Philadelphia Flower Show Favorites Part I

A few weeks ago, I took Thursday and Friday off work and headed to Pennsylvania for the Philadelphia Flower Show! You might remember when my Mom and I took Philadelphia by storm last winter (here and here).

This year we decided not to sleep over in a hotel the night before, but that was a TOTAL mistake, because when we woke up on Friday morning ready to go, it was snowing. We thought for a solid five hours that we weren't going to be able to go, but at 2:30PM I made us get in the car and I drove us to Philadelphia. It might even be how we do it next year because by the time we got there, it was significantly less crowded (I think the elderly all left to make their dinner reservations).

The theme this year was Great Britain which we liked way more than last year's theme of Hawaii. There were way less things to see this year, but a vendor told us it was because people complained that there wasn't enough room to walk around last year. Walkers take up a lot of room, you guys (seriously, so many elderly people!).

Anyway, here is Part I of who knows how many parts dedicated to the Flower Show. I can't even talk to you guys about miniature landscape design, because there was none this year. More on that later, but needless to say I was MORE than upset and seriously considered writing an email to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (no I'm not kidding).

This is what you saw as soon as you waked it!

Let's talk about how much I want giant flower pots at our wedding...

You know how much I love tulips!

More tomorrow, get excited!

Happy Monday! 

Me vs. The Brooklyn Public Library

I have a problem. A first world, book problem, but a problem none the less.

This is the problem.

The Park Slope Library is causing me IMMENSE stress as it gets in ALL of the books I have requested at once WITHOUT TELLING ME THEY ARE ALL THERE. Two weeks ago, I was nearing the end of my (self prescribed) reading queue so I went on my Goodreads and I found a whole bunch of new books I wanted to read. I requested all of them at the library and kept reading the last few books on my list. Six days later, I got an email from the Brooklyn Public Library that told me ONE of my books came in. I was thrilled!

I arrived at the library to find EIGHT books waiting for me on the shelf! Problem #1: I had to carry them all home. Problem #2: The Brooklyn Public Library only gives you three weeks to read your books. And I can never renew anything I get out because other dorks throughout Brooklyn have also requested these books!

Needless to say I spent this weekend reading like a maniac and have made it through three of the eight...who said reading is supposed to be relaxing? I love me a deadline!

Wednesday Wonderings: These Days on the F Train

Does anyone else take the F train home in the evenings from Manhattan to Brooklyn? Here's what's been happening lately...

There is an accordion player. I first saw him about six weeks ago on a Wednesday (that is how clear this memories is) and I had my headphones in. I thought I could hear someone screaming above the volume of Marcus Mumford singing in my ears. When I looked up from my book, there was the accordion man and his sidekick asking for tips.

Now I see him about two or three times a week. This is the original accordion man.

Last Wednesday, after the original accordion man (OAM) exited the train at Delancy, secondary accordion man (SAM) entered at the back of the car. SAM proceeded to play his accordion all the way to Bergen Street you guys, which is a pretty far way! And to be clear, he was not as good as OAM and his sidekick was decidedly less adorable and way ruder when asking for tips.

Wednesday Wondering: have you seen these accordion men? Could these accordion men be more annoying than the mariachi band that used to play on my D train? Opinions welcome!

*NOTE: I am in no way attempting to offend accordion players, my Dad plays one (though not recently)!

My Baby Sister & A Favor to Ask

This is my baby sister, Alyssa.

She is a Junior at Hofstra University and in addition to being a fabulous student, fantastic friend, and incredible sister, she does about 100 things on campus. One of the most impressive things she does though, is lead the planning for the campus' Relay for Life.

Relay for Life is a twelve hour event where participants Celebrate, Remember and Fight back against cancer. The 12 hours of the event symbolize the 12 months in a year that cancer patients endure...cancer doesn't sleep, and at Relay neither to the participants. They money that is raised goes directly to the American Cancer Society for research and programs to support patients (Alyssa's personal favorite is Look Good Feel Better, a service that teachers women how to apply makeup and style wigs after chemo). 

I'm asking you to donate to Alyssa's personal fundraising effort. Because in addition to planning an entire event that last year raised $107,000 and had more than 800 attendees, Alyssa has set her personal fundraising at $1,000. To say that I am a proud big sister would be a total understatement and I will be on campus on April 27th supporting my (not so) baby sister and this fantastic event.

SO DONATE PLEASE! Here's how:

1.) Go to www.relayforlife.org/hofstrauniversity2.) Click DONATE
3.) Put her first and last name (ALYSSA LEGNETTI) in the "Search a Participant" boxes
4.) Click on her name
5.) Click DONATE NOW

That's it! $1, $5, $20...every little bit helps. Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance from me and Alyssa (how cute was she?)!

A Sunday Afternoon...

Yesterday I had the lady problems...that's right, I said it. I had the lady problems and I felt like murderous death. MURDEROUS DEATH!

For some reason though, at about 1:00, I thought it would be a good idea to totally rearrange our living room. Like all of the furniture and our entertainment unit. I decided this was a great idea even though I kept yelling at John to move the couch more to the left while my uterus was yelling at me to lay the hell down with a mug of tea and my book.

Our friends Becca and Shannon were dropping by our house to drop off John's birthday gift at 1:30. Thankfully, Shannon and Becca are like THE BEST people to have over when you're rearranging your living room because Shannon lifts everything with one arm, even things that I have to lift with two arms and grunts. It is the best and they are the nicest.

When the living room was basically in order and we were sitting nicely after lunch, we decided that a "quick trip," trip to Ikea would be a good idea. I had the unwavering desire to buy a microwave cart and Becca needed a chair for her living room. So off to Ikea we went!

This picture is the end result of that trip (plus the microwave cart, the chair, new candles, dish washing brushes, and various other things I'm sure we don't actually need).

We got yelled at less than five seconds after this picture was taken to "Please get off the cart,". I was embarrassed but then a five year old got yelled at, too. I'm not sure if this made me more or less embarrassed.

Happy Monday to YOU!

Kim Kardashian & Pre-Cana

Last weekend, John and I went to Pennsylvania for Pre-Cana. Pre-Cana is a retreat that the Catholic Church makes you go to before they let you get married. Our parish (thankfully) allows you to do the whole thing in one full Saturday, 9:00AM-5:00PM followed by Mass.

If I'm being honest, I was kind of dreading the whole affair, but it was not terrible. Some of it was helpful and the couples who led the day were really great.

One of the things we did was play the Nearly-Wed Game. One of the questions the guys had to answer  was "If your fiance could be any famous person, who would they be?". These are some of the answers that the other girls gave and that the guys got correct:

1. Kim Kardashian
2. Blake Lively
3. Beyonce
4. Ariel, The Little Mermaid

My answer? Hillary Clinton. And John got it right.

When we got in the car, I was laughing about the fact that he got it right. "Well, part of the reason is because she's so smart and powerful and gets to travel so much," he said. "But mostly its because she is married to Bill."

And THAT is the reason we are getting married.