Wedding Hair Prep

On Sunday I headed over to Jeanine's house where her very good friend Casey was meeting us to do some wedding hair trials.  We came as prepared as we could for Casey with pictures of what we thought we would like or what we thought would work good for the big day.  However Casey came even more prepared, with multiple curlers, hair ties, bobby-pins, and more hair products than you could imagine - she was ready for whatever we were going to throw at her!  We started off with my hair first...

Casey was able to replicate exactly what I wanted.  A simple one sided braid into a side curled pony tail.  My bridesmaid dress is a one shoulder so this style is going to work perfectly and help keep my hair out of my face.  Next it was onto the Bride-to-be's hair..

Her style she wanted was a full head of loose curls with some pieces pulled back out of her face.  She  was able to improvise with the pink feather accessory since she doesn't have her bird cage style veil.  Casey did a great job with her hair also, we all were completely satisfied and now even more cannot wait for Jeanine's big day to get here.  This was her first time doing hair for a wedding and she did a wonderful job.  A big thanks to Casey for all of your hair and beauty help on this!

Painters in Training

On Friday the 12th after work, Caitlin and Rachel picked me up at home and we headed to Saratoga for our first Paint and Sip experience!  We had signed up for the "Almond Blossoms" painting.  We arrived a little late, so we checked in, got our smocks on, and luckily there were 3 seats next to each other we could all sit at.  We followed along with the instructors directions and started to mix colors together for the background of our "art-work".  As it was drying, we went up to the bar and got our wine-on!

After our backgrounds dried, we were instructed on how to paint the branches, then the apple blossoms, then the black outlines to highlight the branches, and finally to sign our names.  After each instruction we were free to paint while music blasted through the speakers.  You get to paint, sing your heart out, drink, and spend time with friends - what's better than that?!

All and all the class lasted about 2 hours.  After you signed your name and your painting dried a little, we were instructed to get into the groups of friends we came with for pictures of our masterpieces.  Below is the picture of our 3 pieces...

If anyone is looking for something new and different to try, check out their website to see if you are interested in any of their upcoming paintings and then sign up!  A new location is opening soon in Latham - which will be a lot easier for Albany drivers to get too!

Cannot wait to sign up for our next masterpiece Caitlin and Rachel!

Family Vacation 2013

This past week (Saturday June 22-29) my family + Aaron and Heather rented a house in Narragansett, Rhode Island.  Not only was it a family affair, but the house had a fenced in back yard so the puppies were allowed to join us on vacation!  The house was a raised ranch style and had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a finished basement, living room, dining room, full kitchen, and a back porch with furniture and a grill.  It was heaven.

Out of the days that we were there Saturday-Wednesday we had sunny, perfect beach weather.  Aaron and I checked out 3 separate beaches while we were there and loved all of them, minus the crazy "entry" fees they charge!  All 3 beaches were different we had an almost empty beach to ourselves, a very crowded popular beach, and then a medium filled beach, but a beach is a beach and as long as we had room for our chairs, blanket, and cooler we were all good.

Besides the beach, one of the mornings we split up from the boys to have some girl time and let the boys do boy things.  Aaron, Steve, and Dad decided to go golfing.  Mom, Heather, and I decided to go do some shopping, drive around the island and find some cool place by the water to grab some lunch.  We ended up at a place called Jim's Dock and sat out back right by a marina.  The food and the view were perfect.  Later that day, Aaron and I decided to head into New Port for the day.  We walked all around and did some window shopping - we bought one thing, and that one thing was of course fudge.  Later on Steven and Heather met up with us.  We walked around with them for a bit and then we hopped in our cars and decided to do the Mansion tour on the island.  These houses were OUT OF THIS WORLD.  As soon as we thought we'd seen the biggest, coolest, most bad-ass mansion, we'd drive a little further and see another one.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of this one, but the coolest one we all decided was one that looked identical to a castle.  It had stone walls and as we drove past I counted 9 chimneys, 9! - who needs 9 chimneys!  After a while the mansions made us a little depressed so we decided to head back home.  One of the coolest parts of the New Port trip is the bridge connecting the islands.

Another cool part of the trip was the day the family decided to have lobster!  Now I am not a lobster person, I don't believe a person should have to work THAT hard to get to their food, also watching people eat lobster gives me hot mouth, but my family sure loves it so that's all that matters!  This specific lobster-fest was also Aaron and Heather's first time eating lobster this way, shell crackin' and all!

      

Thursday it rained so Steven, Heather, Aaron and I decided to road trip it to Boston for the day.  We got in around 4 and walked around Quincy Market.  We got lunch and tried to stay out of the rain as much as possible, luckily it was just a light rain.  Then we headed to Fenway! Aaron and I have never been to Fenway so we were super excited to go to this game and Steven's a Red Sox fan so their was excitement all around!

It was a 7:00 game against the Toronto Blue Jays.  In the top of the 2nd inning the Red Sox were on fire!  They went on a 7-0 run against the Blue Jays it was awesome.  We even got to see a home run over the Green Monster, the crowd was awesome, it was a good time!  Their was misty rain, the lights were on, our seats were amazing and the Red Sox were winning, it was a really good time.  Unfortunately Aaron and I had to leave the game at the bottom of the 3rd to go home and take care of Muhka.  We were upset we had to leave because we were having a really good time with Steven and Heather.  Luckily we saw all of the Red Sox scoring in that one inning and the Red Sox came out with the W!

With the rainy weather that came in towards the end of our vacation, we used Friday to pack and clean up the house and headed out Friday evening instead of Saturday morning.  Overall it was a great vacation and I'm sad it's over and we're back to the real world of waking up and going to work instead of the beach.  If you haven't been to Rhode Island you should check it out, Narragansett is beautiful!

To quote Steven: 

Steven Sisk

Yesterday via mobile

A much needed week of golf, beach, seafood, baseball, & family comes to an end. Work tomorrow 

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all the dad's out there!  Aaron and I had a full day of celebrating fathers starting with  the Demars side - his dad, Mike!  The original plan was to meet the family in Albany at Cafe Madison for a fathers day breakfast but the wait was too long so plans changed to meet at Cafe 217 around 10:45.  None of us had been here before, and overall the food was pretty tasty!  We all shared stories, laughed, and stuffed our faces!  We got Mike a new golf shirt - I'm pretty sure he'll get good use out of it!  After breakfast we all walked together to all of our cars but before we said our goodbyes for the day we stopped and took a family photo!

Then it was onto the Sisk celebration.  We picked up Muhka and headed down to my parents house.  The beginning of our Fathers Day celebrations consisted of all of us pitching in to help out with yard work - Woohoo fun!  After we all helped out a bit we went inside to hang out and have some drinks.  Dad opened his presents which from the kids consisted of new golf gear - new shirts, golf balls, and a new glove!  Mom got him a bunch of beach/vacation gear that the two retired love birds can use for many years to come!  Mom made ribs, a pasta salad, and fruit salad for dinner, yummy and messy haha and then finished off dinner with cheesecake and coffee!  We took a photo family photo also to end the day!

We said our "goodbyes" to my family, but they were not really goodbyes because next week we all leave for our first family vacation in about 6 years to Rhode Island, so we will be seeing A LOT of each other very soon for a week.  Once we got home we settled down to enjoy the rest of our Sunday before the work week starts again.  We had one last family photo to take for this fathers day...

I hope every father was spoiled and got to share their day with their loved ones like we did!

Mac n' Cheese

Last night we had Mike and Jeanine over for dinner.  We decided to make them our awesome mac n cheese dish - Aaron prepared most of it.  It's Baked White Cheddar Mac n Cheese with Kale and Bacon.  And boyyyyy is it delicious.  I found the recipe awhile back on pinterest and made it for Aaron and every since we've been hooked.  For those who know me, you're probably like "whaaat - you eat kale?!" and yes, smothered in ooey gooey cheese, you bet I eat kale!  All in All it takes about 45 to prep and cook the meal.

1 lb. pasta

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 of a purple onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup flour

3 cups of milk

8 ounces sharp white cheddar, grated

1 ounce parmesan, finely grated

dash nutmeg

dash cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 ounces of bacon, cooked and cut (we used turkey bacon)

3 1/2 ounces fresh kale, chopped

1/2 cup crushed croutons or breadcrumbs

• Cook pasta one to two minutes less than package instructions.  Drain and set aside
• Cook bacon until crispy, drain and cool, then cut into small pieces
• In a pot, melt the butter.  Saute the onion and garlic until soft and golden.  Whisk in the flour and cook over medium heat until golden.  Slowly whisk in the milk while cooking over meadium heat
• Stir in the sharp cheddar and parmesan cheese, whisking until melted and creamy.  Add the nutmeg, cayenne, black pepper, and salt.  Bring to a slow simmer, then stir in the pasta, bacon and kale.
• Transfer the pasta mixture to a 3 1/2 quart oven safe casserole dish or cast iron pan.  Sprinkle the top with the crushed croutons or breadcrumbs. 
• Bake at 375 degrees F on the center rack in the oven for 10-20 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbly, serve immediately

The dish was delicious and cheesy.  The kale and bacon are the perfect adds to the mac n' cheese, and it's a good way to get your greens in!  Try it out and let me know what you think!

She Found the Gown!

Today was a very special day.  I was lucky enough to share in my best friend's special day of finding her wedding gown, and I was honored.  She had done some research online trying to find styles that she liked so when we arrived for her appointment we were able to show the consultant some ideas for gowns she'd like to try on.  We went to David's Bridal and her mother, Leta, met us there also.  Our appointment was for 11:00 and we walked in the door at 11 on the dot and we're ready to help Jeanine find her gown...

I think she tried on a total of 7 dresses and right away she was able to narrow the search down to 3 top contenders...

1. A white strapless lace gown with ribbon detail.  It had a semi sweetheart neck line, a trumpet style skirt to it,  and the lace detail was beautiful and unique, it was all leaves.  This dress was one of the dresses she found online and wanted to try on.
2. A white strapless flow-y gown with underlying lace detail.  It had a sweetheart banded criss-cross neck line, free failing skirt, and an underlying lace detail of flowers covered by a sheer top.
3. An ivory chiffon wedding gown with ruffle detail and lace.  It had thin straps, both the front and back were v-necks, and the back of the dress had ruffled trim from the straps that ran all the way down the train of the dress.

It was a hard decision because she looked absolutely stunning in all of the dresses, but especially in the 3 she narrowed it down too.  After a few try-ons it was narrowed down to the white strapless flow-y gown and the ivory chiffon gown.  She put the ivory chiffon gown back on and held the iPad with a picture of her wearing the white strapless flow-y gown and in  blink of an eye the decision was unanimous.  The ivory chiffon wedding gown with ruffle detail and lace was hands down THE perfect dress for Jeanine.  To top the already perfect dress off, the consultant added a champagne colored belt with small champagne and white flowers on it and a little bit of beading.  It made the whole gown come together perfectly.

After very little hesitation, the consultant handed Jeanine a bell, told her to make a wish and ring the bell signifying that SHE FOUND THE GOWN! She closed her eyes and made her wish and then rang the bell and the store cheered.  She took her gown off and changed back into her clothes and came out all smiles.

The paper work was filled out and the dress paid for - it's official hers!  It should arrive in the store in about 3 months, then it's alterations, the last fitting, and then WEDDING TIME!  All and all we were only at David's Bridal for just over an hour and she looks stunning in her dress.  

Below... enjoy the image showing the stunning ruffled detail of her dress.

xoxo Beansie so happy I got to share this experience with you!

Adopt A US Soldier

I've been wanting to do something nice for someone or something for awhile.  Rachel and Anna signed up for  "Adopt A US Soldier" and after going to their site and reading about their program I was sold.  I wanted to reach out to a soldier fighting for our country and do my part to reach out to be a friend, confidant, or just someone for them to talk to.  After I submitted my application I felt like it was Christmas morning I was so excited to find out all of my soldier's information and begin writing to them.

I received my soldier's information 2 days later.  As soon as I got the email notification sent to my phone I opened it right away and read all of his information.  Obviously due to privacy rights and all, all I can say is his name is Will.  I finished the email with some basic facts on myself and questions for him and sent it off immediately.  After re-reading the email Adopt A US Soldier sent me it said that Internet can sometimes be spotty for soldiers so they might not receive emails right away.  Because I have the patience level of a 5 year old, I wrote a hand written letter to him yesterday.  This letter was a lot more detailed than my original email. Surprisingly I was able to fill the entire page with my letter (I can't remember the last time I wrote a hand written letter, let alone one that filled an entire page).

This morning I received an email response from Will.  I was so excited to open it up and read it.  We then  decided that talking via Facebook would be easier.  We were able to find each other and began getting to know each other.  From what I've gathered so far, he's a pretty awesome guy whose been fighting for our country for about 6 years and plans to sign up for another 6 years - whatta guy!  He's team leader in an infantry platoon line.  We've been sharing facts and stories about each other and it's been a lot of fun.  I know zero about the Army and all that it entails so it's great and fascinating to be able to talk to a soldier about it all.

I'm a couple days late but Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all the troops fighting for our country and to the Veterans who served also.  I'm honored to be a part of this program and to do what I can to keep him entertained on his breaks.  Luckily I like to talk, type, write, and email so he either really lucked out getting me as a pen pal or he's doomed.  

If you're bored or just looking for something nice to do like I was, read up and check out adopting a US soldier, it's easy!