Trivia night with the Hilberts!

My love for trivia started when I moved to Boston and my girlfriend Jenny and I started going to Davis for trivia nights on Wednesday and Thursdays.  It's a great way to get together, feel good about yourself for the seemingly useless facts you have remembered, and learn something while you are at it.

 Did you know that 40 when written out, is the first number spelt in alphabetical order?

Anyways, we stopped going for various reasons, mostly because of moving around and away from Davis.  However, my love for trivia has not gone away and I always jump at an opportunity to see if I can put those useless facts in my brain to good use.   So, when Kaitlyn and Jay asked Ian and I to join them for their night out we couldn't help ourselves.

We almost won last week, we were tied (no idea how that happened).  We lost the tie breaker (see the last question) Some interesting factoids from that night.

• The turkey, tomato and avocado sandwich is no longer available, unless you request it
• German Shepherds, on average, bite more humans than any other dog.
• Marylin Monroe had a 6th toe
• Purina is the largest brand of dog food out there (they stock in in Market Basket)

Last night was a quiet night, apparently people thought that staying home watching the Bruins Game was a better choice than trivia.  False, I say trivia trumps hockey any day, plus there are TVs in the bar.  Some interesting facts from the night

• The turkey, tomato and avocado sandwich is back on the menu!
• Chinese is the most spoken language
• New York is made up of 50 islands
• Ketchup has it's own website... wait what?

While we were playing, I noticed that the ketchup bottle had a QR code on it... the conversation went something like this.
Kendra: Did you know that this bottle has a QR code on it?
Kaitlyn: YES!  I made Jay do it last week because I was curious!
Kendra: Oh yeah?  Where did it go?
Kaitlyn: Ketchup's website
SILENCE
Jay: You mean Heinz's website? Ketchup isn't a brand
Kaitlyn:... yeah (laughter) it's not funny guys!

Stay tuned for more interesting factoids from trivia night with the Hilberts!

Graduation and Father's Day

What a fantastic weekend!  We had perfect weather (despite my burn), had a great time with the family, managed to run/walk 4 miles, and capped it off with the girls coming over for dinner.

Tried to get a picture of her giving the speech!

Saturday morning started with chaos around my apartment as Wes, Ian, and I all tried to get ready to head up to NH for Becca's graduation.  I wish I had a camera because Ian + Wes = the most adorable thing ever.  I love that these two get along so well, it makes me so happy and I feel so lucky! 

Becca's speech (she's the co-president of the NHS) was perfect.  She managed to bring mom into the speech in a way that people who knew her understood, but to everyone else it was just a nice quote.  Her speech actually brought tears to everyone's eyes and she still managed to make everyone laugh, I was so proud!

After graduation, we all went back to the house for a family BBQ and pictures.

Becca and her brothers, LOVE!

Her cake!

Family photo time!

After the BBQ, my dad, Jillian, Nonni and I all piled into the car and did a little house hunting.  Yep you heard right, Ian and I are house hunting!  I'm so excited and nervous to finally get out of the apartment situation and own my own place.  I cannot WAIT to be able to paint walls, change the flooring, park wherever I want, have whoever I want over, not worry about the noise, have my own backyard, and most importantly have something Ian and I can really make our own.  Sadly, we haven't found anything yet but I haven't (completely) lost hope, we'll find something!

Instead of chopping and stacking wood on Sunday, our Father's Day tradition, the family got muddy at the Ruckus Run.  This is the 3rd year I've done it and I honestly cannot think of a better family bonding experience.  It's amazing to me that we were able to complete a 4 mile mud run; going through mud, running up and down hills, scaling walls, tackling cargo nets, and navigating through very muddy wood trails.  We were laughing and joking the entire time, we didn't worry about our time and waited for each other after every single obstacle. Then we took our medals and free food and drove home smelly and exhausted.

The Bassi Bunch after finishing the muddiest course we've seen so far!!!

After taking a shower, as you can see I was covered in mud and smelled terrible, I relaxed for a few hours before getting dinner ready for the girls who were coming over for dinner.  It was the perfect end to an amazing weekend.  We ate delicious food, including black bean and avocado brownies, drank some wine, and caught up.  We've all left Pearson and all live in different areas so it's always nice to get together.  Sometimes it makes me sad that we don't live closer or all work together, but when we chat and I see how happy everyone is, it just makes me smile.  It makes me smile because despite the fact that it take a bit of coordinating and a lot of effort, we LOVE getting together and making plans.  It's a rare quality to have in friends, normally when you move away you talk every now and then, but these girls are different and I'm so grateful for them!  Plus I'm seeing them this Friday for Book Club, yay new books!

HASHTAG LakeLife!!!

Seeing as how my job requires me to be on and understand the various social networks and how i have two (now three) younger sisters on Twitter, it only seems fitting that we have come up with a hashtag (#) for the summer.  We all love to be up at the lake, especially during the summer so it only seemed fitting to have #lakelife as our official motto. 

While I spent last week in VA, I did spend Memorial weekend as well as the weekend after opening up the house and enjoying Lake Winnipesaukee to kick off the summer.  

Here's a quick snapshot of the past few weekends spent at the lake.  It's going to be amazing summer!!

First boat ride of the summer.  It was so windy out!

View from the top of the fire tower of Red Hill

T and I at the top of Red Hill!  The first of many hikes this summer

Trying to capture the entire view with the iPhone, it doesn't do it justice you HAVE to be there!

Kaitlyn and Jay came up for a weekend!

Yummy drinks for lunch in Wolfeboro

Boat ride around the lake!

Words to live by, painted on the bridge going to Long Island

View from Lago of Meredith Bay, See Church Landing?

Church Landing - they have a wedding tent up, so excited!

One moment we're out on the deck, the next a crazy wind storm hits

Which is quickly followed by the sun and calm water #lakelife!

It's picture time!

So, I was at bookclub the other day and mentioned my blog to my girlfriends.  I was explaining how I have all these blogs in my drafts with just the pictures because I pull them in from my phone, but never sit down to actually write anything.  So Jenny recommended that I just add the photos, a caption and call it a day.

So here it is, my life for the past few weeks!

At the Paint Bar with my old roomies, showing off my creative side!

Waiting for Jules to be "hooded" and named Dr. Jillian Bassi!

The fam at Dr. Bassi's graduation!

Jules with my grad gift, flowers made out of maps of places she's been while in school!

Back at the Paint Bar for Hawaii

Sister Photo Bomb before Becca's Prom!

Becca and her Prom date!

Ian and I started running in the morning!

Enjoying the gorgeous day by relaxing on my porch with a great book and a cup of coffee!

Life has been crazy these past few weeks (in a good way!) and I didn't even photograph it all!  My dad is also selling our family home so we spent weeks cleaning out the house, going through old things and either selling or throwing out stuff we won't be using anymore.  Last weekend (after Becca's prom) we had a HUGE yard sale and got rid of a ton of stuff that we just had lying around the house or tucked away on some shelf somewhere. I even sold my beanie baby collection (or part of it, there are some I just can't get rid of) to a woman who will be bringing them to Guatemala as a Christmas present for the kids, how sweet!

I'm really trying to go out more instead of just coming home after work.  It's really helping and I'm finding that I'm enjoying my alone time a lot more, hence the book and coffee on the porch!  

Look at that... I ended up writing anyway!!!

Enjoying a sunny day!

In an effort to be healthy, enjoy some fresh air, and not sit all day long, my co-workers and I walk around the condos and pond behind our office.  It's a nice half mile walk and gives us just enough time to get some "girl chat" out before heading back to a testosterone-filled office.  Have I mentioned that my office is predominantly male?

Anyways, while walking we came across two hopscotch courts, that were just too adorable to pass by without taking photos, and yes trying! We've been pretty stressed at work lately, so it was a great way to let off some steam and act like kids again.

Course brought to you by Alicia!

Course brought to you by Cary

Amanda going through the course

The Butterfly (Bird) Affect

One of my favorite movies is the butterfly affect.  Surprising I know, especially considering how much I LOVE romantic comedies and old-school Disney movies.  I honestly love movies that make you think and make me wonder what is actually going to happen at the end (unlike rom-coms and Disney flicks.). 

What does this have to do with me and my Golden Moment of the day (read few weeks as I haven't posted in a while)? I'll tell you...

• Spring is finally here, which means that it's actually nice and sunny in the morning
• This should mean that I'm actually getting out of bed to run since my excuse for not doing so during the winter was because it was gross, dark and cold in the morning
• As it turns out... I'm just lazy and don't feel like climbing out of bed instead of getting 20 more minutes of sleep
• What it does mean is that Ian and I now sleep with the windows and door open to get some fresh, cool air while we are sleeping 
• You would think that this would mean that the sunlight would wake us up in the morning, however we have those thick shades that completely block out the sun so it's nice and dark while we sleep. 
• However, the gorgeous spring weather also brought us the perfect alarm clock in the form of a freaking CHIRPING birds.
•  Seeing as how I cannot sleep through the annoying noise of birds demanding attention in the tree next to our window, I actually got out of bed at 6am and went for a run
• Coming back from the run I was actually energized so I was able to shower, eat, do my hair, and leave 15 minutes early for work.

So let's review, spring, cool air, open windows, chirping birds, morning run, nice hair, WORK ON TIME!!!

Even though it's Friday and there's absolutely nothing going on at work today, it was nice to walk in on time and not feel the need to make some stupid excuse as to why I was late.  Also, I have a friend who just moved here from JMU :) and we made plans to go out and celebrate tonight.  Instead of being upset that I won't have time to workout and do my hair/get ready, I'm wondering where we should go!

So, thanks spring for bringing the open windows and birds because I'm so ready for 5:00!!!!

Reality Check: Not just another chapter in a book

I love to read, I love to be transported into another person's life and see how their story progresses.  There's something magical about being pulled into a book and not having to worry about your own life for a few hours while the characters go through a series of changes and plot twists.  I've read about terrible things happening in the world to these characters and never gave it a second thought.    Then, something happens and I realize that it's actually happening to me and it's not as magical as I thought it would be. 

Yesterday, during our marketing meeting, my father's cell phone went crazy with news updates and he said "there was a bombing at the Boston Marathon."  My heart stopped and my mind went blank.  We immediately went online to Twitter and the local news sites and started watching as the updates came through, it was heartbreaking. 

Suddenly the quiet office, I work with a bunch of developers and engineers so you can usually hear a pin drop in the office, exploded with people texting and calling loved ones, checking every single news source out there and trying to get more information.  My phone was inundated with messages from friends and family members checking to make sure that Ian, my family and I were okay, it was surreal.  Thankfully, all of my friends who are in Boston and running the Marathon are safe, shaken up, but safe.

But the worst part of this entire experience has been the video coverage that has been playing in the news.  In it I can see a street I am very familiar with, a painting on the street that I've taken so many picture of, buildings and stores I've gone to frequently and the people of Boston, a city I love and cherish.  One second the footage was of victory and triumph and the second the screen was filled with people running, panicking, and offering to help.  And then you hear the screaming, the same screaming you hear in the movies or on the TV of imagine when you read about it in a book. However, this wasn't a different life or world, this was my world, my city, and people I might know.  It made it so much scarier, terrifying, and heartbreaking.

I'm still reeling and and so confused as to why anyone would want to do that to innocent people who wanted nothing more than to cross the finish line with their friends and family cheering and congratulating them after running 26 miles. Part of me feels like this is just another scene in a book I've read and that it hasn't really happened, but I know that isn't true.  My heart goes out to all of those who were injured, killed, scarred, and affected by yesterday's tragedy.  I am thinking of all of you.