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The Suprise Guest

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My husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary over this past weekend. The day before our actual anniversary we invited a group of friends over for a party. And we had a surprise guest!    It was a relatively nice day out. It was warm enough for need to wear a sleeveless shirt. (Summer’s not official over yet!) I was hopeful that we could have the gathering in our backyard. (It is so much easier than having people inside the house.) There were a few clouds and a threat of rain late in the evening, but I was feeling good about the day.    It was so nice that hours before the party was scheduled to begin we were sitting in the backyard. It was too good of a day to hide out inside! About an hour or so before the party was to begin, my husband looked over the gate on the west side of the yard (we have a fence that surrounds our backyard with 3 gates; one of the east side of the, one on the north and one of the west) and saw something. Standing atop the gate was a c...
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Thoughts 25 years later

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Photos from the morning of 9/11/2001 It's been 25 years since 9/11 happened. It didn't just happen to New York. It didn't happen to Washington, DC. It didn't happen to Pennsylvania. It happened in all those places, but it happened to all of us. And when I say all of us I don't just mean America. It happened to the world. The ENTIRE world.  It was an attack on America, but it hurt more than just this country.  It’s damaged echoed throughout the every corner. It may have opened the eyes of the world a little bit, but often I think that those open eyes have to include shut. However, that's just my opinion.   And this blog post today it is all about my opinion. It reflects what I feel 25 years later. You may agree with what I say or you may disagree. I hope however that we can all agree that what happened 25 years ago should never be forgot.   I have blogged previously about where I was and what I was doing on 9/11/2001, so I won't get into that again. You want...
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30

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My husband and I will be celebrating 30th anniversary this weekend. For our 30th it would have been nice to take a vacation somewhere, however that’s not happening. I think back on all the wonderful anniversary trips we've taken over the years and I miss them but... Instead we are having a party.  (Not quite a trip to Walt Disney World, but…)  It got me to thinking about our wedding 30 years ago. There were about 100 people or so at our wedding (I wasn’t in charge of the guest list) which I know is not a lot. However, when I think back, I think of all the people who there who are no longer with us. People who are important to me at the time but are no longer part of my life.  So forgive me for being a little maudlin. The most obvious being my parents. The wedding was really my mom's domain. She and my father arranged for the venue (the yacht club that they belonged to; at the time it was really just a small building with the deck), she arranged the flowers (I don’t e...
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My Cousin's Getting Married!

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My cousin is getting married this upcoming weekend. My anniversary is on the 13th, and my cousin is getting married on the 12th. I am attending the wedding on the 11th. Does that make sense? Doesn't sound like it but it's true! Let me explain.    My cousin and her older sister (who I have never met), live on the other side of the world. Her father, who was my mother's first cousin, was born and raised in New Jersey. Her mother was born and raised in England. My cousin and her sister were born in Australia where her parents decided to put down roots. Hence, she is getting married on Saturday the 12th September and I will watch her, by live stream, get married late in the evening on the 11th. Kind of weird, but also kind of cool.   But let me tell you more about my amazing cousin. (She is an incrediblehuman being!) I'd say she's my favorite cousin, but I have a lot of favorites.  (I don't have that many relatives, but the ones I DO have are pretty darned aweso...
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Labor Day Weekend

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 The way the calendar falls, Labor Day is late this year.  (Actually as late as it can be!)  And as it sometimes is, it is the weekend before my wedding anniversary.  (30 years!  Amazing right?  Where did the time go?) This time of year is probably my favorite.  I love Labor Day weekend.  (And thank you to those who made it happen:   https://www.britannica.com/topic/Labor-Day and https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history )  Although now it does bring back bittersweet memories. In the past, Labor Day weekend would find me at the NJ Shore.  Before I had my own family, I would often spend the whole week.  The crowds were gone, the weather was still (mostly) warm.  I could sit on the beach and soak up the sun without having to deal with people talking loudly/yelling, and kids walking over my blanket or kicking up sand.  It was peaceful and calm.  (Something we all need.)   Of course, sometim...
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Memories: Frugal and Foodies

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  When he was alive, my brother was a foodie.  He loved to eat.  Even as a kid he wasn't afraid to explore new things.  Once when we were on vacation at Skytop , he ordered sweet breads.  He knew that they were not bread.  He knew what they were and he went for it.   He loved the dining experience.  As an adult, he took his wife to Victoria & Alberts , an exclusive restaurant at the Grand Floridian Resort in Walt Disney World.  They would eat their way around the world at Epcot . So you get the idea that he liked to eat.  He also liked to cook.  I think the only time my husband had turducken was when my brother made it at Thanksgiving time,  (Remember, I can't each any poultry due to food allergies and even being in a room with poultry that is being cooked can make it difficult for me to breathe.) His love of good food and cooking started at a young age.  And when he was still young he got a copy of The Frugal Go...
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Another Reading Project

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  I'm a reader.  I often write about what I read.  For years I've done a "Best Books I Have Read This Year" post both here and on  https://myveronanj.com/ .  I undertook a project back in 2015 (how can that be over 10 years ago?) where I read as many of the Pulitizer Prize winning books for fiction as I could find. (There were plenty that I couldn't find.)  At the time there were 89 books that were on the list, I read 58 with an additional 8 that I didn't because I had previously read them (such as  Gone with The Wind  and my all-time favorite,  To Kill a Mockingbird ).  It took me over a year to complete, and I had to give myself some breaks because it was quite overwhelming.  (My wrap up can be found  here ) At the beginning of this year, a friend had taken a challenge to read a number of books that corresponded with her time on this planet.  Example, if a person turned 30 they would read 30 books.  The true chall...
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