« August 2008 | Main | October 2008 »
September 28, 2008
Thanks!
Thanks 32point5 for including a couple of my fall pictures in your collage!
Click the image below to check out this great blog:
Thanks!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 09:06 PM | Comments (3)
September 27, 2008
Sunflowers and Helping Animals
Sorry that this has to be a really quick entry, but I have a What Now Wanderers meeting in five minutes!
Anyway, after one of Brent's and my many hikes, we stopped at a farm sale where all the money went to helping homeless animals. Of course we had to stop by. In fact, I think we ended up donating more money to their donations jar than we actually spent on the items we bought. Animals need our help!
Brent got a few used books and I got three milk pitchers (one for me, my mom, and my grandma) that I thought could be really cute filled with flowers as a decoration. My mom went out and got sunflowers for ours and I think they look great!
Speaking of helping animals, the holiday season is coming up and if you find yourself looking for great gift ideas, try one of these Gifts that Give More!
For example, Brent recently saved an orphaned baby moose for me for our anniversary:
I've given these gifts many times and I really think it always means more than anything you could buy in a store. It's part of the Animal Rescue Site (linked in the sidebar), and remember -- if you click that link once every day, you're donating food to shelter animals for free!
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 10:12 AM | Comments (3)
September 26, 2008
Another Great Video
From The Daily Show:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 02:09 AM | Comments (2)
September 25, 2008
Crickets and the Moon
I do have some pictures ready to be posted, but I decided, instead, to share this video I took recently on my camera.
This video is all about the sound, so don't bother watching on mute:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 11:22 PM | Comments (3)
September 24, 2008
Where I Go When I'm Tired
I was about to work on uploading a lot of my pictures and writing another blog post before going to bed, but I've gotten to that level of exhaustion that leads down strange paths - like Google searches for "elephants smiling." Yes, I think I need some sleep.
But if you're interested....
More real posting tomorrow!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 11:14 PM | Comments (3)
Sarah Palin Kills Wolves
I find this really disturbing:
If you want to read about it on my politics blog, click HERE.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:56 PM | Comments (2)
September 23, 2008
Four Year Anniversary Weekend
On September 13th, Brent and I celebrated our four year anniversary! First thing we did was drive up to Boston to see a Red Sox game, where we had tickets right along the first base line! For those of you who aren't baseball fans, don't worry, the whole entry isn't going to be sports....
Doesn't Brent have the best smile?
Brent just loves it when I take pictures of us while he's watching the game:
Wally, the Green Monster:
The real Green Monster:
Just made it:
Brent doing "The Wave":
Fenway Park:
Under the lights, even in the middle of the day:
Flav? Is that you? (Brent gets credit for the caption):
Leaving Fenway:
After the game, we started heading back in the direction of the car, which we had parked on Newbury St. On the way, I snapped this picture of the Prudential Center and the Sheraton where Brent and I stayed almost a year ago when we had first gotten our beautiful little kitten, Shadow. (Definitely click that link, she was an adorable kitten and I have a few cute pictures of her on that entry):
Newbury St.:
Brent:
We stopped in the Life Is Good store, where we read their story of The Improbable Dream:
And I got Brent a t-shirt that says "Simplify" and has a picture of a little cabin in the woods - a place I know Brent desperately wants to live some day.
Life really is good when you walk outside and a truck is serving free frozen yogurt:
We passed Stephanie's, a restaurant Brent and I go to sometimes when we're in Boston:
That night, we saw Burn After Reading, which neither of us liked very much, and then turned in pretty early at Brent's house because we had set our alarms to wake up at 5:30am the next day to go out and watch the sunrise.
Before going to bed, though, we played a little with Shadow because the 13th was also her first birthday!
I hear the ocean! (another caption by Brent):
I love them:
Happy birthday Shadow!
Well anyway, the next day we did wake up at 5:30am... but it was overcast, raining, and really foggy so there was no sunrise to be seen. Instead, we took Brent's dog Beamer for an early morning walk and watched the fog rolling in over the mountain Brent lives on:
After Beamer's walk, we went for a really early breakfast at a café in Simsbury and then went for a brief walk at the reservoir (one of our favorite walking places).
A few pictures from the reservoir:
A couple of ducks (I like to think it was their anniversary, too):
Brent in his new shirt:
Next stop was Barnes & Noble. Well, two different Barnes & Nobles. Ok ok, we went to three, we're that cool.
Here's Brent loving the chai tea latte I got him:
We also played a game of chess, which I am very bad at:
Later that afternoon, we went to Cinestudio, our college's old movie theater, to see Wall-E for the second time. I think Wall-E might be one of my all-time favorite movies. Wall-E and Brent have very similar personalities, which is a compliment to them both.
Last, but certainly not least, Brent took me out to a fantastic Italian dinner at Max A Mia.
Anyway, it was a fantastic weekend! Happy four years Brent!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 02:12 AM | Comments (5)
September 21, 2008
A Blogging Whirlwind
I'm getting a little overwhelmed with blogging lately. As you know, I have so many entries to get caught up on, but what you might not know is that I am also posting on two other blogs.
I'm currently taking a graduate course on political blogging that I have to keep an election blog for. The purpose of the election blog is to study the ways that the media plays into the presidential election. I know that might sound amazingly boring, but if you want to check it out, here's Lauren's 2008 Election Blog:
Feel free to comment, especially if you're going to say something that makes me look smart in front of my class!
I'm also a contributor on What Now Wanderers, which I've already introduced to you. I just finished writing a long post about the transition from the all-inclusive resort that is college to the big, scary Real World:
So anyway, while Brent has been decaffeinating his life, I've been rapidly increasing my coffee intake so that I'll have enough energy to keep up with my blogging world. Blogs are habit-forming and not for everyone, you know.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:42 AM | Comments (1)
September 20, 2008
Scroll Down
As I try to get myself caught up with posting, make sure you scroll down from the top entry because sometimes I do a few on top of each other.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 04:22 PM | Comments (2)
Decaffeinating
Brent just started yet another blog! I know what you're thinking... isn't this number 7 or 8? And yes it is, you are correct, but this is also his LAST blog. I've given him his final warning that his new blog better be something he's willing to live with for the rest of his life.
I guess I did enough life-recording over here at The Blonde Excuse for the both of us, so Brent's attempts at a "here's what I did today - with pictures!" kind of blog never really did it for him. His new blog is going to be more about his thoughts and ideas, of which he has many.
His blog is called decaffeinating (I was instructed to use a lower-case "d" because that is somehow important to the entire philosophy behind it). I'll let Brent explain it himself:
The title, decaffeinating, came from an idea I had earlier this summer that stuck with me. I had to give up caffeine for a while because I drank way too much coffee at college to the extent that it was giving me heart irregularities. So I gave up coffee for a few months and was miserable about it for a week or so, but from that experience I realized the degree to which I could simplify my life. I'm drinking coffee again, but never more than two cups in a day (contrasting the ten or so a day in college), but the point of this blog really has nothing whatsoever to do with coffee. It has to do with chilling out and calming down and simplifying things.
I know that "simplifying" is very important to Brent. I actually just bought him this Life is Good t-shirt that suits him perfectly.
Anyway, head on over to decaffeinating, Brent's final and most important blog, where he assures me he will spend many happy years posting. Also, make sure you check out the super-cool banner I made him for the top of his site!
Posted by lauren at 01:47 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2008
Another Saturday Night
I actually don't remember at all if this happened on a Saturday night, but it made for a good title. A little while ago, Cathy, Molly and I went out to a bar Cathy and I have never been to called Monster B's in Stamford. While there, a "photographer" took our picture to use for the Monster B's website, but I don't see it anywhere up there, so now I have to wonder who this guy was and why he has us modeling for a picture.
Our own picture of the three of us:
After a little while, we headed over to Black Bear to meet up with some more friends. At Black Bear, there was a girl dancing all over the place like a complete idiot, who we spent the entire night referring to as "Gyrating Seizure Girl." Here she is:
I tried to get a nice group shot, but no one was cooperating. This is probably one of the most awkward "candid" shots ever:
Cathy, Molly and I decided to head over to Tiernan's to round out the night. That's where this fantastic photo was taken:
And this, which might be even better:
We danced our way through the rain and back to Black Bear:
Where we showed up soaking wet and took this one last group photo:
And that's all for now!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 09:28 PM | Comments (1)
Through the Cracks
Whenever I get behind on blogging (and yes, my computer is still broken, for those of you wondering) I always end up with groups of completely random pictures that somehow "fell through the cracks." Anyway, this is going to be another of those miscellaneous entries.
Frisky being the adorable supermodel she is:
Popovers my mom made:
My Tropical Storm Hanna photo that made it into the Greenwich Post:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 09:21 PM | Comments (2)
September 18, 2008
The Road Less Traveled
Right now you're probably thinking, based on the title, that you're about to read some sort of philosophical entry about taking risks and making decisions, but you're wrong (been there, done that on What Now Wanderers). This is a blonde-friendly blog, so I actually mean it quite literally when I say that Brent and I took "the road less traveled" on a recent hiking adventure on Talcott Mountain.
We've taken the Talcott Mountain hike up to Heublein Tower so many times, we should know it by heart, and we do! At least we know the parts people are actually supposed to go on.
But what's the fun without a little adventure? <--Famous last words
We started out on the normal trail, where we passed this bespectacled tree:
If you're reading this and those are your glasses, ask for the near-sighted birch.
We also saw this spider making his web:
Trust me, I hate spiders more than anyone you know, but every once in a while you have to stand back and appreciate their craftsmanship.
We got almost all the way to the top of the mountain and I took this next picture of the beautiful view we had. Unfortunately, pictures like this never come out as well as I think they're going to:
Sometimes I like playing around a little bit with depth of field, like on this wildflower:
Don't worry, we didn't take the trail that led straight off a cliff:
We continued on the main trail all the way up to Heublein Tower, snapping a few pictures along the way. I think it looks like these trees are telling secrets:
We arrived at Heublein Tower, where we took a break to eat some Smitten Kitchen Raspberry Bars:
We wanted to go up to the observation deck, but people were washing the windows so we skipped it:
At this point, we decided that we had done the normal hike so many times, we might as well try something new. We ended up going down a trail that had been blocked off with orange tape which, in retrospect, was probably a bad idea.
We took this trail up to the very top of the mountain, much higher than we knew was possible. There, we saw this beautiful moss:
And a snake!
We probably should have taken the snake on the path as a bad omen, much like we should have taken the American tourists in Mexico shouting "Turn Back! Don't go down that path!" as a bad omen, but as usual, we did not.
Mushrooms:
This new path led to a clearing on top of the mountain that had some of the most beautiful views in the area. We were so high above everything, that I remember feeling like we could step out and walk across the treetops below us:
I always wondered what happens to balloons when people let them fly away. Apparently, some of them find their resting place on mountaintops:
Wild blueberries:
Brent climbing down the other side of the mountain:
At first, there were still a few scattered trail markers, but I think this is the last one we saw:
Just as a side-note, I love foliage and I love birch. Foliage on birch? Fantastic:
Anyway, we came to a couple fallen trees blocking our path, but rather than turning back, we just jumped right over them:
A baby toad:
As we continued down our makeshift path, we came across a long, barbed-wire fence that made us both a little uneasy. What were they trying to keep out? And who is "they"?
We soon arrived at a section of woods with lots of dead trees, like this one:
We also found these moss-covered pipes:
This was the very last section of trail, very Fern Gully-esque:
We probably should have turned back when we lost the trail, but we didn't. We had come so far, the idea of accepting defeat and making our way back up the mountain the way we came was just too depressing. Instead, we moved forward into denser woods:
Around this time, Brent and I saw a deer off in the distance and then we heard another, perhaps larger, animal a little farther away. The deer bolted, leaving the careless, tasty, lost, hikers all alone in the woods with whatever other creature was approaching. The Talcott Mountain area is known for its bears and Brent and I weren't in the mood to be lunch that day, so Brent grabbed a large stick to defend us with:
We decided that our only option was to turn back and go the way we came... but which way was that? We had lost the trail, so we wandered in circles, watching out for bears all the while, until after a frustrating half hour or so, we stumbled back onto something resembling a path and followed it back up the mountain.
We made it out safely and never did see the bear (that may or may not have even been a bear) but I don't think we'll be taking any more closed trails again.
Before we got back to the main path, I was able to get this ridiculous shot of Brent leaping off one of the fallen trees with his stick. I call it his samurai shot:
When we got to the marked trails again, we went back to one of the little vistas and sat on a cliff where Brent whipped out his Emerson book and read his poem, "Nature":
Afterwards, I discovered that he had also brought along his silly harmonica I got him for his birthday:
All in all, it was a fantastic day for a hike, especially since we got to spend the entirety of it outside of a bear's stomach.
Make sure you check out Brent's blog entry on this same hiking trip.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 11:39 PM | Comments (6)
September 17, 2008
Raspberry Bars
A couple weeks ago, Brent and I decided to go for a hike up Talcott Mountain, which is near his house. We needed a trail snack, so I made the raspberry bars that I found on Smitten Kitchen.
I'm not a fantastic cook, but I try really hard and I think I'm getting a little better. Anyway, I took a few pictures of the process:
I know you don't need two pictures of butter, but there's just something I love about butter packaging and I don't care how weird that is:
The finished product:
These made an excellent hiking snack, and if you want the recipe, check it out HERE at Smitten Kitchen!
Hiking pictures coming soon.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:55 PM | Comments (5)
Poppy and Grandma's Birthdays
Recently, we celebrated Poppy and Grandma's birthdays (on different days). Poppy chose to have his birthday at Mackenzie's, where we all met up for brunch.
Uncle David, Poppy, Aunt Sarah, and Dad (making a ridiculous face):
The waiters at Mackenzie's even brought Poppy a slice of chocolate cake with a candle to help celebrate his 93rd!
Poppy's cake back at his house:
Grandma opted to have her birthday dinner at the beach, followed by apple pie at our house instead of a cake. I think it was a great choice!
Grandma with the bird feeder my mom painted for her:
Happy Birthday Grandma and Poppy!
Posted by lauren at 12:34 PM | Comments (1)
September 16, 2008
Brent's 2nd 22nd
Brent was away for his 22nd birthday, so I had to re-birthday him at my house when he got home. I threw him a dinosaur-themed birthday, set on an island 120 miles off the west coast of Costa Rica, otherwise known as my back porch.
Yes, I realize Brent is not 5, but I still think he enjoyed his dino birthday. First, we followed the dinosaur tracks to the jungle:
Here's Brent in his dinosaur explorer helmet making his way through the dense vines of the jungle:
The table:
Jungle:
One of Brent's presents was a steak brander with his initials on it. I know that sounds totally weird, but I thought it was really cool! It comes hand-crafted from a ranch in Texas and it's for all those grillmasters out there who like to mark their handiwork:
First, he tested it out on a piece of bread:
Brent's steak:
Brent with Dino, his t-rex balloon:
Blowing out the candles on his birthday cake:
I covered it in plastic dinosaur toys:
We spent the rest of that night eating massive amounts of cake and watching "Supernatural," one of our favorite TV on DVD sets.
The next day, Brent and I went to Greenwich Ave. to peruse the stores. We started at the Ralph Lauren Rugby store, where I was taken by surprise upon finding this in the dressing room:
Creepy....
We also went to J-Crew where I talked Brent out of buying a $90 sweatshirt:
Afterwards, we went to Thataway Cafe, one of my favorite little restaurants in town and absolutely the best place to see and be seen on Greenwich Avenue:
The bird Brent was looking at in the last picture:
Brent and Me:
I think it was a fun birthday weekend and Brent definitely went home with all sorts of goodies he didn't know he needed, including a harmonica and a plastic tube filled with dinosaurs. Don't worry, I got him other, more normal stuff too.
Happy (VERY Belated) Birthday Brent!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 07:58 PM | Comments (7)
Greenwich Time
This past Sunday, Nicole, Sarah, and I were in the Greenwich Time in an article about our road trip! Unfortunately, the newspaper got almost everything wrong.... No press is bad press though, right? Click on the picture below to go to our What Now Wanderers post about our article in the Greenwich Time:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:34 PM | Comments (2)
Rocky and Jake
While I'm working on some new blog posts, here's a cute picture of Rocky and Jake (Cathy and Mike's dog) that I took at their playdate a little while ago. It kinda looks like Rocky is considering Jake for lunch:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2008
About A Year Ago...
I have no time to post a new entry right now, so I thought I'd let you all re-read one of my favorite Brent stories - the week I made him think he was insane:
Driving Brent Insane
New posts soon!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:14 PM | Comments (2)
September 14, 2008
Frisky's Cover Shot
Frisky is famous!
Today, as Brent and I were walking through Barnes & Noble browsing through the calendars, I picked up a cat calendar and... Frisky was on the cover! Stuff On My Cat made a 2009 daily calendar and used my beautiful little Frisky as the cover and I didn't even know!
I sent Frisky's picture in to Stuff On My Cat a couple times over a year ago but had no idea she'd be in this year's calendar. Not only is Frisky a calendar girl now, but she made the cover! She also has her own page (January 5th).
Frisky's cover shot:
Now, obviously you all need your own copies of Frisky's calendar, so you can CLICK HERE to order it on Amazon!
Anyway, I'll be back with more later, I just wanted to share Frisky's fame with the internet world.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 10:03 PM | Comments (6)
September 13, 2008
Boston
Sorry I haven't updated pictures in a little while. I'd like to give a better explanation, but I'm in a big hurry to leave my house because Brent and I are going to a Red Sox game today! We have really good seats behind the first base line a few rows back, so if you're going to be watching the game, look for us!
I'll be away with Brent until late Sunday night celebrating our 4 year anniversary weekend, so I probably won't be able to post until then (just giving you fair warning....)
-Lauren
PS- Until then, check out What Now Wanderers!
Posted by lauren at 07:19 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2008
What Now Wanderers
As part of our road trip, Sarah, Nicole, and I are required to keep a "team blog" which we have just started! Our team is: What Now Wanderers, and you can click on that link to get to our blog.
So far, we've been posting about our own experiences leading up to now, but as our trip approaches we should have lots of new information to share like trip details, interviews we've set up, etc.
In other exciting news, we got interviewed by the Greenwich Time today about our upcoming road trip and the documentary we'll be starring in along with it, so if you live in the area make sure you check out this weekend's paper!
Until then... go to WHAT NOW WANDERERS!!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:36 AM | Comments (5)
September 11, 2008
Road Trip Photo-Shoot
Well, we were supposed to be original, but I don't think this is what anyone had in mind.
Sarah, Nicole, and I went down to the beach here in Greenwich for our road trip photo-shoot (we have to have promotional photos for our upcoming show!)
Nicole, however, had a vision in mind and decided to bring "props." Sarah and I were thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, that Sarah threw one of them in the ocean "accidentally."
Anyway, I made a slideshow of some of the pictures we came up with. I'm beyond embarrassed to be posting these, but I'm also curious what kind of audience these "promo-shots" are going to lure in.
If you're confused what's going on in any of these pictures, just hover your mouse over "Notes" on the bottom right-hand corner:
Now, we want your opinion on which photos you like the best! Tell us which are your favorites (take note of the numbers - 1 through 17 - of the photos you like best for the survey):
WHICH PHOTOS DO YOU LIKE BEST FOR OUR PROMO-SHOT
Additionally, here are a couple pictures I took of the sunset at the beach:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:31 AM | Comments (11)
September 10, 2008
Kristina's New Apartment
A little while ago, my friends and I went to Kristina's new apartment in Stamford, CT for a party. When we got there, we were immediately served drinks by our hostess, which is always a sign of a good party.
Hayley and Cathy doing tequila shots:
Kristina with one of her roommates who I want to say is named Allison, but I might be completely making that up:
After drinks, we went to Tiernan's, one of the bars in Stamford we frequent.
Cathy and Sarah at Tiernan's:
Me, Nicole, and Kristina:
The band playing Chumbawumba - "Tubthumpers" (oh the 90s):
Hayley and Me:
Cathy, Kristina, Nicole, Sarah, and Hayley dancing:
Nicole and Sarah:
After Tiernan's, we headed over to Black Bear where some random guy came to sit with us. I don't remember his name or anything about him except that he has a cat named Penelope and desperately wanted Nicole to go on a date with him:
Anyway, a quick update on Sarah, Nicole, and my road trip - we have our photo-shoot for it tonight and later in the week we're having an interview with a local newspaper! I'll post everything once I can.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:02 PM | Comments (5)
September 09, 2008
This and That
I've given up on waiting for my computer to be fixed to continue with normal blogging and I've resorted to editing my photos on my parents computer with their inferior version of Photoshop. Anyway, I'm weeks behind on posting, so there are going to have to be quite a few "this and that" type entries until I get caught up with all my pictures. Bear with me....
Here are a couple pictures I took of a local lighthouse:
It looks a little worn, but I hope no one fixes it up, I think the wear-and-tear adds to its charm:
I know it's just a depth-perception trick, but doesn't this look like a disaster?
I debated whether or not to tell this story, because it's gruesome and disturbing, but I'm going to tell it anyway. This is a tree in my front yard that was home to a nest of baby squirrels:
Notice I said was, not is. The babies all fell out of the tree and died on the stone steps leading from my front door to the driveway. Completely traumatized by the first tragic fall, I brought my pillows outside and made a landing zone for wayward squirrel babies. It turns out they have very poor aim. I have not been this distressed since Bambi's mom was sent to live with that nice family on a farm.
On a much happier note, here's my beautiful Frisky who has lived almost a year and a half beyond the two week estimate our old vet gave us when she was diagnosed with lymphoma. Remember, always always ALWAYS get a second opinion:
Now for some of my recent cooking disasters. Let me tell you, I am no Smitten Kitchen. I do, however, get inspired by her blog and try my very best. My first disaster was my huevos rancheros, which came out completely stiff, chewy, and nearly inedible. Totally not Smitten Kitchen's fault, by the way.... I tend to substitute a lot of ingredients rather than going out to the grocery store (For a real huevos rancheros recipe, click HERE):
Smitten Kitchen also recently had a wedding cake series that, at 3am, made me decide that I, too, could make a wedding cake. Without any ingredients, I decided to make cupcake brownies (from a box) instead. Unfortunately, I didn't have any eggs, so I decided to substitute them with chocolate pudding. My theory was that eggs are dairy, and so is chocolate pudding. In retrospect, I actually have no idea what pudding is made of, nor do I think it falls under the same category as eggs. Anyway, the brownies were horrendous, but I decorated them with white frosting to make 12 miniature wedding cakes:
And last but not least, here's a photo my mom begged me not to post of a ketchup bottle we found buried deep in our cabinets. It expired many years ago and has turned nearly black. Black ketchup anyone?
Hopefully I'll have some less scatter-brained entries coming up soon for you!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 11:23 PM | Comments (1)
September 08, 2008
Greenwich Websites I Love
I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone around town who linked to my hurricane/tropical storm pictures of Hanna. Click on the pictures to check out these three awesome websites!
Greenwich Post (they're in a slideshow in the top-right corner):
Greenwich Roundup:
For What It's Worth:
Thanks again from a wannabe photojournalist!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 04:38 PM | Comments (6)
September 07, 2008
Our Fifteen Minutes Of Fame
All of my reality television dreams are coming true! My friends Nicole, Sarah and I are going to be on a reality show! We got a grant to go on a road trip across the country to interview people about what they do. We might be riding in an Amish cart as well.
Here is our promotional photo:
We're going to have our own web site where we will be blogging and posting pictures and videos while on our trip. You will also be able to watch our show once we finish the road trip and have it professionally edited.
Anyway, we're really excited and I hope you'll all be fans!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 11:13 PM | Comments (5)
Hurricane Hanna Hits Greenwich!
Well, I guess it wasn't really a hurricane when it hit us, but Tropical Storm Hanna blew through Greenwich yesterday afternoon and evening. While most people were taking shelter from the storm, I was out around town taking pictures (there's still a very big part of me that wants to be Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel).
I started off at the beach, where there were a bunch of kite boarders:
The rain was falling so hard and the wind was amazingly strong. The conditions are always more severe at the beach than they are inland, so I'm glad I headed out there to get the full experience.
Every good parent takes their kids to the ocean for a hurricane:
That's not fog, it's raining that hard!
A bunch of geese were huddled together in the ocean, but when the wind picked up they took flight and found shelter farther inland:
I love the lighthouse in the background:
A police boat heading in to scare all the crazies (like myself) off the beach:
The kites weren't the only things flying in the hurricane winds:
After leaving the beach, my parents and I took a quick drive around to check out the flooding. For those of you who are familiar with the area, this is Food Mart in Old Greenwich:
Arcadia St.
Waves going down Arcadia St.
According to the news, this whole area was two feet underwater by the end of the night!
Binney Park completely flooded:
This is usually a very small stream flowing out of Binney Pond:
Water rushing under the road:
Flooded bridge:
Hardly any bridge left:
All these pictures of the park weren't even the worst of it! The water got much, much higher that night, it was just too dark and rainy to get any good pictures:
More water rushing into the park:
This is one of my favorite pictures. I'm not sure what caused it, but a piece of cement cracked in a sidewalk and all the rainwater flowing through the storm drains underneath came rushing up and burst through onto the road:
Cathy, Molly, Hayley and I had a hurricane party at Cathy's house that consisted of lots of playing in the rain and Rice Krispies treats:
We decided to all get in the car and check out Old Greenwich, which we heard was two feet underwater:
And it was true!
We didn't even notice how deep the water was until we opened the doors and waves came in:
We didn't make it all the way back to Arcadia St., which I heard got it the worst, because the water was getting too deep, but we did get out to splash around in the shallower part of the Food Mart parking lot:
I love this picture, taken near the Old Greenwich Post Office:
It was too dark to get a good picture of how badly Binney Park had flooded by that night, but here's a quick shot I took of the pond flowing right across the road:
And that's it! Today you'd never know we had a hurricane yesterday because it is so beautiful. It's funny that I spent the day mostly outside during the hurricane, and today I have yet to do much of anything, certainly not outdoors. Oh well.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 03:06 PM | Comments (3)
We Survived
Well, we just survived Hurricane Hanna, which rolled through Greenwich yesterday afternoon and evening. A good portion of my side of town was completely underwater and I have a ton of pictures that I'll be posting soon.
Just wanted everyone to know we made it through!
Posted by lauren at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2008
Above the Influence
You may remember me mentioning that i recently deleted my facebook account. Actually, probably most of you don't remember that, because based on an analysis of my blog hits, most of you got completely distracted by my facebook link in that entry, clicked on it, and never returned. Thanks guys. Anyway, I realized that I haven't taken myself out of the world of online communities, I have just replaced a social network with a network of nerdy book readers. Is that better or worse?
Living above the influence of facebook has been an interesting experience. Now, when I come online to do something productive like look up information or check my email, it actually only takes me five or ten minutes, not three to four hours (don't lie, if you've ever been on facebook you know you waste that much time there too). I also find that my conversations with people no longer include the easily taken out of context dialogue, such as "I fed you to my sister's zombie today" or "Did you poke me last night?"
Being 22 years old and not on facebook is apparently very un-cool of me. In our new technological age, people at bars or parties no longer try to give you their number, now they give you their full name so that you can look them up on facebook, friend each other, and exchange all your personal information without ever speaking. I'm not joking, either! This has actually happened to me on multiple occasions, but I have the ultimate turn-down now: "Oh, I'm not on facebook." This immediately turns away any unwanted attention. People back away slowly, knowing there must be something wrong with me, that I must be some kind of social aberration.
And now that I'm at the end of my entry and made you read the whole thing, here's your link to facebook.
Posted by lauren at 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
September 03, 2008
Brent Has A Blog!
Brent has finally given me the OK to announce his new blog, aptly titled BRENT. Some of you may remember Brent's previous blogs, like Swashbuckling Ruffian, Yes Considerably, and Brent Meets World, and he's back again with BRENT:
Head on over to BRENT to check out his latest entries! He already has 5 posted, so you better get caught up!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 01:07 PM | Comments (2)
September 02, 2008
Keeping Busy
I've been so bored lately with my computer on the injured list. I don't think I realize how dependent I am on technology. Speaking of which, I recently took myself out of the world of Facebook. I don't know why it took me nearly four years to realize that it's creepy and useless, but now I don't know what to do with those extra five hours of my day.
Today, I occupied myself by cataloging my personal library on the internet. I have almost no need for this whatsoever, but it made for an excellent OCD outlet. I used a website called Library Thing, which is actually pretty cool. I couldn't possibly explain all it does, so you'll have to check it out for yourself, but it has a lot of cool features.
I didn't have time to upload my entire library (mostly because it's scattered on all 4 stories of my house) but I did manage to upload about 100 books. If you want to check them out, go to My Library.
If you're wondering what I'm doing up at 3:30am on a random Monday night, it's that I felt it was of the utmost importance that I categorize my books by title, author, genre, date, preference, and subject. I also discovered that it would be completely impossible for me, psychologically, to allow Library Thing to provide me with the incorrect book cover for my specific version of a book, so I had to change them all myself. The next time I make any mention of wishing to start a "project" such as this one, I hope someone will knock me out and tie me to a chair.
Goodnight... finally.
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 03:24 AM | Comments (2)
September 01, 2008
iPhone Animals
Again, here are a few pictures off of my iPhone.... Sorry for the delay in real posts.
Frisky:
Sitting in my lap:
Rocky sleeping in my bed:
And baring it all for the internet (yes, he actually sleeps on his back like this):
George showing off his new condo (a gift from Grandma and Poppy):
And finally, here's a screen-shot from my iPhone of a picture Brent sent me of Shadow sleeping in a bowl at his house:
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 11:06 PM | Comments (3)
iPhone Photos
While I wait to get my computer fixed, all I have for photos are the few I take every now and then on my iPhone.
Anyway, yesterday we went out to brunch for Poppy's 93rd birthday! I have all my pictures on my camera, ready to be loaded onto my currently non-existent computer, but for now here's what I've got (sorry about the bad quality):
Poppy:
I'll try to find interesting things to talk about to keep you all entertained, so keep checking back!
-Lauren
Posted by lauren at 02:27 PM | Comments (1)