UCONN V RUTGERS

What a game. We had the worst seats in the house (nosebleeds) and the best seats in the house (courtside) and were able to rotate between them. Overall a great night and great result. Awesome job by Gary to get the seats in the first place and good to see Kimmy, Ian and meet Rob. The pics explain the rest.

Rock Star!

So a few weeks ago we went over to our friends Lori and Nick's place to play Guitar Hero...As guitar hero virgins i was a little sceptical but Chris was ready to ROCK!! Chris was awesome of course and i made the band fail every time i picked up the guitar. So later that week Chris decided we needed to be able to ROCK whenever we wanted. One game and two guitars later we were trying to ROCK! However poor Chris was stuck with someone who lost their ROCK gene (that would be me!). Luckily, i have a friend who ROCKS 24/7...Kristy was happy to offer her ROCKING and came over to ROCK with Chris. After a little practice and a lot of concentrating i was able to ROCK a little.

OK so fast forward to last weekend...
Kristy (with the ROCK gene) and her boy toy (otherwise known as Sean) got Sing Star!! Now again i was nervous (due to my lack of the ROCK gene) but we went over to try it out. Apparently the ROCK gene is not related to the singing gene because I kicked butt!!! Everyone else did well too but really i was a star...

Good Times in the Cold Weather

You are all probably very concerned about our well being due to the record low temperatures and snow/ice/slush that we have had to endure...let me set your minds at rest....we are alive but barely!

Monday was the coldest day on record with a fantastic 8 degrees! Tuesday promised to be just as cold (and it was) but with the added joy of a snow/ice storm rolling into our area about 11 am and sticking around till about 10 am on Wednesday. In the midst of all that cold weather, snow and ice at around 3 pm on Tuesday one of the kids at my school thought it would be a good idea to pull the fire alarm. Which was wonderful because i was really thinking to myself how great it would be to stand outside in the cold, snow and ice with no jacket and a bunch of kids for 20 minutes and wait for the fire department to come and turn off the alarm! Good times....

Because Lauren Says So....

According to Lauren, we have been "tagged" and now are responsible for posting 5 random/weird facts about us and five places we want to see or want to see again. Chris isn't home so I will post some of mine and he will have to add some later!Weird/Random things about

Dani:
- I am an organizational freak when it comes to where i work (i.e.- my job, my kitchen and my make up) but a slob when it comes to everything else (i.e.- everywhere else in my house and my car!)- I really want a great dane but don't want their huge tail knocking everything over!
-My nick name is Dani because my dad really wanted a boy and started calling be Danny before i was born....he got stuck with a girl but kept the name!
- I can remember every face i meet but couldn't tell you any of their names.
Places Dani wants to go or wants to go back to:
- Great Barrier Reef, Australia (haven't been to)
-Chincoteague Island, Maryland (go back to...i want to see the ponies!)
- Darling Harbor, Sydney (go back to)
- A hut on a tropical island somewhere (haven't been)

Chris:
- I have a metal pin in my ankle which makes going through the metal detectors at the airport a new adventure every time we fly!
- I love cherries but hate everything that is cherry flavored
- I know that if a blue ringed octupus bites you in the shallow waters or rock pools of Australia you have about 3 minutes until you stop breathing.

Places:
- Wherever Dani is willing to go (usually means it has to be a 5 star hotel)
- Pyramids in Egypt (want to go)
- Japan (have been several times)
- Oklahoma (havent been but want to visit Brad, Lauren and B Shatz Jr.)
- Treviso (a little city outside of Venice where my dad was born and grew up)

Carpet Update!

It has now been about two weeks since we found out the carpet was coming a bit early. In that time we moved every piece of furniture we own out of the rooms being carpeted through the halls, down the stairs, out the front door and into the garage! It felt like we were moving again. We ripped up and rolled up all the carpet and then had to clean every room because the pad had disintegrated and left 1/2 inch coatings of dust over every floor. The carpet was delivered and took over 7 hours to install (but it looked amazing)! We then had to carry everything out of the garage, back through the front door, down the hallways and back up the stairs! While i had been able to help move the stuff out of the house i killed my back doing it so poor chris moved most of the stuff back in my himself and enlisted a little bit of help for the larger items.

At the end of it all, the house looks brand new! The color is exactly what we wanted, Cooper hasn't ruined it yet and the new carpet smell is fading!

Can't wait for you all to come see it ....just remember to take your shoes off!

Operation New Carpet

After a year of explaining to Chris the importance of new carpet, a few weeks ago we finally got around to ordering some. We were informed that we could save about $600 if we ripped up and threw away the carpet ourselves...which of course we agreed to! Based on the info they gave us when we bought the carpet, they shouldn't be installing it for another two week, however, surprise! It is being delivered on Tuesday! While that is fantastic news, it means we need to move all the furniture, rip up, roll up and get ride of four bedrooms and family room worth of carpet!! Add to this that we both are not only working this week but both days this weekend too!! So the super fun job of moving furniture, ripping and removing has started tonight....

Stay tuned... i'm sure there will be horror stories to follow....

Say Good Bye to the Blue Balled Hanuka Bush

That is not actually our tree (pictured with Chris and Cooper below), that was Lex and Josh's. We still had a little Blue Balled Christmas Tree (with a Hanuka theme). However, you will all be happy to know that after Christmas, when everything went on super sale, we purchased a pre-lit 7 foot tree (and all the trimmings) for 50% off! So the Jew in me got to save lots of money and Chris got his tree. Stay tuned for the next 11 months for pictures...

Xmas and New Years

Well a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks. Here are some of the highlights:
We spent time with our great friends Lex and Josh. Cooper and Hudson ran around all night and played (see the pics).









We went out for dinner on New Years Eve with Dani's parents, sister and her sisters boyfriend John (see pic).









Uconn beat Seton Hall in college hoops. We spent some time with our friends Lori and Nick but unfortunately didnt see Uconn beat Notre Dame. But at least Dani was inducted into the guitar hero Hall of Fame. Not really, but at least she looked cute while standing there trying to figure out how to press 3 buttons. We spent a lot of time around the house during the break and are now happy, healthy and ready to attack the new year.

Christmas Eve...Jew Style

I am Jewish...big shock, i know! So as a litle jew growing up in a world of christmas, there was never anything to do on christmas day. So all the jews go to the movies and for chinese food (those are the only things open on christmas day!). So afting marrying chris, and embrassing real christmas, i began to miss my jewish christmas!! So we turned christmas eve into a jewish christmas!

So last night i am happy to say, we went to the movies and saw the new National Treasure movie. It wasnt' bad and we had popcorn! (i love popcorn!!) then after the movie we went over to the best chinese food place ever!! it is a very over the top resturant with fish tanks, a gold ceiling and little chinese guys in tuxedos! the food was so bad for you and so good!!!

hope you are all enjoying your christmas traditions and see you in the new year!!

The Blogmaster speaks

"Let's do a blog Chris...just like Brad and Lauren...it is such a good idea...people can keep track of our lives....it will be so great....i will do all the posting.....omg i am sooo excited..."

That's the story of our blog
Here's the reality

"Chris i dont know how to upload the photos.....Chris the photos you uploaded, fixed and resized in another program wont "work" for me....Chris i wasnt really listening when you were trying to teach me how to do it myself.......Chris can you just put the photos up.....Chris can you also do the blog cause it doesnt seem to work when i do it."

So, after finally getting a moment to upload, resize etc and post here it is..... No thanks to Dani. Although she is in the latest photos so i guess she should get some credit for sitting there and looking beautiful and drinking wine and eating cake etc. etc.

Birthday Wishes!

I know we have been a little slack lately with the blog, so even though i haven't downloaded the pictures yet, i wanted to put up a posting!

I had a fantastic birthday last weekend thanks to efforts of Christopher! He arranged a wonderful dinner filled with all the things i love that i don't eat because they aren't good for me! He was able to get home before me and set the dining room table with my favorite wine and candles (which means we ate at a table and not on our laps in front of the TV like we do every other night!). He brought in my favorite Italian food and i am embarrassed to say i ate it all! He got a fantastic cake...my favorite kind- butter cream icing, white cake and strawberry filling!! YUMMY!!!! We caught up with Kristy and Sean for a bit and then had a early night! If the dinner and friends weren't enough, i had a great a day at school too... it was dress down day, there were presents and brownies with my students, and more presents and pudding pie with the girls (and guy) i work with! Kristy went above and beyond and got me a beautiful Swaroski bracelet, Kathy got me my favorite wine, my sister got me a super soft sweater that i love, my mommy promised to take me shopping and Chris got me a huge mirror for our room (which I've been asking for!) and the wine glasses i wanted from pier one!!! He also had beautiful flowers sent to school and took care of all the dishes and cleaning that weekend! The celebration continued Saturday with another great meal out with my parents and then Sunday it snowed and i didn't have to teach Hebrew school!

All and all a fantastic birthday filled with loved ones, super presents and great food! What more could i want?

Recent Events

Well, a lot has happened since our last blog.....Thanksgiving, Our good friends Lauren and Brad finally had their baby and Dani's mom's birthday.
So first things first a big congrats to Our Okie friends Lauren and B-rad for bringing Ben into the world. It was nice of them to bring him in 9 days after Chris' bday and 11 days before Dani's so that his birthday will fall almost exactly between both of us.
Also, a great thanksgiving followed by Dani's moms birthday celebrations. It should be noted that Cooper spent much of his time during these festivities in his Uconn sweater by the window, ferociously guarding us so we wouldnt be disturbed!
Below are a few happy snaps for you to enjoy from the above mentioned festivities.

Coopers new favorite sweater Bday Celebration

Thanksgiving with Grandma/pa

The best guard dog ever

Chris' Birthday!

Chris also celebrated a birthday a few days ago! We haven't done birthday presents in years because we have always been saving up to do something (trips to Australia, buying a house...you know...) but this year we said "Screw It!" and decided to go all out on the presents. Cooper and i surprised Chris with a home theater for his big TV. We also made him double chocolate fudge brownies!

Halloween

Listen people....things have been very busy...I know we aren't having a baby like some people, but we still have a lot going on in good old New Jersey!! I guess basically what it comes down to is Chris is the one who knows how to download the pictures onto our computer, resize them and put them on the blog (i sort of know how to but i really have to think hard and no one likes having to do that....). And it is now college basketball season and let me honest, that is more important than the blog!

Even though we are well past Halloween, i am going to share some of the photos from our school Halloween Parade. Last year Kristi and I purchased bumble bee outfits because they were the ones we could find that were school appropriate. Apparently, that isn't a problem any more because no one worries about being school appropriate! We actually had three students who we had to cover up because their costumes were so inappropriate! When I was in 5th grade, I was a baby and I wore a giant one-piece with feet!!! What is wrong with America?!? Why do 10 year olds need to dress as Evil Devil fairies with corsets, fishnets and their butts hanging out??? To top that, we had two teens at the house that night that were trick-or-treating without costumes and smoking!!! I told them that if they were old enough to smoke (which they weren't) then they were too old to go trick-or-treating....and his response "I'm younger than I look!"...Jerk!

Enough of my ranting...here are the photos from school and one of cooper with the little pumpkin he likes to carry around the house!