The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

The Eucharistic Minister had good form in ash distribution! Happy day after Mardi Gras, also known as Ash Wednesday, also known as the day that everyone does a lot of double takes about the smudge of black on my head (though not as much as if I lived elsewhere since, well, Boston and all us Irish Catholics). We celebrated Mardi Gras on Lundi because Matty has class on Tuesday nights, and due to having the day off for President's Day it worked out really well. I got to spend a lot of time in the kitchen making jambalaya, cornbread and king cake, all from scratch! This was the first time I had done jambalaya all the way from scratch, including the Cajun spice that I mixed myself and I must admit that it was amazing . We put out a little decor from our travels to NOLA, put on some beads and threw Rebirth on the speakers and had ourselves a pretty awesome lil' party (though I did miss the Abitas this year, sigh). Due to the current situation complete, utter, terrible, ch...

At St. Peter's Basilica in 2007. Ash Wednesday is here and my fast is off to a sleep deprived start, but happy Lent, y'all! Last year I decided to give up using my iPhone in the evenings in order to better focus on the blessings in my life - my family, my time, my home and my faith. It was a great practice and something that I have tried to continue throughout the year by putting my phone down when I get home and waiting until things have mellowed down and Maddie is watching her nightly pre-bedtime 20 minutes of Thomas before I catch up on all the Facebook that has happened since I left work. I have found that it makes my nights much more relaxing and proven that I will not actually wither and die if I do not know every single last thing that is happening on social media for a few hours. This year I am again focusing on giving up time in the form of reading the Bible and taking some quiet time out of my busy days to read, reflect and pray. I found a great guide for r...

Matty introduces me to Madeleine for the first time Happy New Year's Eve everyone! You know what I love about this time of year, aside from playing with all my new Christmas presents?: the lists. I love me some lists, and as the year ends everyone has them - the top news stories, the biggest celebrity breakups, the best this and that. I just can't get enough of them. And so, in the spirit of year-end lists, I present to you my own lists of the top Stefanie-centric things and events of 2011 - enjoy! Three generations in front of our well decorated Christmas Tree My Top Ten Life Events of 2011 Giving birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl Moving to our new home and new neighborhood (Dot Rats for life!) Watching my husband finish the Boston Marathon (his 1st marathon ever) Celebrating the first year of marriage to my amazing, loving husband Getting to tell our family and friends about our bun in the oven My sister-in-law moving back to the East Coast from Seattle Buying our f...

Tonight is officially my last night as an Allstonian. Or a Brightonian. I won't even live off the green line after I wake up tomorrow morning. No more 45 minute train rides that stop every block, no more "This train will run express to Packard's Corner". Tomorrow when I wake up I will pack the cat into his carrier, grab my purse and my husband will drive me and this baby in my belly to Dorchester, to our home, where we will have our first baby, our first wedding anniversary, where we will be "mom and dad" for the first time instead of just "husband and wife" or "Stef and Matty". I will use the vacuum cleaner Matty bought last night, the first new vacuum cleaner I have ever owned in my twenty nine years, and I will hang up pictures from our wedding, our trips to other states and time zones, pictures of our friends and our families. And on Monday I will wake up and catch the Red Line into work. It won't take too long, despite being fart...

It is sooo nice outside right now! Even though I still need a fleece and have a scarf on, I can actually walk down the street with out my eyes tearing up from the cold and I even saw the sun! The SUN ! I cannot wait for the cold weather to be a thing of the past and for more outdoor activities, such as bike rides and hikes in the Blue Hills and more time on the Cape and all of those awesome things that don't involve being frozen or cooped up inside!! I ran outside this morning, on my own, for pretty much the first time and it was perfect weather. My running was not perfect, far from it really, but I am starting to hate it less and have a goal that I am working for in the BAA 5k that happens the morning before the Marathon. Part of me feels silly "training" for running something that I could very well run without training, not to mention the fact that my first 5k is one day before my husband runs 9 times that distance, but part of me is happy that I am actually sticking wi...

Check out how cute my bed mates are. This is why it is so hard to get up in the mornings...aside from the cold and the gym and all those other gross things. Have you been outside today? It is like, above freezing, crazy! I don't want to get too excited, but I really hope this means that Spring isn't too, too far away. I feel like it has been Winter forever. We went on our honeymoon and came home and then it was just cold...for months...did I mention that Saturday is our 6 month wedding anniversary! Sweet, no? That also means that it has been cold for 6 months. Ugh. This weekend my poor Matty had to work on Saturday, after he ran 18 miles, which left me time to get my nails done and go to Spin class and watch 90210 while I felt sad for him having to be at work. I tried to cheer him up by making this awesome bacon covered meat loaf though: I think he liked it, okay, I know he did. It had jalapenos in it! (and it made for a darn good sandwich last night). After we had our meatloaf...

I am sitting at home watching the Oscars in my husband's long underwear surrounded by pizza and wings and a big fat cat. Glam, I know! Honestly though, I am so happy to be at home relaxing; I haven't had any down time since I got home from San Diego on Wednesday and I really needed a night on the couch...and since it fell on a celeb holiday, it's even better! San Diego was awesome; it was so wonderful to spend time with such a large percentage of my family and to be warm and outside in the sun . I posted all the pics on my Facebook if you are so compelled to take a peek. I got home Wednesday night and went right back to work on Thursday, which usually is rough but since I have such awesome co-workers it was totally smooth and without any chaos! It was also good to go right back because I would have spent the whole day laying on the couch crying about how much I miss my Mommy and being at work didn't give me that opportunity, though I did spend most of Wednesday night ...

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...the best marriage a lady could ask for. Seriously, I hit the mother of all marriage jackpots with my husband, and I really, truly thank God every day for him. He is amazing. And today, we put our two amazing heads together and made our second big, responsible decision together as husband and wife: to get back to the true meaning of Christmas by forgoing presents in exchange for giving each other and our loved ones something that there is never enough of in the world: time. Instead of scrambling around with the week before Christmas' paycheck, buying each other (and everyone else) things off of our Amazon lists, we are going to take that money and pay off all of the bills that have been piling up (and continue to do so) since we got married and enjoy the warm, cozy feeling of financial stability this holiday season. We are going to spend Christmas in our apartment with our big, beautifully decorated Christmas tree making a huge...

Twas the morning be fore Thanksgiving, and all through the office...yeah no one is really doing much stirring since we are all getting ready for this afternoon's luncheon where we get to serve our clients a big Thanksgiving meal and then after we have everything cleaned up and the clients on their way, we get to sit down and break bread together. Then we leave, by 1pm, yessss! This year I feel that I have so, so much to be thankful for and I am excited to be spending Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy's Parade with my new husband before heading down the the Cape to share a meal with my father-in-law and his wife. We are going to stay down there a couple of nights since they have the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in as well as the cutest rottweiler I have ever seen. Amy will also be down on the Cape with her family, so I get to see one of my besties too! It will be an awesome, sweatpants inducing weekend for sure. I thought I would take some time this morning during...

I finished the fifth of a series of five community dialogues that I participated in through the YWCA/Women's Table/Allston Brighton Community Development Co. last night and what an awesome experience it was. Our group was as diverse as could be: Black, White and Asian; Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Episcopalian, Congregationalist; nuns and mothers, gay and straight, ages ranging from early twenties to eighty. Sitting in a room with such a range of people, personalities and experiences and talking about race was difficult, thought-provoking and inspirational, and I am excited that we have decided to keep meeting once a month to talk about what is happening in our communities and what we can do as a group and as individuals to fight against racism and promote knowledge, tolerance and peace. In addition to some wonderful conversations and getting to hear about others experiences with race relations in and out of Boston, I was able to reflect on my thoughts on racism and how I identify, wh...