts of crazed talking animals and attacking black-lit neon swirls. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it.

The Lost Continent:

Weird:

That giant tree stump is actually a restaurant:

Dueling Dragons was actually not that exciting of a roller coaster:

This was our favorite roller coaster, The Hulk:

See the steep incline on the left? I'm used to getting slowly dragged up these to give you time to panic as you see the ground getting farther and farther away only to plummet toward it moments later. The Hulk, however, slowly drags you up for about 5 seconds and then shoots you up as fast as you can imagine, making you think that you might actually rocket off the jump and land across the park in a mangled pile of people. It was terrifyingly brilliant.

We went on a lot of other rides at Islands of Adventure including the Jurassic Park water ride which got us SOAKED, the Spider Man ride, some sort of "Dr. Doom" thing, and the flying unicorn ride (Brent was so happy). I don't remember all of them, but it's definitely worth going for yourself!

At the end of the day, Brent and I went to Universal's City Walk which is right in between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and has lots of restaurants, stores, bars, clubs, etc. We ate at Emeril's restaurant where we both had delicious steak:

City Walk:

There was a band playing a cover of "Seven Nation Army" with an emphasis on the bongo drums that actually sounded pretty cool:

We took the water taxi back to the hotel where we both passed out almost immediately. Walking all day in 100+ temperatures is exhausting!

Some night pictures from the water taxi:

We checked out of the hotel the next morning, but not before I snapped a few pictures:

After having a buffet breakfast and packing our suitcase into the car, Brent and I went over to Universal Studios to spend the rest of the day there.

We went on the Twister "ride" which I thought was great (I had been on it before) and Brent thought was pretty stupid. Brent likes things that move fast and the Twister ride is more of an experience than a ride I guess. It really made me miss my storm chasing days... I'm going to have to do that again sometime:

We also went on the Jaws ride which takes place in the made up town Amity, but was actually filmed by Brent's house in Martha's Vineyard. I took some pictures of stuff that Brent said looked just like it does at the Vineyard:

The people who work at the Jaws ride must hate their jobs so much. They have to pretend they're being completely serious about everything going on. It's much more of an acting job than anything else.

After Jaws, we saw the penguins from Madagascar:

So creepy:

Doesn't it sort of remind you of the one in Billy Madison?

Cool street at Universal Studios:

We went on a bunch of other rides including Earthquake, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, and Shrek 4-D, but I think our favorite was absolutely The Mummy. It's an indoor roller coaster in the dark that's surprisingly more creepy than it is ridiculous (animatronics are almost always ridiculous). We went on it about 12 times because we didn't have to wait on any lines! If you're a guest at one of the Universal Studios resorts, you get to go in the "express lane" rather than the normal line. In Disney World, there's something similar called the "fast pass" but it's nowhere near as good. With a fast pass, you have to select a certain time to ride and you can't go on over and over. Also, so many people have fast passes now that it's hardly any faster than the regular line. With the express lane pass, you literally get to cut to the front of the line and can ride over and over and over if you want to, which we did. Brent and I have a picture of us on the ride that I'll hopefully be able to scan and post sometime soon.

Coincidentally, we ended up walking past the Twister ride right as a storm came rolling in:

Monsters:

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure:

We stopped at City Walk again where we went to the Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville store:

I knew my dad would be jealous so I got him a t-shirt.

Pretty palms:

By this time, we were both exhausted and wanted to go to bed so we drove back to Daytona Beach. Pictures from the rest of our trip in Daytona Beach will be coming soon!

In the meantime, I have to go to LaGuardia airport with my dad to fight with American Airlines about them losing ALL my stuff!

Posted by lauren at 09:20 AM | Comments (2)

August 18, 2007

Brent's 21st

Happy 21st Birthday Brent! That's right, Brent is finally 21 (well, as of August 4th). For his birthday, he had a bunch of his friends over to his house for a BBQ. Brent's mom is an amazing cook and spent the whole day preparing a delicious BBQ dinner for all of us and Brent's dad took him out and supplied more alcohol than you can even imagine. We all had a great time and watched Hot Fuzz and 300 (clearly this was a guy party). I had actually already seen both those movies with Brent and they really are pretty good.

Anyway, during the day, I gave Brent his present from me (a Sirius satellite radio) and Brent's parents gave him a very handsome watch and a few books. After spending the day playing golf with his dad, Brent picked out all the alcohol he wanted and then there was nothing left to do but wait for his friends to arrive. When they did, I was a little surprised to have people re-introduce themselves to me (I had met most of them at a poker tournament a couple years ago) with completely different names! I blame this entirely on Brent who tells me people's last names as if they're their first names. For example, Shea and Hanson are actually Matt and Alex. VERY confusing, but I think I have it all straight now. At least I don't just have the worst memory in the world. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Alberto, Billy, Hanson, and Eric in Brent's basement where most of the party was:

Brent (with Brendan and Matt in the background):

Me (Eric, Suzanne, and Spencer in the background):

Everyone watching TV (I don't think there's any organized way to give names for this one):

Spencer and Brent:

Having the BBQ upstairs in the kitchen:

Billy and Brent:

While we're talking about Billy... and I don't feel bad about making fun of him because he made fun of The Blonde Excuse, my favorite story about Billy is how I met him. The night I met Billy, he drank 17 beers and rapped something called 2 Skinnee J's on my bed with a tub of Tostitos Queso which he kindly poured on my brand new hand-embroidered duvet cover. It was a fantastic start to our continuing friendship (and I don't even mean that sarcastically, Billy is awesome).

Anyway, here's Me, Brent, Billy, and Brent's dad in the background at the VIP table (aka the overflow table) for only the coolest of cool kids:

Billy and Brent:

Brent:

Brent and Billy:

Billy, Eric, and Brent in the kitchen waiting for Brent to blow out his candles:

I hope he made a good wish!

In the back, Matt, Hanson, and Brendan. In the front, Alex and his friend Alex (Hanson is also an Alex, it gets confusing), and Billy on the right:

Brent rapping 50 cent:

Spencer and Alberto playing pool:

That's all! I'm on my way to NYC now!

Posted by lauren at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

Alive At Five

Shortly before leaving for Florida, I went out to Stamford's Alive At Five. A street with a lot of restaurants and bars in Stamford closes down on Thursday nights starting at 5pm for concerts and then a huge party in the street. My friends and I showed up after a late dinner for the party and went to Black Bear and Tiernan's.

Ali and Cathy:

Black and white Cathy, Me, and Molly:

Tony in the background:

Ali and Vanessa:

Black Bear was a lot of fun and Tiernan's definitely reminds me of a huge frat party. Some guys tried to buy Ali and me drinks at the bar (not even old guys this time!) but we turned them down because we're the best girlfriends ever. Greg and Brent are so lucky!

That's all for now, check back soon!

Posted by lauren at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

Mom's Night Out

So a little while ago, my mom was going out with a couple of her friends (Cathy's mom and Kara's mom) to have a girls' night out. I told her I thought it would be a lot of fun if she took my camera and did a guest blog entry. Well, she did a terrible job of it. She said no one wanted their picture taken (isn't that half the fun of taking them?) and ended up taking a lot of pictures of absolutely nothing. It's ok though, she's a blogger in training. I really want my mom to start her own blog. I can't imagine what it would be about, but it would still be fun.

Anyway, as hard as this may be to believe, these are the highlights.

Cathy's dog:

Kara's dog (I actually really like this picture):

Dinner:

Drinks (the Equal packet was supposed to be representative of my mom and her friends ordering their iced tea unsweetened, according to my mom):

And dessert:

Wow, that was just thrilling. Thanks Mom!

Posted by lauren at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

Mackenzie's

A couple weeks ago, my friends and I went out to a bar/restaurant in Old Greenwich called Mackenzie's. You may recognize it as the Sunday brunch location from many previous blog entries. Anyway, I met up with Cathy, Vanessa, Molly, Hayley, and Kate and we spent the night drinking, rejecting advances from old men in Lilly Pullitzer ties, and sending dirty text messages to Molly's boyfriend, Tony. Mackenzie's is totally the happening place to be on a Monday night if you're fifty and divorced at least three times. That's all right, though, because we were having a girls night.

I like this picture of Cathy, Kate, and Hayley even though no one else did so sorry guys, random candid shots are my favorite:

Cathy and Kate:

Hayley, Me, Molly, and Vanessa:

Cathy and Kate texting Tony from Molly's phone (because we're the best friends EVER):

Anyway, if you're wondering why I'm suddenly able to post again, it's because my dad got our flight times mixed up and now we're stuck at the airport for a few hours (with free wireless!). I've forgiven him, though, because we're flying first class! Anyway, I'll post more if I have time, otherwise you'll have to wait until later tonight or tomorrow. Wish me a safe flight!

Posted by lauren at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

Going Crazy

So here in Florida, the sun is hot and the internet is slow. We only have dial-up here (yes, it still exists in the remotest corners of the world) and blogging has been nearly impossible. For one thing, I can't get my MacBook to hook up to dial-up. I'm guessing Macs are probably too sophisticated for such archaic technology, but if anyone has one and knows how to do it, please let me know! Until I can get my own computer on the internet, I have no way of posting any of my pictures. I figured that it's been over a week, my blog is actually empty, and I have to find something to post (unfortunately, not with any of my pictures). Using dial-up drives me absolutely out of my mind so this might be the only entry I do until I'm home this weekend. If you're lucky, though, Molly is going to guest blog for me with more front row pictures from her latest Justin Timberlake concert. For those of you who remember from her last entry, Mr. JT, Molly is a huge Justin Timberlake fan and jumps at any opportunity to go see him. She dragged Tony (her boyfriend) along with her which makes me think that she owes him BIG TIME. Brent's and my arrangement was that he'd come to the Spice Girls Reunion Tour with me if I'd go to the Star Wars convention with him, so I think Tony should ask for the same deal and have Molly fly him out to London to take the Jedi pledge.

So back to where I left off with my camping pictures on island beach, since then I've been out with my friends in Stamford at something called Alive at Five where the street with all the bars and restaurants closes down and becomes one big indoor/outdoor party, I went to Brent's 21st birthday party at his house with all his friends, and then came to Florida with my family. In Florida, I've been relaxing a lot on the beach, swimming, trying not to get eaten by sharks, etc. Brent came to visit for a little under a week and he and I spent two days in Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and spent the rest of the time hanging around the beach. I've definitely had a busy summer spending nearly no time at home, so I'm looking forward to getting home this weekend and seeing my friends before everyone has to leave again for college.

In other news, Brent gets his tonsils out on Monday and at some point next week I'm going to go visit him and talk at him all day long when he can't even answer! He's so excited.

To map out my summer (because I really don't have anything better to contribute to this entry).....

Greenwich, CT -> Daytona Beach, FL -> Rome -> Tavarnelle, Tuscany -> Florence -> Rome -> London -> Berlin -> Paris -> Prague -> Cesky Krumlov -> Prague -> Barcelona -> Greenwich, CT -> Marblehead, MA -> Berlin and Gorham, NH -> Greenwich, CT -> Las Vegas -> Island Beach -> Avon, CT -> Daytona Beach, FL -> Universal Studios, Orlando, FL -> Daytona Beach, FL

and soon....

Greenwich, CT -> Avon, CT -> Hartford, CT

Wow, that was really boring and unnecessary, but I spent too much time making those little arrows to delete it. Anyway, let's all hope Molly pulls through with her blog entry so that you don't all have to be bored!

Posted by lauren at 08:57 AM | Comments (3)

August 07, 2007

Florida

Right now I'm in Florida with my family and have no internet! I'm sitting out at the pool which is the one and only place I get any wireless internet service (obviously stolen from someone else) because our internet isn't working, as usual. Anyway, I just thought I'd explain the delay in updating.

Posted by lauren at 10:12 PM | Comments (2)

August 03, 2007

Camping On Island Beach

For those of you who aren't from around here, there's an island off the coast of Greenwich called Island Beach that town residents can rent out overnight. This year, my friends and I rented Island Beach for last Friday night and had a gigantic beach party with an island all to ourselves! There were no man-eating polar bears and no one got voted off, but we still had a lot of fun.

Katie, Vanessa, Jason, Kristina, Molly, Tony, Mike, Claudia, Suzanne, Eric, Alberto, Greg, Ali, Me, Cathy, Brent, and Pat:

I think this might be Claudia's first time on the blog and Katie has only been on it once as far as I can remember. Anyway, they're friends of Mike's who we've all known for a while.

Grilling:

Vanessa and Jason:

Brent showing Alberto his knife:

Our tent:

I think we had a total of 8 tents set up on the beach which is NOT as comfortable to sleep on as you might think!

The mainland off in the distance:

Grillmaster Tony:

Brent and Me:

Suzanne and Eric:

Kristina and Tony:

Suzanne, Me, and Molly:

We happened to be camping on one of the nights that Playland in Rye, NY has fireworks so we saw them out over the water:

Mike and Katie playing beirut:

Me, Eric, and Kristina:

Brent:

Mike, Claudia, and Katie:

Alberto:

Molly and Suzanne posing:

Kristina bug-spraying Molly:

Brent and Eric:

Me, Brent, Eric, and Suzanne:

Ali drinking in the lifeguard chair:

Kristina and Ali:

Brent, Kristina, Suzanne, Eric, Ali, Greg, and Me:

Cathy and Pat:

Me inside Brent's shirt for some reason:

We decided to have a cartwheel contest for some reason. Nobody won or lost, we all just got dirty:

Pat running off with Cathy:

Molly in the lifeguard chair:

Kristina and Eric:

Kristina:

Ali and Kristina:

Oh Katie:

Molly and Tony:

Ali and Greg:

Claudia, Mike, Cathy, and Katie on the beach:

Ali and Greg:

Alberto not letting me take his picture:

At some point, Alberto was on his cell phone on the other side of the beach while a few of us (girls) were walking by ourselves. Alberto, way off in the distance, didn't answer when we were calling out to him and completely terrified all of us into thinking there was some scary island stalker. I think we all need to come up with something to get back at him....

Brent:

Brent and Eric:

Unfortunately, the only person smiling in this picture (Brent) is behind a pole:

Brent and Eric:

The next three shots are of Brent and Eric's beer chugging contest to see who is manlier; a hard thing to prove either way after the two of them spent the night singing Spice Girls and dancing with each other.

Before:

During:

After (I love Brent's face in this one):

Serenading each other on the sea wall:

Us girls then had our own Spice Girls dance party because we're all so excited about their upcoming reunion tour. They're coming to NYC right in the middle of finals for everyone, but luckily we have our priorities straight and wouldn't trade a girl power dance party for a college education any day.

Even though I know we were just dancing, this picture definitely makes it look like Cathy and I are about to make out which we did not:

The best part of this picture is Jason grabbing Vanessa's butt in the background:

Me (on a really good hair day), Kristina, and Cathy:

I don't know what this picture is supposed to be.... Ali, Kristina, Me, and Cathy:

That's all the camping for us until next year!

Posted by lauren at 12:03 PM | Comments (2)

August 02, 2007

Frisky's Birthday

As many of you may remember, Frisky was diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis was decidedly not good. She has been taking medications from her vet in addition to C-Caps which I ordered for her off the internet. Since her diagnosis in the spring, she has gained nearly three pounds and her tumor has shrunk significantly! We think she's doing pretty well and she seemed very happy on her 14th birthday on July 25th.

Brent and Frisky:

Playing with her new toy mouse covered in catnip:

A little drunk with catnip on her face:

Doesn't she look so much better? I think so at least.

Lastly, here's a gigantic beetle I found on the side of my house:

Pictures from our camping trip coming up next!

Posted by lauren at 03:57 PM | Comments (1)