Project 365 Day 82: March 23, 2013

As you saw last year, I make a delicious macaroni and cheese. It's not hard to make, but it takes a while to cook, so I often make it a day or so before we actually have it. Today I made it not only so we could have it for dinner on Monday, but also so I could document it on Sharpen. Sharpen is a new app developed by my friend Dan from Oxford. It allows people who do crafty and creative things to teach each other, and encourages people to document the results when they try something they see on the site. (I probably didn't explain that well enough. You just have to see it to figure it out, because it's cool.) Anyway, today's photo is of the "spark" I was working on today, which is how to make my famous mac and cheese. You can see it for yourself here. http://flic.kr/p/e5wFmT

Project 365 Day 81: March 22, 2013

My friend Chrissie is much more on top of things than yours truly. She always manages to send my birthday present *before* my birthday, and it's always awesome. Today I came home to this awesome sparkly popup card covered with shoes and handbags, and a great cosmetic bag from L'Occitane that had a cherry blossom print on it! She knows me far too well :) http://flic.kr/p/e5Cgw7

Project 365 Day 80: March 21, 2013

In the field outside the pool entrance at Windsor High, there is a giant tire just sitting there. I have no idea why it would be there. I like to imagine that some sports team is having "World's Strongest Man" competitions, where they flip giant tires and pull planes and stuff like that. :) http://flic.kr/p/e5wACr

Project 365 Day 79: March 20, 2013

Tonight I made another delicious recipe that I found on Pinterest: cashew chicken. (Actually, I saw it on Pinterest then Googled around for a better version. I ended up with Martha Stewart's recipe.) We made two modifications to the recipe: first, we added shrimp, since we had a bunch of shrimp we needed to use. Second, we served it on Thai noodles, since we had some left and they cook much faster than rice. It was delicious and very pretty! I would totally make it again. http://flic.kr/p/e4TUgw

Project 365 Day 78: March 19, 2013

I know I've been telling you about how I swim at Windsor High School, so I thought I'd take a picture of the pool at Windsor High School... ... ...the *outdoor* pool, that is. I am nice and warm in the *indoor* pool. But I just found it so weird that on the last day of winter we had so much snow and ice, and this time last year it was 80 degrees. When I saw kids getting picked up by the parents from sports, I couldn't believe they were there for sports like baseball. Ah, springtime in New England... http://flic.kr/p/e4TU1b

Project 365 Day 77: March 18, 2013

Whenever we have a big dinner, we don't usually want to have another big dinner the next day. And when we say "Let's do something easy for dinner," we end up doing breakfast. It's funny how pancakes can hit the spot at the end of the day! http://flic.kr/p/e4TTsu

Project 365 Day 76: March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day! As usual, my family celebrated the day with a big corned beef and cabbage dinner. It's always too hectic to get the whole table in, but you get the idea of what it looks like. My mother goes all out decorating for every holiday! My sister took far better photos of the table - unlike me, she took them before it got too hectic! http://flic.kr/p/e4TS2u

Project 365 Day 75: March 16, 2013

In preparation for tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day dinner, I made a Bailey's Cheesecake for the first time. It kind of cracked, as you can see, but we covered it with Cool Whip and chocolate shavings and no one could tell. It was delicious! You can see the step-by-steps here. http://flic.kr/p/e3M4GY

Project 365 Day 74: March 15, 2013

Maggie loves all kinds of squeezy stress things. Here's one she bought at the dollar store today. http://flic.kr/p/e3woPy

Project 365 Day 73: March 14, 2013

This bright red branch was in my driveway when I got home. I don't know what it is, but I thought it looked cool. http://flic.kr/p/e3jU2m

Project 365 Day 72: March 13, 2013

I love how sunny it is when I drive home now! This was taken after 5 pm...a month or so ago, it would have been pitch black by now! Now, if only it would *feel* like Spring instead of just looking like it...:) http://flic.kr/p/e3jTSU

Project 365 Day 71: March 12, 2013

A lot of times, I see recipes on Pinterest or in magazines and I never make them. Tonight after swimming I went through the effort to make one. This is chicken on a spinach wrap with mixed greens and peanut satay sauce...very good, but a little on the spicy side. It was worth the effort though! http://flic.kr/p/e3jTK9

Project 365 Day 70: March 11, 2013

I've become rather obsessed with "Just Dance 4" for the Wii. It's a surprisingly good workout for your arms, especially if you do the "Just Sweat" mode or some of the harder dances! http://flic.kr/p/e3jTvA

Project 365 Day 69: March 10, 2013

We did more interesting things than this today (like go out with the whole family to the Olive Garden), but what can I say? I like taking pictures of produce. Here are some beets at Price Chopper. Aren't they cool? http://flic.kr/p/e3jTqE

Project 365 Day 68: March 9, 2013

We're not really "cake" people in my family, so we go all kinds of alternate routes for dessert when it comes time to celebrate birthdays. PJ loves whoopie pies, so I asked my friend Emily (who owns a bakery) to make him a giant whoopie pie for his birthday. He loved it! (We ate it the day after, so that's why you're seeing it now and not for yesterday.) It was funny because he just picked up his slice and ate it with his hands, as one does with a whoopie pie. Thanks Em! http://flic.kr/p/e1UdZi

Project 365 Day 67: March 8, 2013

Continuing in the marathon of birthdays, the day after Kelly's birthday is PJ's birthday. Mr. PJ is 20 years old today. He was born three months early, weight a pound and a half at birth and spent the first six months of his life in the NICU. Today, at 20, he towers over all of us! Here's the birthday boy holding one of the earliest pictures we have of him, when he was maybe five months old. As PJ said today, "I'm 20 and I like myself." As he very well should. Happy birthday PJ! (PS - PJ got the best gift of all for his birthday...a day off! I'm so envious!) http://flic.kr/p/e1LXeq

Project 365 Day 66: March 7, 2013

Today is my sister Kelly's birthday. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see her today because we all had to work and the weather was really lousy at the end of the day, but we'll see her this weekend. This, in addition to being Adventures in Patterns Part 3, is her birthday present, wrapped up and ready to go. :) So now we're the same age for a while, which always confused people when we were little. Happy Birthday Kel! Love you! http://flic.kr/p/e1vR5h

Project 365 Day 65: March 6, 2013

Adventures in Patterns, Part 2: Closeup of my lunch bag. It's obnoxious to take a lunch bag to work (just one more thing to carry), but it saves me a ton of money in the long run! One very good thing about this bag is that it's very conspicuous. Everyone know's it's mine. :) http://flic.kr/p/e1vP6y

Project 365 Day 64: March 5, 2013

I like taking pictures of patterns. This pattern is on a Vera Bradley notebook I bought ages ago and forgot that I had bought until recently. I thought it would look cool as a photo. http://flic.kr/p/dZXRrP

Project 365 Day 63: March 4, 2013

I took this photo very late in the day. I wanted something to convey the "urgh, it's Monday" feeling I was having. And when I realized I hadn't changed the page on my page-a-day calendar, I was happy to discover that Lucy expresses my sentiments perfectly for the day. :) http://flic.kr/p/dZXRgz

Project 365 Day 62: March 3, 2013

Tonight was Jack's birthday party, but I already had a Jack two-fer this week, so I thought I would go with something else. I've been eating a lot of Red Delicious apples lately because I've heard they're good for your cholesterol. For some reason, the lines on them look like they're painted on to me. Since a lot of my produce pics came out nice last year, I thought I'd give this one a shot. Not bad for a cameraphone, I think... http://flic.kr/p/e14x7C

Project 365 Day 61: March 2, 2013

On the left: yes, I've fallen into the "mint green and coral and crocheted stuff" trend. On the right: how long do you think it will take for me to lose all of those socks? http://flic.kr/p/e14wXd

Project 365 Day 60: March 1, 2013

Since Jack is now two, it only makes sense to have a Jack two-fer. (Yes, these were taken on two different days.) Here he is playing with another one of his presents - this is a wagon with blocks that my grandfather, Jack's great grandfather (my dad's dad), made for Kelly and me when we were little. He had a set of his own, and he made sets for all the grandchildren. My dad fixed this set up to give it to Jack. Again, I think he approves. :) http://flic.kr/p/dYQfLp

Project 365 Day 59: February 28, 2013

Today Mr. Jack is TWO! I can't believe how fast time flies and how big he is. Anyway, this piano mat was my birthday present to him. (I also got him a cool hat.) He marches up and down it, tries to "swim" on it and rides his toy cars and trains on it, and when he's done he says "Fun!" So I think he approves :) http://flic.kr/p/dYAqNP

Project 365 Day 58: February 27, 2013

I'm going to describe today's photo, and then I'm going to describe the photo I wanted to take but didn't. Today's photo - Festivus: the Chai for the rest of us! I bought this Chai tea a while back and had it tonight. I was disappointed with it, but I couldn't resist a beverage that was linked to Festivus. The photo I wanted to take - While out shopping for Jack's birthday present, I saw a microphone made by Playskool that plays music while the kid sings. The song it plays is Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." What happened to kids' toys that play, oh, "The Farmer in the Dell"? :) http://flic.kr/p/dYmbor

Project 365 Day 57: February 26, 2013

More swimming at Windsor High tonight. I'm not crazy about the angle of this picture, but I couldn't exactly take my phone in the pool. I just thought the bright yellow looked cool against the blue tiles. http://flic.kr/p/dYrT1E

Project 365 Day 56: February 25, 2013

I was only a few months old when the world found out who shot J.R., but somehow I grew up loving "Dallas" and Larry Hagman. They say this is the final episode he recorded for the new series - and even so, they had to stretch the outtakes a bit to get him in more. I know this version of the series won't generate the ratings of the original "Who Shot J.R.," but I hope the series continues and doesn't lose momentum now that Larry Hagman is gone. And just like the old series when Jock died, they still manage to keep him "alive" on the show - he doesn't even die until next week! http://flic.kr/p/dYmb2V

Project 365 Day 55: February 24, 2013

Today, while on the hunt for change for my money-saving jar, I found this penny in my mom's car. I have no idea what could have caused it to bend like that, but it looks kind of cool. http://flic.kr/p/dYmaUz