I have my piano! I grew up playing this piano, but ever since I moved out of my parents house, they've just had it tucked away in a spare room snice no one else plays it. Now that I finally have enough room for it, we had it delivered the other day. It's fun to play again, even if I am a bit rusty!

As soon as you walk into our house, this room is immediately on the right. Now that the piano is in there, we can figure out what else we're going to do with walls! I'd love to make built in bookcases/cabinets for both sides of the piano. (Especially since we have such high ceilings- 9ft!) I'll just add that to our "project" list and maybe eventually we'll get around to it!

We woke up this morning at 4:30am to a wicked thunderstorm. There was no way we could fall back asleep with how loud the thunder was, so we opened our blinds and watched the storm. About 15 minutes into it, I saw I think the brightest flash of lightning I've ever seen. Then next thing we know, about 300-400 yards away from our house (or something like that - I'm not good with distances), just over a tree line came a huge billow of black smoke and a fire ball rushed up behind the tree line. Crazy! So we called 911 to report the fire, and we were put on HOLD! Seriously, since when does 911 put people on hold? Luckily someone else must have gotten through because a few minutes later fire trucks arrived. But I was shocked that we sat there on hold with 911. I'm just glad it was the trees and not someones house that caught fire, so no one was hurt. Wow. What a morning!

This past weekend was my friends bachelorette party which was a blast! We started out at the spa where she got the full treatment...massage, facial, mani and pedi. I even treated myself to a facial as well which was heavenly!

Then it was back to her sis-n-laws for dinner/games/drinks. She has an awesome rooftop deck that overlooks Baltimore. We had crab cakes, salad and sangria. Yum!

Group shot on the rooftop

Then out to the bars! Check out these syringe style jello shots!

The first place we stopped at was a dueling piano bar which was actually really neat. I had never been to one before but it was actually really entertaining!

Night of bar hopping and dancing = all our heels ending up in the middle of the floor at the last bar. haha. Good times!

We have been doing so much yardwork lately that we decided we needed to take a break this weekend! Saturday night we had some friends over, (which I neglected to get my camera out for - I hate when I do that!) and then on Sunday we treated the pups to an afternoon at the doggie beach in Annapolis. We had Max to a dog beach in Cali when we first got him, but we've never had Willow in the water.

It was HOT out! At 11am I checked weather.com and it said it was 89 but felt like 97. Yuck! Needless to say, the beach was crowded with lots of pups trying to cool off.

Max had a ball chasing after the other dogs along the shoreline.

But Willow was a little water shy and opted for a nice shady spot under a tree.


So, Matt decided to try to coax her in on the leash.

And it worked! Go Willow, go!

Max however was another story when Matt took him further out. Have you ever met a dog that didn't know how to doggie paddle? Well, meet Max! He was HILARIOUS! Instead of just doggie paddling, he would HOP in and out of the water to get back to the shore.

hop up

and down

back up

and back down. Oh Max, maybe next time you'll figure it out!
Me and the pups taking a break for a minute in the shade of the car before heading home.

And one of the best parts of the day, a roadside fresh produce stand where we picked up some local corn on the cob to have with dinner tonight. Yum!

The other weekend when my parents came to help with our fence, they brought their two dogs. Instead of them having to lug along their dog crates, we have two extra so I just set them up. (When we flew the pups across country we had to buy two special 'airline approved' crates) After my parents left last weekend I still haven't taken the time to carry the crates back down to the basement. Well I was walking down the hallway this afternoon and this is how I found Willow!

She loves to watch out windows so I guess this was a great new "perch" for her to watch the construction going on next door. That window gets good sunlight so she then laid her head down for a bit and napped in the sun. Silly dog!

I love the fact that being on the east coast, I am now "relatively" close to some old friends! With Kim's wedding only 5 weeks away, she needed some help with some favors, programs, place cards, etc. So it was off to Philly for the weekend!

our workstation

me and Kim!


the finished favor!

And of course a trip to Philly would not be complete without a cheesesteak. Although the 'famous' places known for cheesesteaks are Pat's or Geno's, Kim and Andy (her fiance) swear by this place called Dalessandros. (http://www.dalessandros.com/) I don't have much to compare it to but it was pretty darn good! (picutre courtesy of their website since I didn't take my camera to lunch)

Then on Sunday I got back just in time for Matt to have dinner ready for me. Eggplant, asparagus, and mashed red potatoes. And a glass of white wine. What a good hubby ;) YUM!