Showing posts with label Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Grandma Chisholm and a Baptism
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Uncle "SOT!"
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Update: Gifty McRudolph
Making us laugh and feel better, Alma's Godfather Scott comes through with an email ....
Okay, I just read the blog, and I feel as if we really need to move you people beyond this sadness about #2 being born so close to Christmas!! As I will tell #2 a great many times (yes, I'll speak to the child even though I am not his/her godfather), being born close to Christmas is the greatest thing ever!!!
1. You never have to go to school on your birthday (if born on Dec 21 or 22, then maybe once every few years, but that's it)
2. You're more likely to see relatives during this period. Relatives who might only send a card if they lived far away, but because they're seeing you in person: Presents!
3. It's a very happy time of year. You'll associate that with your birthday, too... as if your big day is the true cause of all the joy!
4. You get to constantly shoot down the assumption that you get fewer gifts because your birthday is around Christmas. (This is because you have a family that will make sure no such thing happens!)
5. Being born at the end of the year is cool. For 99% of any year, you're the same age. "Ah yes... 1998. The year I was 20."
6. Apart from the fact that they usually come bearing gifts, it's super cool that there tends to be a lot of family around during this time of year. Oftentimes family that you don't get to see a lot. So instead of cards and phone calls, hugs and parties! (Oh yeah, and presents.)
7. Plenty of cool people were born on/around Christmas. Jane Fonda and Connie Chung come to mind. Also my host brother in Argentina, Italo.
8. Your parents will love it because you'll always be home for your birthday. (At least through college.)
9. You'll go 33 years before you hear the words "Gifty McRudolph." (If you take after your sister's godfather!) tee hee
10. Two words: Christmas Music! You'll LOVE it! It's your own personal birthday soundtrack!
11. You'll be one of the older kids in your class. Awesome!
12. Christmas break (excuse me, "Winter Holidays") will often be the occasion of a family vacation. That means birthday in an airport! Birthday in Hawaii! Birthday w/ Grandma and Henry! Awesome, awesome, and awesome.
13. When you're older, you can take birthday presents you don't like to the mall and exchange them for even better gifts, thanks to annual Dec 26 clearance sales!
14. Weirdly, not that many people seem to be born in December. You'll be part of an exclusive club!
15. You automatically get the chocolate in the Advent Calendar on you big day, even if the rule of alternating days means that it's your sister's turn.
--------------
So there you go! See? Christmastime birthdays are awesome. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
Signed,
Scott Smith
Christmas Baby
December 21 (that's 21, bloggers!), 1977
Thanks Scott!
Okay, I just read the blog, and I feel as if we really need to move you people beyond this sadness about #2 being born so close to Christmas!! As I will tell #2 a great many times (yes, I'll speak to the child even though I am not his/her godfather), being born close to Christmas is the greatest thing ever!!!
1. You never have to go to school on your birthday (if born on Dec 21 or 22, then maybe once every few years, but that's it)
2. You're more likely to see relatives during this period. Relatives who might only send a card if they lived far away, but because they're seeing you in person: Presents!
3. It's a very happy time of year. You'll associate that with your birthday, too... as if your big day is the true cause of all the joy!
4. You get to constantly shoot down the assumption that you get fewer gifts because your birthday is around Christmas. (This is because you have a family that will make sure no such thing happens!)
5. Being born at the end of the year is cool. For 99% of any year, you're the same age. "Ah yes... 1998. The year I was 20."
6. Apart from the fact that they usually come bearing gifts, it's super cool that there tends to be a lot of family around during this time of year. Oftentimes family that you don't get to see a lot. So instead of cards and phone calls, hugs and parties! (Oh yeah, and presents.)
7. Plenty of cool people were born on/around Christmas. Jane Fonda and Connie Chung come to mind. Also my host brother in Argentina, Italo.
8. Your parents will love it because you'll always be home for your birthday. (At least through college.)
9. You'll go 33 years before you hear the words "Gifty McRudolph." (If you take after your sister's godfather!) tee hee
10. Two words: Christmas Music! You'll LOVE it! It's your own personal birthday soundtrack!
11. You'll be one of the older kids in your class. Awesome!
12. Christmas break (excuse me, "Winter Holidays") will often be the occasion of a family vacation. That means birthday in an airport! Birthday in Hawaii! Birthday w/ Grandma and Henry! Awesome, awesome, and awesome.
13. When you're older, you can take birthday presents you don't like to the mall and exchange them for even better gifts, thanks to annual Dec 26 clearance sales!
14. Weirdly, not that many people seem to be born in December. You'll be part of an exclusive club!
15. You automatically get the chocolate in the Advent Calendar on you big day, even if the rule of alternating days means that it's your sister's turn.
--------------
So there you go! See? Christmastime birthdays are awesome. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
Signed,
Scott Smith
Christmas Baby
December 21 (that's 21, bloggers!), 1977
Thanks Scott!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Scott's visit (cont.)
More from Scott's fun visit!
Cause why wouldn't you put the baby in a pumpkin? Don't they come from cabbage anyway?
Update: Only two weeks later and the pumpkins look like this. We learned our lesson (again) from carving too early when the weather is too warm. Bummer.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Godfather Scott
Alma's godfather Scott came to visit us this past weekend from Chicago. He wins the prize for being our first visitor. And what a fun visit it was! A hike along the Appalachian Trail, pumpkin carving, Harvest Festival in Bethlehem, beers in the backyards and lots of catching up on life.
Isn't this the cutest?!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Poem from Uncle Scott
Alma's Uncle Scott wrote a cute poem celebrating his future godchild ....
On the evening of the seventh day
Of the twelth month of the year
Little Alma Chisholm
Decided to appear
Life is full of mysteries
And many a trial and test
But one thing is for certain:
December babies are the best
So deck the halls with diapers
And see the stars shine brighter still
For perfect little Alma
Is here to warm up winter's chill.
On the evening of the seventh day
Of the twelth month of the year
Little Alma Chisholm
Decided to appear
Life is full of mysteries
And many a trial and test
But one thing is for certain:
December babies are the best
So deck the halls with diapers
And see the stars shine brighter still
For perfect little Alma
Is here to warm up winter's chill.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
90 to 1 odds
March is a great month for birthdays. This month, my grandmother turned 90, my little nephew turned 1 and my sister-in-law (who shares a birthday with said nephew) didn't have to age because she has forfeited her birthday. When she gave birth last year, she declared, "Now, I no longer have to age!" Joshua's sister Amy, who also has a birthday in March, may have declared the same anti-aging policy a number of years ago because, honestly, she doesn't seem to age at all! Happy birthday to all these lovely ladies and to the Little Man.
Here is Grandma Whelihan enjoying her big birthday bash. We like to give gifts that call it like it is. (Champion brand was established the same year as my grandmother was born, 1919.)
Right after that trip to NYC to celebrate my grandmother's life, I jetted off to Las Vegas for a weeklong American Association of Geographers Conference in Las Vegas. I was able to present my thesis, Mapping Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatial Nonstationarity of Logistic Regression Models of Juvenile Drug Crime Recidivism. The presentation went well. The questions afterward were tough. That's what I get for writing a statistically-focused paper and inviting people who wrote books on the subject to the session. Not that I'm complaining; their questions and suggestions are super helpful as I put the last touches on my thesis. Statistical stats is so interesting to me, but I am constantly reminded how big the field is. Some day I'll be an expert too. Some day ....
Unfortunately, since I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, I got the worst cold during this trip. I went nearly two full years without being sick and, while I'm grateful for that, I'm bummed that I had to endure a cold during this trip. The sessions I attended were fascinating -- census tract changes set for the 2010 big event, mortgage foreclosures, among others -- but the cold was a little more than distracting.
In an attempt to avoid the casinos, I spent a small chunk of time poolside at Caesar's Palace, which was beyond pleasant.
While touring around the city, I did not go into this building. The large photos of Elton John, Bette Midler and Cher were clear signs that I did not belong there.
One of the best parts of the trip was walking out to the Vegas burbs to visit the Springs Preserve. While interesting, it was a bit of a sham -- the water company putting up a museum dedicated to how Las Vegas is so extremely good at saving at water and how environmentally-conscious the area is. Um, excuse me? Sure, the ten-acre lot where the museum stands may be made with the environment in mind, but I had a hard time finding that same mindset in the rest of the area.
Even though I missed Joshua during my week in Vegas, it was nice to have some time on my own. I like exploring.
During my three-hour layover in Chicago on the way back to Philly, I emailed Joshua's best friend Scott to see if he was in the airport. Of course, in only a way that Scott can be, he was just flying in from Duluth. It was great to have a little visit with him before hopping on my flight home.
Once I got back to Philly, Joshua and I went over to our neighbors house to watch wrestling. Back story: Our talented neighbor, Randy, is a writer for the Associated Press and has to produce a piece on the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania. He invited us over to watch the first and the most recent Wrestlemanias. It was fun to watch Mr. T and the Hulk team up back when they were so much younger. Randy wrestled and wrote a piece two years ago about professional wrestling so I'm excited to read this newest piece. Please watch the video. My favorite part is when (very faintly) you can hear Randy say, "Oh no, this is bad."
This morning, I attended a shower to celebrate Amanda's pregnancy. She looks great. The party was fun and it was nice to catch up with friends from college.
Next weekend: Comprehensive exams = approximately 55 hours to write three essays that prove I am Master (with a capital M) material. Topics: 1. GIS and Crime Mapping, 2. Spatial Statistics with regard to Geographically Weighted Regression, 3. Peer Contagion within the Juvenile Delinquent Population. Fun stuff. Wish me luck!
Here is Grandma Whelihan enjoying her big birthday bash. We like to give gifts that call it like it is. (Champion brand was established the same year as my grandmother was born, 1919.)
Right after that trip to NYC to celebrate my grandmother's life, I jetted off to Las Vegas for a weeklong American Association of Geographers Conference in Las Vegas. I was able to present my thesis, Mapping Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatial Nonstationarity of Logistic Regression Models of Juvenile Drug Crime Recidivism. The presentation went well. The questions afterward were tough. That's what I get for writing a statistically-focused paper and inviting people who wrote books on the subject to the session. Not that I'm complaining; their questions and suggestions are super helpful as I put the last touches on my thesis. Statistical stats is so interesting to me, but I am constantly reminded how big the field is. Some day I'll be an expert too. Some day ....Unfortunately, since I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, I got the worst cold during this trip. I went nearly two full years without being sick and, while I'm grateful for that, I'm bummed that I had to endure a cold during this trip. The sessions I attended were fascinating -- census tract changes set for the 2010 big event, mortgage foreclosures, among others -- but the cold was a little more than distracting.
In an attempt to avoid the casinos, I spent a small chunk of time poolside at Caesar's Palace, which was beyond pleasant.
While touring around the city, I did not go into this building. The large photos of Elton John, Bette Midler and Cher were clear signs that I did not belong there.
One of the best parts of the trip was walking out to the Vegas burbs to visit the Springs Preserve. While interesting, it was a bit of a sham -- the water company putting up a museum dedicated to how Las Vegas is so extremely good at saving at water and how environmentally-conscious the area is. Um, excuse me? Sure, the ten-acre lot where the museum stands may be made with the environment in mind, but I had a hard time finding that same mindset in the rest of the area.
Even though I missed Joshua during my week in Vegas, it was nice to have some time on my own. I like exploring.
During my three-hour layover in Chicago on the way back to Philly, I emailed Joshua's best friend Scott to see if he was in the airport. Of course, in only a way that Scott can be, he was just flying in from Duluth. It was great to have a little visit with him before hopping on my flight home.
Once I got back to Philly, Joshua and I went over to our neighbors house to watch wrestling. Back story: Our talented neighbor, Randy, is a writer for the Associated Press and has to produce a piece on the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania. He invited us over to watch the first and the most recent Wrestlemanias. It was fun to watch Mr. T and the Hulk team up back when they were so much younger. Randy wrestled and wrote a piece two years ago about professional wrestling so I'm excited to read this newest piece. Please watch the video. My favorite part is when (very faintly) you can hear Randy say, "Oh no, this is bad."
This morning, I attended a shower to celebrate Amanda's pregnancy. She looks great. The party was fun and it was nice to catch up with friends from college.
Next weekend: Comprehensive exams = approximately 55 hours to write three essays that prove I am Master (with a capital M) material. Topics: 1. GIS and Crime Mapping, 2. Spatial Statistics with regard to Geographically Weighted Regression, 3. Peer Contagion within the Juvenile Delinquent Population. Fun stuff. Wish me luck!
Monday, December 1, 2008
At last!
At last, our computer is fixed! It took only 30 minutes but it was 30 minutes with the right person. That last part was key. Now I don't have to rush off to school to write all of my papers or send emails. I can go back to lounging around in my pjs and playing with the pets all day! (I wish.)
So on to the photos and stories!
Right before Halloween, I was able to carve a pumpkin with my neighbor who is in third grade and has never carved a pumpkin before. Can you believe that!?! Obviously the Philadelphia school system is failing our youth!
Each week we have been sharing a meal with our neighbors, Dottie, H, their young son Owen and their pup Sampson. Since they couldn't come to Joshua's birthday party, they had us over the day before for an awesome dinner and fun presents. They are great and we are so blessed to have them as neighbors.
Simon has begun having play dates with Sampson. They are such good dogs and both are part lab-pit bull. Sampson is older and just wants to play fetch. Simon acts like the younger sibling, wanting to get in the way and show Sampson all of his toys. Here they are playing with an invincible ball. They once played tug-a-war for four hours straight!
Patrick and his fiance Carrie threw a fun child-game inspired 30th birthday party to celebrate his entry into adulthood. Among many others, we played SPUD, freeze tag, red-light-green-light and with a parachut. Hooray for Patrick and Carrie's creativity! And hooray for Patrick always being older than me!
Joshua's best friend Scott came to Philadelphia to visit. Scott seems to always be chocked full of "interesting" -- he just moved back to Chicago from Australia, outbid Tim Meadows on an awesome condo and, when we saw him, he was on his way to NYC to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Rockettes and his family. It was really fun to hang out with him. We cannot wait to see him in Chicago and crash in his beautiful home.
We went to Carlisle to my folk's house for Thanksgiving. This was the grandbaby's first Thanksgiving. Mr. Grandbaby was as wonderful as always. He is so snugly and sweet. Joshua and I are continuing to falling more and more in love with him. Brian and Bridgette are such good parents; it is really fun to watch them with him.
It was also Simon's first Thanksgiving. Generally he was a good pup. He proved himself as a great hiking dog; we were able to take him off-leash on a few hikes. He also demonstrated his speed by stealing some meatloaf, turkey and even some Poviticia from us.
[It is nice to have the computer back and share all of these photos! I have to admit that I missed it. Blogging may be passe these days, but I like sharing photos with friends and family.]
So on to the photos and stories!
Right before Halloween, I was able to carve a pumpkin with my neighbor who is in third grade and has never carved a pumpkin before. Can you believe that!?! Obviously the Philadelphia school system is failing our youth!
Each week we have been sharing a meal with our neighbors, Dottie, H, their young son Owen and their pup Sampson. Since they couldn't come to Joshua's birthday party, they had us over the day before for an awesome dinner and fun presents. They are great and we are so blessed to have them as neighbors.
Simon has begun having play dates with Sampson. They are such good dogs and both are part lab-pit bull. Sampson is older and just wants to play fetch. Simon acts like the younger sibling, wanting to get in the way and show Sampson all of his toys. Here they are playing with an invincible ball. They once played tug-a-war for four hours straight!
Patrick and his fiance Carrie threw a fun child-game inspired 30th birthday party to celebrate his entry into adulthood. Among many others, we played SPUD, freeze tag, red-light-green-light and with a parachut. Hooray for Patrick and Carrie's creativity! And hooray for Patrick always being older than me!
Joshua's best friend Scott came to Philadelphia to visit. Scott seems to always be chocked full of "interesting" -- he just moved back to Chicago from Australia, outbid Tim Meadows on an awesome condo and, when we saw him, he was on his way to NYC to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Rockettes and his family. It was really fun to hang out with him. We cannot wait to see him in Chicago and crash in his beautiful home.
We went to Carlisle to my folk's house for Thanksgiving. This was the grandbaby's first Thanksgiving. Mr. Grandbaby was as wonderful as always. He is so snugly and sweet. Joshua and I are continuing to falling more and more in love with him. Brian and Bridgette are such good parents; it is really fun to watch them with him.
It was also Simon's first Thanksgiving. Generally he was a good pup. He proved himself as a great hiking dog; we were able to take him off-leash on a few hikes. He also demonstrated his speed by stealing some meatloaf, turkey and even some Poviticia from us.
[It is nice to have the computer back and share all of these photos! I have to admit that I missed it. Blogging may be passe these days, but I like sharing photos with friends and family.]
Monday, August 11, 2008
Summer Vacation: Seattle!
This past week, we have been enjoying the wonderful family, friends and weather of Seattle. We arrived Saturday night and then our week was as follows:
Sunday - Big pancake breakfast at the Fujimotos followed by a walk around Fremont, Dad Watson's and a nap along the canal/in front of Google. Joshua and I got on our plane going back to Philly around 8pm and didn't get into Philly around 10am due to flight delays. Joshua went straight to work because today was the first day of work for a new employee at CCOP.
Overall, a super fun week. Best vacation ever!
Sunday - Mass and brunch with the Fujimotos and ... the Cavaliers! Amanda and Lou, New Jersey folks, were on their way to an Alaskan cruise and we were fortunate enough to meet up with them. Mental note: Visit friends who live on the east coast.
Monday - Amy, Hayden, Joshua and I drive to Leavenworth and see Jenelle, my former boss and owner of Mapel Boutique, and set up camp at the Johnny Creek Campground next to the river. It was so nice to see Jenelle -- even though just for a short "hello" visit -- and to see how awesome her store is!
Tuesday - Rock climbing along Icicle Creek. While Joshua and Amy were doing a route, Hayden and I played bulldozers in the dirt and then beauty salon. Hayden's final look was stunning.
Wednesday - Hiking around Leavenworth and then driving back to Seattle. Gosh, what a beautiful place!
Thursday - While Joshua had groomsmen duty (golfing, bbqing, baseball-watching, drinking), Amy, Hayden and I went to the Seattle Sculpture Garden. With a great view of the sound and some neat pieces, it made for a fun day!
That night I got to play soccer and go out to eat with the PuddleJumpers. I miss playing with that team so much. What a great group of folks.
Friday - Sailing on Lake Union with Scott, Joshua, Amy and Hayden and then the wedding rehearsal and dinner.
Saturday - Patrick and Ann's wedding = Fun!
Overall, a super fun week. Best vacation ever!
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