Surpise 30th

The Donadio's were able to keep it a secret and Christine was certainly surprised as she walked into a room filled with friends and family to celebrate her 30th birthday. We had a blast seeing everyone and celebrating, well worth the trip down. Happy Birthday Chris!

_ of 1500: The Higher Ground and JDK book

"_ of 1500" is a 112 page book that documents the show posters created by JDK for Higher Ground. This was the final project I worked at while at JDK and it is the piece I am most proud of. I was the account manager on about half of the posters and about 20 were created for Conscious Alliance food drives we ran. The book uses the posters from JDK and photography of Rick Levinson to tell the ten year history of the areas best venue for shows. Order one up today, as the name indicates, there are only 1500, each cover is individually screen-printed and numbered, just like the posters.

Art Hop

The South End Art Hop was last night. We spent most of the night at JDK and Pursuit. It's only been two weeks, but it was nice to be back and see everyone. The show at JDK was a launch for the Higher Ground/ JDK book "_ 0f 1500" a ten year history of Higher Ground through the posters of JDK and photography of Rick Levinson (more on that later). It was also the final show at Pursuit as Seth and Skye are moving to a new space. Walking home we hit a few more shows. The event itself is amazing, you have thousands of people wondering up and down Pine st. enjoying art and partying. Can't wait until next year.

Party of the summer

Last night Stacy and John had a big party at their house down in Waterbury. I think it might have been the party of the summer. A Dead cover band, a couple kegs, huge BBQ, killer bonfire, some fireworks, one of the best views in VT, and we think Isabel may have fallen in love. She was flirting all night with a black lab named Oli. Thanks for having us down, we'll be back in about a month for the wedding.

Season three ends.

We lost in the playoffs last night. We played well, but they played better. Darren put it best:

Well, that was disappointing. But we gave it a good fight. The Boot is tough. A lot of good competition in the league this year. We set the standard and others are now catching up.

A quick history: last year, we were clearly the best team and lost in a fluke of a final; the first year, we were clearly the best team and romped through the entire season before taking the championship.

I have to say, I think we were beaten by a better team yesterday. There’s no shame in that, no criticism of us, either. We’re one of the elites, the only team to have made the playoffs every year of the league’s existence. Plus, we had to play out the end of the season without Coach Curley (and his game-changing speed) on the field.

That’s all right. Better yet, Miya is all right. That was a scary moment. I’ll be honest, when I saw her down I didn’t care about the game. The way we rallied around her, and Glenn (in our opening huddle), brought home again that the best part about kickball is all of you.

So, enjoy the offseason. Let’s come back next year and live up to our Go-Go legacy. Let’s kick some serious ass.

And I bid you good night...

After six years (20% of my life), Thursday was my last day at JDK. I'm very excited to move on, but I will truly miss working there. It has been an amazing experience.

Kate and Ryan's wedding

Kate and Ryan were married in Harvard, MA on Saturday night. They had a beautiful ceremony, amazing food, and rockin' music (a New Orleans style brass band). We even got to bunk up that night, hostel style. It was great to see them, and meet new people. Also a big bonus for me is that we were sitting at a table with a bunch of people who work at NPR, so we had a lot to talk about.

Mike Gordon at the Waterfront

We saw Mike Gordon play a free show at waterfront park Friday night. We had a little BBQ gathering at Shannon and Benjamin pre-show and then walked down. Page came out for a very cool version on Makisupa and they ended the set with a Meat. Overall it was a rocking show. Mike's on tour now, and it is certainly worth checking this band out.

Feist on Sesame Street

This one goes out to Felix. Apparently being a kids is really hot these days (big in Japan).

Home Improvements-

before
















after

Last week we had new windows and a new front door put in. We are quite pleased with the result. It was tough to part with the decorative glass on the front door, but we are surviving. We are trying to decide what color to paint our front door. Ideas?? Suggestions?? We have a couple ideas, but I won't reveal them as I don't want to influence other people's creative process.

Not that it's a contest...

but, the Roesch's are making us look like slackers when it comes to blog posting. We joined them this weekend in Stonington for lobster day, but unlike them, we took almost no photos (except for the cool sky picture below). Despite our lack of photos, we had a blast hanging out with family, playing with all the kids, eating clams and lobsters, and introducing Isabel to the family (as usual, she was awesome). Isabel's new pink red sox collar got mixed reviews; it was funny to see a couple yankees fans get upset when they realized it wasn't just a cute pink collar, but it was decorated with red sox logos. HeHe! Isabel's collar was not the only red sox/yankees conflict of the weekend... poor Joan is trying to figure out what to do with her seven year old son, who recently, after a lifetime of cheering on the yankees decided to be a red sox fan to impress a cute girl who lives next door. Joan, a Bronx native, is devastated with her traitor son. Jay, though delighted to have another fan on his side, couldn't quite wrap him mind around how hard that must be on a mother (or father). All in all we had a great time.

In other news, Jay had shoulder surgery on Monday and is busy getting better. Today has been the toughest day so far. He's in a fair amount of pain, but is hanging in there. He is sporting a pretty fancy sling (seen below), otherwise known as the ultra-sling 2000. I've been playing nurse for the past three days, and I have to admit that I will happily be returning to work tomorrow. Nursing is not really my specialty, but after three days, I have been able to master a pretty awesome milk shake recipe. Luckily, Jay has his mom to take care of him for the next couple days while I am at work.

Ang and Jimmy's wedding

After three years of being engaged, Ang and Jimmy tied the knot on Saturday in West Hartford. It was well worth the wait. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was rockin', and Pete's after party was, as Pete would say, "bangin'". Highlights include spending some quality time with old friends, Ramble on Rose sign along, the burger from Pete late night. Above all, it was great to see Ang and Jimmy so happy, and so in love. More photos here. Or check out the slide show below.

Coleman

Swimming at the crooked path

It was hot yesterday. We headed down to Kim's cabin, the crooked path, for a little swim. Isabel went for it. After being a little scared, she was back and forth, in and out of the water swimming all around.

Welcome Brody

Laura and Jerry, welcome to the world of dog's and blogs. For those interested, check it all out here:
http://mulcahyblog.blogspot.com/

Beer is Good!

Friday night marked our third celebration of the brew-fest. I was a bit grumpy at the start but I quickly remembered that the brew fest is one of my favorite summer events. It always seems like it is a lot of money for not that much beer and then somehow ten drink tickets turn into way more than ten beers and lots of laughs. It becomes a fun game to see which vendors take the tickets and which ones don't. My past two years of research proved that it is much easier for girls to get away with getting beer for nothing...not this year! Jay was better at the game than the rest of us. It was a blast!

Let's go Lake Monsters!

Last Wednesday we headed to the Lake Monster's game with the Good Idea Society.
Maegen spent a lot of time with Champ (the mascot). I'm not saying I'm suspicious or jealous, but something might be up. If anyone sees them out around town together, let me know.

Isabel loves Felix too!

Surprisingly enough, it has taken over a month for either Jay or I to post something combining our two favorite subjects: Isabel and Felix. That's quite impressive if I do say so myself. Anyway, Shannon brought Felix over last weekend with the hope that getting out of the house might help him to stop crying. I guess his nickname as of late it fussy pants Felix, though he wasn't too fussy while at our house. Isabel was just as excited about the visit as Jay and I. She was so awesome with him. She was really curious and really excited to meet him... I've never seen her tail wag so fast. She was excited but she was also appropriately calm and mellow with him. It's like she instinctually knew that she was supposed to be gentle. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm smitten with both of them, so maybe it's not as cool as I think.

Totally Fine

About four years ago I was on a Merrell photoshoot and I grabbed the camera and jumped around some rocks. Merrell has finally done something with the footage. It's up on youtube and on Merrell Facebook page. Here it is, for your enjoyment:

Goats, Land, Fire, America

Thursday night we headed up to the top of a hill in Central Vermont where our friend Neil just bought 120 acres and is going to build a barn/home. The plan was to camp out, have a bonfire and light off some fireworks. We arrived about an hour before Neil. He has two insane goats living up there that we battled for an hour before tying them up. Neil lit a big brush fire to help burn all the brush, it was pretty intense. Long story short, I hate goats, the mini-van did not survive the trip and is now officially dead, and I spent a lot of time in the back of a pickup truck. It really was a good time. The next day we went to the Warren 4th of July parade. I'll wait for the pics to tell that story. Happy Birthday America.