Archive for the 'Fun' Category
Marathon Parties
Marathon Parties are one of my favorite types of parties to throw and attend. When we first moved to Hartford, mile 24 of the full marathon passed right by our home. We invited friends over and had a blast yelling and making noise to support the runners for a few hours that morning.
Sadly, race organizers changed the route. The runners were apparently dissatisfied with the course passing the finish line at mile 20 (too demoralizing) and weaving through the West End (prefer longer straightaways) among other things. So we adapted our marathon weekend celebration to include participating in the half-marathon.
Last year the route for the half marathon was changed again, separating it from the full marathon. There are now more opportunities than ever for homeowners to throw a marathon party – check out the current routes for the full and half to see if anyone you know lives along a route.
Marathon organizers made an effort to reach out to residents along the route this year. This year’s slogan seems to be the ever popular “More Cowbell!” so they passed out little cowbells door-to-door. They have also put up lots of signs at intersections so residents will hopefully be prepared for the traffic impact of closing roads.
Hopefully if you live on the route you know that this coming Saturday morning (October 15, 2011) is going to be more exciting than most. Now it’s time to take the next step – invite some friends and have a party! And even if you don’t live on the route, there’s nothing wrong with encouraging friends who do to throw a party. Think of it like a tailgate if you like. Some would argue that it’s a little early for beer and smoked meat, but they would be wrong.
Strange Litter
We live in a very walkable neighborhood, which means that people tend to walk past our house. We also live on a corner lot, about a block away from a school, which means that lots of people walk past our house on a daily basis. One of the unfortunate realities of high-pedestrian-traffic areas is litter. We don’t receive an overwhelming amount on our property, but it’s not uncommon to find something in the grass. We deal with it – it’s fine.
Yesterday we found a very strange thing. It was a big blue and white ball that little kids often play with. Most surprisingly, it was inside our fence.
Where did it come from? Why was it here? This seems like something people might notice is missing.
Our only theory is that someone thought it was ours and left it here on purpose. We have a very similar blue and white ball in plain sight on our front porch, which Ellen will sometimes play with in the yard. She actually took the new ball in stride, calmly declaring that there were now two balls; one, two. She didn’t want to play with them yesterday – it was a chalk coloring day – but I have no doubt they’ll get some use in the future.
The mystery ball is not the strangest litter we have found in the yard. Earlier this summer I found a glass of what appeared to be soda sitting on the curb. It was a normal looking dining glass like you would use when you had company, mostly full, and still bubbling. That one mystified me. Again, it was something that people would presumably miss. I put it up high to advertise its location and it disappeared within a day. Perhaps a neighbor came out to chat with someone who was parked on the side of the street? I just don’t know.
Restoration Hardware Fall 2011 Source Book
Kyle brought in the mail yesterday and he set a big book down on the dining room table. I wondered- did my book club order arrive from Amazon already? Speedy service, I just placed it yesterday.
No. It was the Restoration Hardware Fall 2011 Source Book. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything quite like it as far as a store catalog goes. It’s 615 pages. I’m not kidding. It’s heavy. I weighed it. It’s three pounds. No, really, it is. How much does it cost to mail three pounds to thousands and thousands of people? And how many trees does it kill?
The perplexing thing to me is that the only items I’ve ever purchased from Restoration Hardware are stocking stuffers and ornaments around the holiday time. We’ve never bought furniture, lamps, draperies or anything of significant value from them. So why are they sending us this ginormous catalog? Shouldn’t they reserve this for their best customers?
Who else received this monstrosity? What are your thoughts on it? Ours is going in the recycle bin. It scares me.
Technology, Real Estate and Me
Note: This post is written by the Luddite, Amy.
I’m of the generation that started using computers in grammar school. I died more than once from dysentery while playing Oregon Trail. I’m sure many of you fine readers suffered similar fates. After college I worked for IT consulting firms. Again, surrounded by technology. I used to transfer data from legacy computer systems to whatever new, spiffy software my company was installing. Thrilling, I know.
Today I continue to find myself inundated with technology. My laptop for all of my everyday work. My smart phone (currently a Droid 2-something-or-other) for talking, emailing, texting and surfing the web while I’m on the go. And most recently, an iPad2. I’ve lovingly named it Tiny.
Kyle convinced me that we needed the iPad for business stuff. I’m not going to tell you for what exactly because that’s strategic voodoo and many of our competitors read this blog, so I can’t be letting them in on the goods. Let’s just say he had a compelling argument on why we should have one. So I sent him off to the store to make the purchase. My only input was to demand the sky blue colored cover rather than the apple green one he proposed.
Maybe there is something wrong with me (and I’ve been told by several that there is), but I really have no interest in the latest addition to our family. Tiny, while cute, small and light has no draw for me. I shudder when I look at it. Another device and technology to learn- I’ve been a Microsoft girl since undergrad, some 17 years ago. Another time suck. My laptop and phone seem to do everything that it does. Why the redundancy?
Urgh. I’m all about technology and my job, but it’s getting to a point where I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. I need to keep up with my various devices. I need to keep up with Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, and Google+ (does it even exist anymore? I just don’t know…).
When can I go back to doing my job? After I learn how to use Tiny to make me “better” at my job, I guess… Thanks Kyle!
GHREB, Where Have You Been?
We’ve been a little quiet over here at the GHREB during July and August. So what exactly have we been up to?
1. Lots of work. Stressful work. The market is a little crazy right now and people are being cranky. More about that in an upcoming post this week.
2. Indoor projects around our house. Amy has been up painting late in the night again. The bright pink back stairway is now gone. Two bedrooms have been painted. Things are looking fresh and clean. Benjamin Moore is richer as a result.
3. Outdoor projects around our house. We had a big rotting tree taken down. We’re having some new fencing put up. We’ve planned some new gardens.
4. More work.
5. Evening trips to the beach. The Bergquist family is what you would call pale. We don’t do well in the sun. But we still like the beach. Well, Amy and Ellen do. So we make early evening trips down to Hammonasset and spend about an hour or two once the sun has retreated somewhat. And then Amy gets to eat fried clams. All is happy when Amy gets fried clams.
6. Planning our house’s 100 Year Birthday Celebration which will take place in September. So there, Hartford Preservation Alliance!
We’ll be back to more dedicated blogging in the upcoming weeks as summer winds down. We hope you had an enjoyable summer too. What have you been up to?