In the condo

Sunday dinner guests

My freshman friend Cindy moved to Boston last summer. I've been to her house for dinner, we met up on the 4th of July, and tonight they came to my place for dinner. She has two older sons that were absent (one is on a mission and the other one stayed home). We reminisced about the olden days (that's just what you do, isn't it?) and she credits me for getting her to Relief Society her freshman year (I don't remember that). It was fun to see her again.

Here we are in our freshman dorm photo. No wise cracks anyone.

Brimfield Fair -- one tip

If you see something you want, BUY IT!

I saw this cool olive green lamp (probably from the 60's). It was only $10. When I went back 45 minutes later to buy it, the vendor was handing it to two gals who had purchased it.

My disappointment of the day.

My Brimfield find

I've been wanting a dress form and found one today at the Brimfield Fair. I need to even things out on the upper half and then it will be a nice addition to my collection.

Brimfield Fair (finally!)

Today was my first time going to the Brimfield Fair (why did I wait so long?). It was different than what I expected (meaning it wasn't all fancy and furniture). There are hundreds of vendors and row after row and booth after booth of cool stuff. I went with my friend Jenn and her little boy Adler (he's a trooper). I didn't want to buy typewriters, aprons, pyrex or cake plates; I was looking for something different (see next post).

Ward Temple night

There's something nice about being in the Temple with your own church people.

Meet Tedmundo

Summer cottages

I like taffy

There's one piece left from Saturday. My favorites were peppermint and chocolate.

Old sign from down the Cape

Birthday girl

This is Danielle and today is her 1st birthday. She and her parents recently moved into my ward. She has the most beautiful eyes. Happy Birthday to her!

(always an) EP photo

Good day gone bad

We were just a few blocks from Plymouth Rock (it's the size of a baked potato--I was very disappointed the first time I saw it), stopped in traffic when we were hit from behind FOUR times. I hit the car in front of me and they hit the car in front of them. It felt like a humvee was ramming into us (but 4 times?!?) or a UFO/alien. It was totally CRAZY. Diana was rattled and sore and her head hurt so she went to the hospital in an ambulance. I was worried my car was undriveable but one of the policemen thought the loud noise was the heat shield (am I driving Apollo 13?) and it IS noisy, but driveable. We were hit so hard my CDs and money and spare key (kept in compartments above the gear shift) ended up down by my feet.

I told the EMTs that Diana had never seen Plymouth Rock and asked if they could drive the ambulance by on the way to the hospital so she could see it. Other than saying no to my request, the policemen, firefighters, and EMTs were very nice and helpful.

Christmas in July

For Christmas I gave my coworker Diana a "day trip". She picked Cape Cod and we went today. I was worried about the traffic on a Saturday but there was none! We drove along "Scenic 6A", stopped at the Brewster Store, hit a few antique shops (I bought 3 $1 recipe books) and then went to Chatham. We saw some friends of mine walking along the main street in Chatham (random!) and they recommended Kate's (in Brewster) so we backtracked and went there for lunch (their onion rings are really really good). After lunch we headed to Hyannis (no Kennedy sitings) and Diana bought a sweatshirt and we got some salt water taffy. We made a quick stop at the beach and called it a day. The weather was great; hot and sunny. It was a very fun day. The plan was to stop and see the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock on the way home...

#10 turns 20

Laree is the youngest of the ten LaPierre kids and today is her 20th birthday. It was a treat to be at her party. Happy Birthday, little Laree!

Battle: Los Angeles

UFOs in my home town. Entertaining.

4th of July: the early years

I still remember this July 4th parade at our elementary school like it was yesterday (it was 1965). I wasn't happy that I got stuck riding the scooter and my older brother Robert got to ride MY big bike. John obviously doesn't like dressing up for holidays. Nan made those hats for us.

Texas bound cousins

Jordan, Cora and Wade, my South Shore cousins, are moving to Texas next week. Their dad is finished with his schooling and will be a practicing orthodontist. I'm sad they are leaving but their mom is going to love being close to Hobby Lobby (inside joke).

baby Wade

It was fun to see baby Wade again.

Boston: best place to be on the 4th of July

Red, White & Blue

Seen on the way home from church

Happy 4th weekend

His last words to me were...

...would you please slow down.

That was after the N.H. state trooper asked if I knew how fast I was going and if he could call me "Ellen". He said because of my good record (sigh...) he was only giving me a warning.

Pie baking contest

I entered a peach pie (all from scratch--no pie fraud) in the pie baking contest today but didn't win anything even though it was beautiful and delicious.

Cambridge Stake TREK

The stake youth finished a 3-day trek today. The whole stake was invited to Zion's Camp to welcome them "into the valley". It was hot and sunny and inspiring. I loved watching the youth pulling their handcarts--with smiles. You could tell it wasn't easy but they were having a good time. I think they walked 18 miles in 3 days. There was a BBQ, lots of food, games, live music, and swimming at the lake. Someone asked me if it was a good crowd. I don't think we've ever had a stake activity like that and there must have been a few hundred people there. It was really fun.

Larry Crowne (with an E)

I liked the movie. It made me want to get a scooter and be glad I went to college when I was a kid.