#39 Friend

Karen: I almost chose the same picture as Cassie!! But Wednesday (humpday) was Amy's birthday. I was so happy to finally be able to celebrate her bday with her after so many years of living away from one another! We went to Astoria, Queens and had a fantastic dinner with lots of friends...we also drank lots of Prosecco (cause it was her champagne birthday!! (29 on the 29th))

Cassie: I couldn't just pick one this week :) I feel very lucky to have so many great close friends. When I tell people I keep in touch with my High School friends people are shocked. We try to get at least one big trip together in each year, and this year we were able to all be together at the US Open.

#38 State of the Closet

Karen: I am very proud that we have been able to clean out multiple closets in the house. This one is in our bedroom (that used to be my brother's room) We bought a cheap organizer to maximize the space. It's working somewhat but we still have some rearranging to do before everything has a final resting place :)

Cassie: You can kind of tell that this is my sweater shelf. I am ready for fall weather and getting cozy in my sweaters. After taking this picture I can see that I need to get a little more colorful like my spring cardi's. Thanks to my shopping fairy I got a great blue sweater from a cool shop in Philly this weekend :)

#37 My Front Door

Karen: Lots of home pictures the past few weeks....so this is where I am currently residing- back at "home" with my parents. It's nice to have a big house again and space to move around!


Cassie: I am so happy that this topic came up after our homeowner board finally allocated dollars to paint our house. The front door looks a lot better...wish my plant did for the photo op!

#36- My Favorite Spot at Home

Karen: This is the center of my house. From this point there is an entrance to the kitchen, the living room, stairs going up and stairs going down. This room used to be carpeted which made it the perfect spot to lay on the floor and be in the middle of all the action. My brother and I did this often and Lucy also used to love this spot. Now it is hardwood so not as comfortable but there is an area rug not to far away in the living room which we have all migrated to. I still love being there and hanging out with the fam :)

Cassie: I had a hard time deciding on my favorite spot at home. I determined that the living room is currently my favorite due to the massive amounts of US Open tennis I have been watching. We have several comfortable seating options and our 'coffee table' has a nice soft pillow top that its great to rest your feet.

#35 - My Bed

Karen: I was a little worried about this week's topic until my bed actually made it into the room. Tim and I have a king size bed and my parents were convinced it wouldn't be able to fit up the stairs. They were wrong!!! Little by little we are settling in to our new home in NJ. (I'm a little afraid for when Cassie heads back to NC and there's no escape from my parents!) Lucy loved this week's topic as well because I let her jump on the bed for a short moment to snap this picture- let's hope I didn't give her the wrong impression that she's actually allowed to do this a regular basis!


Cassie: I thought about changing the topic so I didn't have to take this picture this week. I am home visiting the fam in NJ. When I come home I bunk with my baby brother. I made my bed because I always do. Its something I started in HS, because I couldn't start my homework until my room was neat, it was distracting. I obviously don't still do homework in my bedroom(s), but it makes the room look nice. (When you read this make sure that you say the 'but it makes the room look nice' is a jerz accent)

#34 - Sunlight

Karen: We finally made it home to NJ and there has been no Sunshine! Since we came on Sunday there has been nothing but rain. This balloon however was waiting for us on the front porch to welcome us home. When I come and go from the house it's a reminder as to how much we were missed while we were gone and how happy everyone is to have us home.

Cassie: If you are checking this post after Sunday night, this is a new picture. I was not happy with my original picture, and this is how I wanted to picture sunlight when I saw this week's topic. My wish was granted on my drive home to New Jersey and I had to update the blog. I think it came out pretty good since I was driving and going about 70 MPH. When I think of sunglight I think of when the light is broken up from the cloud like this picture. My baby brother when he was really little said that this looks like God. I agree with him.

PS: I saw the balloon at Karen's house...its still there!

#33 Road Sign

Karen: I saw a lot of road signs on our 3300 mile trip home....but this one was by far my favorite! This was outside a little souvenir shop near Devil's Tower in Wyoming (you can see the tower in the background) This shop had lots of random stuff but the cashier looked at Tim and I like we were aliens when we asked if she had any fresh flowers. (we were going to a friend's house and didn't want to show up empty handed) The town was also FULL of Sturgis motorcyclists which made the trip interesting as well.

Cassie: Recently there have been several traffic circles put in around our neighborhood. Being from NJ they are not new to me, but people around here aren't used to them at all. Its actually kind of scary, people def aren't going 15 MPH as the sign says. The circle by the NC State Bell Tower is two lanes but the circle is so small there is no time to get over into the right lane in time before the turn. The city of Raleigh should have consulted me during the design :)

#32 Milk Carton

Karen: So not a traditional milk carton- but it has to come from the cows first! Tim and I are in Greybull, WY now in route across the country and there isn't much here other than cows!
On a side note- the trip is going great and we have seen some amazing sites...and there are many more to come!

Cassie: I know I am showing off that I recycle but I feel more green when we get milk from Mapleview Farms. It's old school in the glass bottle and the milk is really good. They sell their milk at the Teeter and the new ice cream shop Fresh. in north Raleigh. All this milk talk is putting me in the mood for some chocolate chip cookies :P

#31 My Favorite Store

Karen: My shopping days have been curbed lately due to lack of funds. We are trying to save as now Tim and I are both unemployed until we get to NJ and find new jobs. BUT I cannot get rid of my addiction to coffee and the wonderful espresso shops that surround me. Here is my absolute favorite: Wake Up Call. The building itself is what first drew me in. The whole place is a big old school phone booth. I just love cute and ingenious ideas. And the coffee and sales girls are great too!!!

Cassie: It was pretty strange to go to Target this evening and not buy anything. I did return some items. I am a bit of a guilty shopper. I am scared that Target might have me on a blacklist of crazy returners, but they haven't declined my credit card yet! You need anything? I am heading to Target to pick up a few things...

#30 Messy

Karen: OK so which mess do I choose to document? There are many surrounding me right now. I am not a messy person, but with less than 2 weeks before the big move back east we have started packing up many things and leaving some messy, yet organized piles around the apartment.

And, yes, as good as those oysters were they were a big mess for Cassie! Poor girl!

Cassie: Who would have thought that this topic would have caused me such stress. I am quite a neat person and I couldnt think of anything that was messy today. I make my bed before work each day, I put my dishes in the dishwasher after I use them, I put clothes away and clean my kitchen floor quite often because its white. I was able to see Karen this weekend in Seattle and we enjoyed, with others, about 6 dozen happy hour oysters at Elliot's. Needless to say it was messy after....

#29 Water

Karen: Here a few shots from my adventure yesterday afternoon with Tim. We went to Coeur d'Alene Lake for the afternoon and went para sailing for the first time! I was a little nervous at first but it is actually a quite enjoyable experience. It is really peaceful and quiet up there about 400+ feet in the air. It was really nice to look around and view our surroundings from an entirely new perspective.


Cassie: Water is def necessary when the weather is 99 degress out with a heat index of 106 and working out. There are no excuses for Christmas Fitness :)

#28 8PM Local Time

Karen: I laughed so hard after I took my picture and went to upload it here and saw Cassie's picture. Are we pathetic that we both took pictures of TV shows? What's even more pathetic is that I have Big Brother DVR'd so that I can watch BOTH shows. I do love SYTYCD though. It's probably one of my favorite shows on television now. I wish it was on back in the day when I was a dancer and I may have pushed myself even harder so that I could possibly be on it. But, alas, now I am too old and too out of shape! I may however get back to my dancing roots this fall when I move back to NJ. (thinking about taking the adult classes at AEDE!!)

Cassie: I have never been a real fan of 'reality' shows, but I strangly like Big Brother. This love only started last summer with the introduction from ZD. I have always hated how American Idol made people commit for several days, but during the summer there is nothing else on tv so I am okay with it for BB. As I am sitting here, I am thinking that I do love more reality shows than I originally thought. I get into these shows later on, but I have always wanted to apply to the Amazing Race. And guilty of The Hills, but not since LC left and The City....haha I could probably list more ;)

#27 The Sky

Karen: Here I am up in the sky on our way back from Portland yesterday. Right out side my window was Mt. St. Helens. I really don't like flying at all but you have to be amazed when you see things like this.
Mount St. Helens is most famous for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am which was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. The eruption caused a massive debris avalanche, reducing the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft to 8,365 ft and replacing it with a 1 mile wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles in volume. (info taken from Wikipedia)

Cassie: I love taking pictures of the sky and clouds. I wasnt able to get a sunset pic like I really wanted, it was too hazy out. That could be due to the 100 plus temps today. The summer nights are so peaceful, lazy its my favorite time of year. I love listening to the sound of secetas.

#26 Laundry

Karen: We don't have a laundry room- more like a laundry closet. So over the the past couple of years we have somewhat lacked in our organization of laundry. Instead of putting the dirty clothes in this nicely labeled basket they just form a pile on the bedroom floor. Then when the laundry is finished it is piled on the over sized chair in the living room until it is folded and placed on the ottoman. Then, it maybe gets put away before the next load is piled on top of it.

Cassie: Since our washing machine is located in the kitchen, the dinning room has become the laundry room. If you stop by on laundry day you will see shirts hanging from the chandelier, pants on each chair, and the clothes piled high on the table!

#25 Art

Karen: Nothing makes me smile more than the natural creativeness of a child. My friend came into the restaurant the other night with her 7 year old daughter and she was able to sit for hours with blank paper and crayons. These are 2 of my favorites she made for me, but there are a ton more! Art is anything that comes from the heart, created by someone for the enjoyment of someone else- and that's exactly what these pictures are for me.

Cassie: Well this is my Art...having bare walls but not being rich I wanted something original and cool but obviously didn't cost too much. I have been able to get some pretty good supplies from Michale's (a craft store). With an idea and an afternoon I have been able to decorate my house pretty nicely. I did the deer head a few years ago. The leaves took a few years to get the right idea and follow through with it. I have another painting in mind, if you get the theme its going to be another simple silhouette. I am able to free hand pretty good and color in the lines :)

#24 Key Chain

Karen: So before I took this picture I never realized how much crap I don't use is on my keychain. First there's the bottle opener...honestly if you asked me if I had a bottle opener and my keys were in my pocket- I would say no. I didn't even know it! Then there's all the bar code tabby things....don't even know what stores I have on there and quite frankly I don't use any of them. I also have my car unlock thingy that hasn't worked in about 2 years or more....guess I can take that off too. The COACH keychain I do like though. I received it from a family friend for a graduation present (honestly I couldn't tell you if it was high school or college) but I know I've had it for a long time. It actually unclips and is a picture frame inside. I have never put anything in the sleeves though....oh well. I think I'm gonna go unclutter my keychain now. :)

Cassie: My brother got me this key chain for Christmas this year and I love it. There is a valet key ring that I put my house key on. Its great to pop in my pocket if I am going for a walk or strolling around the village.

#23 Love

Karen: Ok so I added 2 pics....The first one is of my parents on their wedding day October 6th, 1970....the second from my wedding day July 3rd 2008. Weddings of course symbolize love and the first thing I think of when discussing love is my husband. As we approach our second anniversary I can only hope we make it to 40 like my parents have and even longer! I feel like we are a minority to some degree, both coming from families of still married parents...Tim's parents will celebrate their 49th anniversary the day before ours!

Cassie: Love comes in all forms and my boyfriend shows me love in many ways. He and some buddies helped take down and put up the new microwave in our kitchen. It wasn't easy and it took a few hours but I really love it and it looks awesome.

#22 My Shoes

Karen: Sorry I'm late on my post.... I've actually been packing up some of my shoes for the anticipated move back home...I don't think I'll need my winter boots anymore! So these are my classic black Stuart Weitzman pumps. They were actualty my mother's from her NYC working days. It goes to show you how well a good pair of shoes can last the test of time. I firmly believe that it's ok to spend a little more $$ for shoes. They are usually more comfortable the more you spend and the better quality so that they last longer. Too bad I'm cheap and poor so I have to steal them from my mom!!

Cassie: My shoes, just like everything else, is organized. I am such a neat freak that sometimes I need to just make a mess to be more normal. My favorite are always in view and my latest pair is super comfortable and pretty stylish. Everytime I wear them I am looking at them a lot hehe. I love shoes but I ensure that all are great looking but still comfortable. I think that I am more aware of this when I get shoes now, cause if they aren't comfortable to wear I dont wear them. I mainly wear rainbow sandles all summer and my frye cowboy boots all winter or when it rains out. I hate wet toes!

#21 Brushing My Teeth

Karen: So Tim said I need to be more creative with
my posts....of course he chooses "brushing my teeth" as the week to start the challenge. Well here I am "brushing" my "teeth" :)

Cassie: I was not so creative, but currently there are 4 toothbrushes and 2 types of toothpaste for 2 people on our sink. I think its funny :)

#20 Green

Karen: Tim and I went exploring this past weekend and went into the mountains and found a beautiful spot. There's a winery and cafe there and lots of open land to picnic and relax. We walked around for a bit but couldn't enjoy it to the fullest because I had to get to work. I can't wait to go back there this Saturday, however, when we will relax all day for my birthday!!!


Cassie: I won some 'green' today while in Las Vegas on my layover.