my family is awesome

Random Fact: my family is awesome.

Last weekend we all went to Philly to visit the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  We saw Katie while we were there, too!

<3 barb

PS: I used the app PicFrame for that top collage, its one of my new faves :-)

katie goes to college

On Sunday, the fam took a trip to The Melting Pot, for our last big dinner out before taking Katie to college.  We had so much fun with all the different types of fondue, and it was a nice long evening of laughing and enjoying our time together.  Here's the pics... they're dark but you get the picture:

mom and dad

have I mentioned that I love these two?

lots of yummy food

mom with a lobster tail nose!

yea, I did it too!

Anyway, we're bringing Katie to college and I am so excited for her, even though I will miss her so much.  I've had so much fun being home with her since I graduated, but I know that she will learn so many things, and make great friends, and have the time of her life.  That's what college is all about, right?

my best friend

In case you were wondering, Katie is going to school for Interior Design.  She is so creative, so intelligent, and has such an amazing eye for style... I know that she will do very well with her chosen major.  I can't wait to see her work!  (and, I can't wait to have another little designerd hanging around the house, so we can talk fonts and photoshop)  I just can't believe it's time for her to go to college already, I always think of her as being so young... probably because she IS seven years younger than I am.  But this will be the start of a very big adventure, and I wish her success and happiness on her journey :-D
this calls for some T Swift:

<3 barb

PS - After PJ and I help Katie move into her dorm, we'll be heading down to DC for a little vacation.  Hooray!

seeing t swizzle

On Saturday night, Katie, her friend Emily, PJ and I ventured out to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ to see Taylor Swift. I could tell you that I had been looking forward to this for weeks, but I would be lying. Friday afternoon at work I was procrastinating, knew T Swift was in the area, and wandered over to Stub Hub to see if I could get some tickets that were A-not going to give me nosebleeds and B-not going to empty my bank account. I scored on both counts, and after consulting my sister, I got 4 tickets and proceeded to freak out for the rest of the day.
We took a lot of pictures, both before and during the show, so I'm just gonna drop them all in and skip the descriptions (for the most part)...





Yea, we made shirts... even PJ... He thinks he's funny!




















So right here, I got super emotional... Taylor was explaining how you never forget the first song you learn to play on guitar. As she strummed the tune of Cowboy Take Me Away, by the Dixie Chicks, she told the audience that Martie Maguire (1/3 of the aforementioned Chicks) was actually in the crowd! I am a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks, so obviously I totally freaked out! ...this is also the point where Taylor came out and sat in the middle of the floor seats, so she was wayyyy closer to us than the rest of the concert :-)






Then, this happened... fully dressed as a princess, Taylor stepped onto what I can only describe as Juliet's balcony and proceeded to float around the arena!
To say it was awesome doesn't really explain how much we loved it or how much fun we had. We are big Taylor fans in my house, and her concert did not disappoint at all. I may have (yes, I did) lost my voice a bit from all of the singing along and cheering that I did all night, but it was totally worth it. There's really not much more to say... I <3 T Swift!

<3 barb

Katie's birthday weekend

I know I promised these pics last week, but better late than never, right?
My sister's birthday is the 4th of July, so we took advantage of the long weekend to celebrate for a few days, rather than just 1.
On Sunday, PJ and I took Katie to see Zarkana, a Cirque du Soleil show at the Radio City Music Hall. While you're not allowed to take pictures during the show, I snapped a few of the performers as they came out before the show and interacted with the audience.








They sat in the audience, followed people as they walked down the aisles, and were so much fun to watch. I felt like seeing these performers before the show really built up the excitement for the show!
Not only was it Katie's first experience with Cirque, but it was her first trip to Radio City Music Hall. (and mine too)! I really was not even slightly prepared for how beautiful it was.
On the 4th of July, my family and I headed into Manhattan to see the Macy's fireworks display. It's been a tradition that we see fireworks every year"for Katie's birthday"... Imagine the bummer when we had to tell her that the fireworks were actually for America's birthday, and not hers!


My uncle is a police officer with the NYPD, so he was able to get us into a special viewing area, out on a pier a few blocks south of the Intrepid. While out party was probably not as awesome as the one at the Intrepid, we had burgers, hot dogs, free ice cream, and beer! Well, Katie didn't have beer... It was only her 18th birthday...


I love my parents! They really are the best :-)

While Katie's actual birthday was a blast, we kept the party going through the 5th, since the weekend's festivities hadn't left us much time for cake. I spent some serious time making cake and decorations for my #1 sister... Like, way more time than I planned! It's ok tho, because I love her.


Recognize that banner? I got the idea from A Bit of Sunshine. If you're going to tackle this, be aware that it's like a 6 hour project! Yikes...
I also made a fancy cake...


It was really tall! This was another 6 hour ordeal.... Mostly because the inside of the cake looked like this:


Yup! It was a flag! It must have been really delicious, because there weren't any leftovers... And if you're wondering how the heck I did it, you can find step by step instructions on Glorious Treats. My cake was not nearly as red as hers, or even as red as it looks in the picture... and I used approx 45 drops of food coloring... it looked more like the flag of the United States of Barbie. That's ok though, right? I mean, we still ate it ALL :-D


All in all, it was a great weekend! And while it's totally scary that my little sister is now 18, every day she becomes more my friend and less my baby sister. True story: I was totally bummed when she was born because I couldn't play with her... I really thought I would have an instant buddy, someone who I could do everything with all the time, but really all she could do back then was giggle. 18 years later she's still giggling (even at my Dad's worst jokes), but she's also the best buddy I had always wished for :-)

<3 barb

a month of Katie

Tuesday concluded what I jokingly referred to as "a month of celebrating Katie". If you know me, then you know that Katie is my only (and yes, my favorite) sister. Not only is she beautiful, but she's smart and funny, has great fashion sense, and is just about the coolest person ever. So, why were we celebrating her all month? Besides all of the above, there was Track & Field Championships, Senior Prom, High School Graduation, and finally her 18th Birthday! I know, pretty big month... Not gonna lie, I was pretty jealous of all the fun she had!

She may actually kill me for posting this photo, but how could I not? Finally, as a senior (and team captain), Katie found her event... the 1500m Racewalk. After winning the Staten Island public school championship race, she went on to New York City champs, where she set a school record. Add being a pretty impressive athlete to the list...At the risk of going overboard, I should mention to you that she couldn't catch a ball if her hands were covered with glue. Yup, that's something she learned from her big sister... or, didn't.

Then there was prom, where Katie proved that you don't need to be serious to be beautiful. Above, she is demonstrating the multitude of ways to style the sash on the front of her gown!

Since I'm such a good sister, I used the extra fabric trimmed off to hem the dress to make a flower hair clip for Katie's hair. What's that? You wish you had a sister like me? Yea, so do I! Hahaha... Just kidding... Kind of...

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, here's Katie with her best friend Victoria, who also happens to have beautiful, brightly printed gown. Where were these fun dresses when I went to prom? So jealous.

Family photo at graduation! We're so proud of her... Not that we ever doubted she would graduate... She's a genius! But look at her fancy collar and her medal, she was inducted into the National Honor Society, and received an award for Character. More like for BEING a character!

This picture kept growing. Every time a student walked past, they jumped in! That's one of their favorite teachers in the middle.

This is Katie and I with a teacher we both had (and absolutely love!)... There was no way I'd miss that photo opp! And yes, we are wearing matching outfits, but not on purpose :-)
I planned to wrap up this post with pics from the birthday weekend, which is also 4th of July weekend, but I didn't realize that my new iPad camera adapter wouldn't take my xD card... So those pics aren't available yet. Not to mention how lengthy this post has gotten, which isn't surprising, I could talk about Katie all day!
I'm going to get it together and download my pics... I've got some sweet b-day crafts to show too ;-)

<3 barb

photo montage

you may be wondering where i've been, or maybe you're just like "whatev, barb gave up on this blog thing"... but i haven't!  so i'm back today to show a few pics of my most recent adventures!

of course, i went up to albany, and then troy... in albany i visited ili, dave, and erin... we made delicious margaritas, and some dinner too... i have no pictures of this (fail) :-(

(Erzie, Amanda, ME, Grace, Lauren, Symona)

BUT i DO have a pic of me and some lovely Alpha Gams at the advisor mixer we had at our chapter house in Troy!  I really love spending time with the girls (and i think they kinda like me too!)
On Saturday, I did one of my very favorite things... i went for a run with my sister!  regretfully, i didn't bring my camera with me while we ran (it was a really pretty day and we ran at the park)... however, i think we MORE THAN made up for it with this ridiculous "jumping" photo shoot after our run... you can see our little front porch picnic in the background:

(click to enlarge... its better that way!)

yea... me and katie are awesome, as evidenced by this...

other awesome news... i sent a headband to LONDON yesterday!  wahoo LONDON! it looked a little bit (or a lot bit) like this: 

shes cute, i know... i hope that she will be well loved by Aimee from London!

i'll leave you with a pic from Sunday's Staten Island St. Patty's Day Parade! since, really, who doesn't love pretty girls?

(ME, Juliana, Val)

Val and I are both wearing headbands that I made :-) oh happiness!

hope you enjoyed the pics!  my next adventure brings me out to California to visit the wonderful LJ... i promise i'll post when i return on Monday :-D

<3 barb

PS... HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DANIELLE!