The Scribble Pad: May 2010

Lt. Col. Leo J. Paradise

On May 26th my grandfather passed away suddenly. Here are some of my favorite recent photos.

at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland for a family reunion in 2008

at the Angelos house for Michael's graduation party

in his front yard this past fall

making sure we put the sticks and leaves in the correct bins

at a Gordon vs. Eastern Lax game back when I was still in college

he yelled at a Michigan fan at this game!

at his house - Christmas of 2006

Some random facts in no particular order:

He loved photography and photographed EVERYTHING!
As a jeweler, he guided Mark through the diamond district in Philly to pick out the perfect stone for the perfect ring
He was the biggest Notre Dame fan ever - and wore his green and gold with pride even to a PennState White Out a few years ago!
Always had time for his 13 grandchildren
Never ceased to amaze us with random facts and trivia
Could time a road trip down to the minute, I still think he rigged it! example: when I was little he would say - we'll be home in 27 minutes and be spot on!
Fostered my love for the ocean, history, reading (he gave me a 600 page book on the Russian czars when I was in middle school and I read the whole thing!), and of course photography.
Never underestimated anyone.
Had the best backyard growing up with parties, cookouts, a creek to play in and there was always a hammock for an afternoon nap.
Made it to our swim and diving competitions, basketball games, and track meets to cheer us on the loudest.

Memphis

Warning! There are a TON of photos in this post...

we started our tour of Memphis at the Peabody hotel to see the ducks march

on top of the hotel with the Roaring Mississippi behind us

Rendezvous Alley for some finger looking good...

...bbq ribs and...

...bbq nachos!

The boys

Sarah and I managed to avoid most pictures!

The the tour of Beale Street...

Jackson making an awesome face on the way home. He is a ham and he knows it!

And here are the boys again. Living the good life.

We visited good friends Andrew and Sarah Beach for the first time since they moved to Memphis 5 years ago! As you can see, we had a blast!

California

Great times with good friends in California:

awesome hotel we passed on our way to Danville

dinner downtown with the whole gang

Mark, me, Mike, Kelsey, Teen, Brendon

Shopping in Danville

Hilarious Dinner in Town

Morning run and bagels with honey butter

Church in San Ramon

Lunch at the Krouts

Shopping in Walnut Creek

...awesome chill time with good friends!

Going...going...gone...

I may post...I may not.

Either way, I'll be back in a week!

Wahoo! So excited for the new restaurants popping up around Capitol Hill! Especially the Beirgarten that opens on Friday! With tons of outdoor seating it is sure to be a HUGE hit. Yes. I am really that excited! One of my favorite parts of living in the city are all of the outdoor dining areas - and beirgartens top the list.

to read more from DC foodies, click here

Suitcases as Decorations

Looking for travel inspiration, I stumbled upon adorable old fashioned suitcases turned into today's decoration. Check these awesome suitcases out!

{from here}

{here also featured on design*sponge}

{and here}

Now I am inspired. If only I had a few beautiful suitcases and a place to put them...

Almost at 10,000!

I am almost at 10,000 site hits! I wish there were a way to track who was actually the 10,000th. Perhaps I should hold a contest. What do you think?

Would you volunteer a gift for a giveaway?

Going to Califronia

I have a work trip next week and Mark gets to join me! We are going to make a mini-vacation of it and swing through Memphis on our way home for a wedding and to visit dear friends.

I am packed, no surprise. But now I am working on a playlist, which explains why my blog now has music!

Check out the songs to the right. Do you have any suggestions? Any other songs you would add? I have refrained from being too cheesy and adding "california" songs to this playlist. But I am wavering. Should I include a few? Here are the appropriately themed songs from my iTunes library:

California - Bob Dylan

California - Kenny Chesney

Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Meet Me in California - Plain White T's

New York to California - Mat Kearney

Save Me, Sanfrancisco - Train

I need suggestions! What are your favorite vaca/road trip songs?

Closet Crusade, Part 3

Almost finished! The rest will be an evolution of placing odds and ends...

Phew...glad that is done! It took longer than I thought, especially because I continued to clutter it throughout the week. What are you motivated to organize these days?

Closet Crusade, Part 2

Hmmm...I think I am suffering from closet lust. The effort to reorganize left me looking for inspiration. I stumbled upon Everyday Minerals and an amazing assortment of dream closets:

This is beyond unbelievable!

I love the mirrored closets and how the closet and bathroom form one luxurious suite.

An office in a closet! This one is WAY more chic than my sad attempt.

Is this a closet or a store?!?

This is more realistic. There is a slim chance I could find a closet this size on Capitol Hill... I love the blue and green!

Love the pink!

...and probably the closets to what my closet will eventually look like

Maybe closet dreaming is a bad idea...

Which one is your favorite?

Do you dream about an uber closet?

Closet Crusade, Part 1

It is that time of year, Spring Cleaning. And my closet was in desperate need of some help. This was the sad state of my closet...

Note here that I had most of the space in both pictures!

Mark's summer clothes were still in boxes under our bed. It is cruel actually, how little space he has been allotted since we moved here in August. So I set out last weekend to organize the items and rectify the space.

Oh yeah, did I mention we also have our "office" in our closet?

My love of clothes and passion for paper and calligraphy = a lot of stuff in a tiny apartment & a dual functioning storage space when storage is limited. I cannot wait to have an office specifically for my paper and calligraphy some day.

Basically every space was being under utilized and in need of some serious reorganization!

The good news? While perusing the internet last weekend, I came across an amazing sale! The Container Store is having a spring sale. Plus, you can get 4% back off ALL online purchases if you shop through Ebates. Shoe boxes and sweater racks have been purchased for my closet. I cannot wait for them to arrive.

The pieces of "furniture" in our closet have been rearranged. We have two of these puppies, one with a hanging rack, one just shelves, both without wheels:

{available at crate and barrel outlet}

What space in your apartment/home could use some serious organization?

Are you going to take advantage of the CS Spring Organization Sale?

Spring Allergies: GOOP Solution

It is springtime in the mid-atlantic, and so with the beautiful flowers and fresh cut grass come allergies. Fortunately, we also have CSA season to look forward to...

Well, Gwyneth Paltrow's blog, GOOP, has been cooking up so fabulous natural remedies to springtime allergies and CSA inspired recipes leading you to healthful living.

Spring Allergy and Detox Remedies - Chinese Medicine Style

I cannot wait to get my first bunch of asparagus to try some of those delicious recipes! What are some of your methods for fighting allergies this time of year?

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