Jeff is going to Iraq

It was a bittersweet weekend in Albany this past weekend. We got together to celebrate Jeff as he heads off to Iraq with his Marine reserve company. LCPL Messick leaves today and will be away for 10 months. His families threw him several parties over the weekend. Denise hosted a Friday party for him where friends and cousins wished him well. The next day Uncle Dan and Aunt Michelle hosted an afternoon at the pool for him and his wife Samantha. On Sunday Jeff was having a picnic with his dad's family. All I can say is that we hope the 10 months go quickly and that Jeff and all of the service people stay safe and get home and that this long war ends soon. We love you Jeff.

back from vacation

So Ned and I took a week off and went with friends to Provincetown, MA. We had a tremendously relaxing time. The weather was sunny and warm but not hot the whole week. If you have never stayed on the cape before. Much of the seashore is protected lands so even though you can swim, it's undeveloped (and beautiful by the way). In order to get to the beach we had a quite the trek through some wetlands and sand dunes but once we arrived at our spot it was positively gorgeous. The water was warm as well. Last time I swam in the ocean in 2005 it was pretty darn cold.

Oh and we saw some celebrities while we were there. We saw Martina Navratilova walking down the street and if that weren't enough she also went to Kate Clinton's comedy show and sat across the aisle from us. We were all cool though and didn't intrude into her space.

I also saw the actress who played Dawn Wiener in the extremely disturbing movie Welcome to the Doll House directed by Todd Solondz(sp?) I believe she was on board Rosie O'Donnell's family cruise ship that was docked for the day in the bay. Anyway here are a couple of pictures of our trip.

It's been a long time

So I was at another friends 40Th birthday party the other day when my friend Eric commented that i haven't updated the blog in many months and that he went to it once a month to catch up. I really have been quite lax. Lots has happened, family and friend's kids have graduated high school, friends are turning 40 and even 50. Poor Ned is already preparing himself for whatever psycho drama I create from my own 40th at the end of the year. we haven't even got up to the Pocono house that often due to all of the parties. Though that will change now that the weather is in the 90's. we will definitely need the trips into the woods for a bit of a cool down. Anyway here are some photos of my dear friends Susan and Marianne. Susan's party was in Memphis in April and Marianne's was this past weekend here in suburban Philly. I love them both as well as Susan's mom who came down and let us hopefully show her a good time in Philly.