PSF - Greetings from Under the Lake

Long time no Photo Story Friday!  Good to be back.

Sure, we have thousands of picture from land and air, but now we can finally have photos from the sea, or lake, in this case.



Dova had a blast performing for our latest gadget.



We even got our friend's dog doing the ol' doggie paddle.



Adam just didn't like looking underwater in the lake (unless baby catfish are involved), but I managed to take this fun still photo.



And this unassuming video produced the lovely underwater portrait of Dova.



Here's the new underwater camera we took these photos and videos with:


Oregon Scientific ATC 9K Full 1080P High Definition Water Resistant Action Camera

No, this is not a review post as I paid cold hard cash (well Groupon dollars anyway) for this camera. The camera has a fixed wide angle lens, which is great for keeping motion shots from being shaky, but not exactly ideal for artful photography.  It's been rugged and fun so far!


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Better Than a Picnic Memorial Day

The hosts of Boston's Hebrew National Better-Than-A-Picnic Picnic, Christine of Boston Mamas, Audrey of Mom Generations, Christy of Quirky Fusion, and Jodi of Mom's Favorite Stuff put on a fantastic outing at beautiful Artesani Park in Boston on Memorial Day.

Dova was pretty skeptical at first and spent time being shy and grumpy.



She barely broke a smile watching me ride the mechanical bull.  No one else in my family dared to have so much fun. Adam was a great photographer though.



Dova finally warmed up at the card making station for military service members sent to the Boston VA and Operation Gratitude.  Thank you service members!







Adam learned to play volleyball with another family.  He speaks the universal sports language so he had a blast.



Doug won the latest Peter Frampton CD, Thank You Mr Churchill, from 105.7 WROR.



And I got another Asian Invasion photo with Sandy (Momisodes) and Christine (Boston Mamas).



Last but not least, the lovely Christy (Quirky Fusion) took this photograph of our family before the kids ran off again.  Thanks Christy!



Thanks to the wonderful hosts, Boston Mamas, Mom Generations, Quirky Fusion, Mom's Favorite Stuff, Hebrew National and WROR for making it a great day!


Hosted by Cecilyand Krista

Rainy but Wonderful March for Babies

Last Saturday, I ventured out in the rain with Christine of Boston Mamas, Christina of Fairly Odd Mother and their kiddos to walk in the March for Babies. I was very pleased to raise more money than my goal.  It's not too late if you would still like to donate! Just click the banner above.

The weather was dismal. I thought I came prepared wearing my Disney World poncho, but one step into a puddle and my feet were soaking wet for the day.



We started out at the Hatch Shell where the Boston Pops performs on the Esplanade in Boston.  Enza Youkilis, wife of Red Sox Kevin Youkilis, spoke with her charming son Michael, who was born prematurely at 29 weeks.



As the walk started, the rain let up.  Here's the bridge to the Arthur Fiedler statue.



We walked down the Esplanade across the river from MIT. I got a photo McCormick Hall where I had an awesome dorm room with a view.



At the end of the walk, I finally took off my poncho after checking the weather radar on my iPhone. It turned out to be a fine day!



Since I rarely get to Boston without the family, I decided to park at Alewife in Cambridge and take the T (subway) into Boston.  I hadn't realized that parking had gone up to $7, or else I would've just tried to find parking in town.  The T fare was also up to $1.70!  But without that, I wouldn't have run into this character who looked like a cross between Jason Lee and Ryan Gosling.



Hooray for people watching on public transportation!

Please consider donating to my Relay for Life team as well.


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

PSF - BMW Performance Driving School

Wanna know what makes me really happy?  Driving someone else's BMW M3 around an autocross track.  I had the honor and pleasure of taking a course at the BMW Performance Center in Greenville, SC with a bunch of fantastic ladies a couple weeks ago.   Of course it helps to be a BMW enthusiast, but I think just about everyone would enjoy and benefit from this type of event.



"Don't forget to breathe", especially when looking at that beautiful new Z4.  On the other side of these banners were the BMW slogans, "Pure Passion, Pure Performance, Pure Joy".  It truly was.  I was in car heaven.



Besides the autocross track, we also practiced a lane change maneuver.  Here we are checking out the course, by driving slowly through it.



We also drove an off road course with the X5.



By far my favorite course was the skid pad.   Having had some previous automobile and motorcycle courses, the other track work was very similar.  But I had not experienced the skid pad.  Coming from the snowy and icy streets of New England, taking to the skid pad with an instructor in a safe environment was a thrill as well as educational.  Spinning out on a street is deathly scary.  Spinning out on the skid pad is a total rush.  Learning how to gain control of a skid is total enlightenment.

Check out these hot laps around the skid pad with the instructors.  Woo hoo!!!




Hosted by Cecilyand Caitlin

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I paid te big bucks myself to be part of this ultimate BMW experience.

PSF - Eating Breakfast with Michelle Obama

I was at the Grove Park Inn last weekend when we heard that the Obamas were going to vacation there this weekend.  I was just one week off from hobnobbing with the President and his family!  I happened to have an old issue of Time magazine from last year (hopelessly behind, but I still read them), with this awesome cover photo of Michelle Obama.  So I pretended that we were best buds having breakfast.

Every time I went swimming, I imagined that in one week, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama would be swimming in the exact same waters.  How cool is that?  Hope they have a great vacation.


Hosted by Cecilyand Pam

PSF - Under the Milky Way Tonight

I’ve always been fascinated by Christmas lights and look forward to decorating the house in lights every year.  This fascination was also inherited by Dova.  When she was eleven months old, as we carried her around under the icicle lights hanging from the beams, she pointed to the lights and said her first word, “light”. 



Back when I first moved into my home, I had gone mattress shopping at Jordan’s Furniture in Nashua, NH.  In their “sleep lab”, they had painted their ceiling dark blue and had Christmas lights strung all over, simulating a starry sky.  In their newest store in Natick, MA, they go one step further and have fiber optic “stars” on their ceiling.  Oh, to sleep under the stars every night!

 

In my bedroom, I recreated the starry night with a set of Christmas lights.  When the kids were babies, they always calmed down when we held them in our bed looking at the lights.  Eventually, I added lights to each of their bedrooms as well.



  

But outside, there had only been decorative lights around Halloween and Christmas.  No lights in the spring and summer and I wasn’t about to get fake lighted palm trees.  Finally, I bought a set of market umbrella lights.  Using an automatic timer, my deck is magically lit every night. 



I can also see the lights looking out from my bedroom window.

  

They make me sing that Church song, “Under the Milky Way Tonight”.  They make me very happy. 



Hosted by Cecily and Mamarazzi

PSF - Meeting Puzzle Master Will Shortz

On April 11, 2010, the second annual Boston Crossword Puzzle Tournament will be held at Harvard University.  Last year, I went and had the privilege of meeting the one and only Will Shortz (yes, this draft nearly a year old), the editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle.  I know him best as host of NPR’s Sunday puzzle.

Before I went to last year’s tournament, a co-worker asked me about my plans for the weekend and I answered enthusiastically that I was going to a crossword tournament.  I got a look that said - OMG you are a total geek.  Forget rock concerts or sporting events.  Crosswords for this geek!  Remember, I was on the math team in high school.



And what exactly does a crossword puzzle tournament look like?



It was an extremely quiet geek fest, definitely not like a sporting event. This tournament was held in a lecture hall in the Science Center at Harvard University. People scribbled away on their puzzles, and raised their hands when they were done. The guy standing in the aisle was one of several people who scanned for raised hands and marked the finished puzzles with the time.

I actually arrived late so I didn’t register to compete.  I did try solving a few puzzles, but found myself extremely rusty.  And I was tempted to look up answers on my iPhone.  It's what I do for everything else in my life!  Don’t think I’ll be in shape for this year either, oh well!


Will is funny, humble and incredibly classy.

After the competition, Will took a few minutes to relay some cool stories.  I had previously posted about Will appearing on the Simpsons and in this video, he elaborates on that experience as well as being a video clue on Jeopardy.



Here are links to other videos I took about a wedding proposal, choosing puzzle difficulty for the NY Times, and the 2000 Election Day puzzle.



Look what else I saw when I was there.  A crossword scarf!  I want to knit one of these!  Knitting and crosswords, a perfect match for this geek.


Hosted by Cecily and Life With Kaishon

PSF - Golden Fields

Yesterday, I was driving home along back roads in my new car, trying to find new bike routes.  I turned a corner of a newly traveled street, and I briefly caught sight of a beautiful field behind me.  Having the top down in my car, I turned my head to the full view of the sky, fields and trees.  It was gorgeous in the golden hour before sunset! 

My camera was with me from taking photos of the floods in Pepperell, MA the previous day, so I immediately pulled over to take this shot.  Some of my favorite photographs were taken during the golden hour and this will surely be one to them.

Sometimes we rush around from place to place with kids and without kids and never stop to take in the beauty around us.  We are so lucky to live in such a picturesque area of Massachusetts.  And I am so lucky to have a convertible to enjoy it . 


Hosted by Cecily

PSF - My New Baby

I bought myself a new car...











The words to this story are over at BlogHer.  I was really hesitant about writing about it, being so excessive, but my editor Denise talked me into it.  I'm glad she did.  For the gearheads, it's a BMW 135i with the M sport package, 3.0L twin turbo, 300 HP, 6-speed manual transmission, 18" wheels.  Oh, and it's a convertible.  Sweet!


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli