life so far

these past three weeks we have been settling in to our new house and life here in bryn mawr. it's been an easy transition, and we are loving being so close to family and friends. we have been using our time off to explore and do some fun stuff. 

 bike riding through valley forge. 

 enjoying a cool morning on the hammock.

 eagles training camp. so neat. 

 ice cream at "the farm"

iced latte. peach-pear-apricot smoothie. raisin spice vegan cookie. 

work starts monday. heading downtown tonight to enjoy baltimore ave dollar days (basically all the restaurants come outside and give you food for a dollar....need i say more?) and then going to the shore on saturday. 

journey to philly

well we finally made it to philly. it was a long 24 hour drive...yes 24 hours. but alas we made it! here are some pictures of the ride. 

we left west palm with a bang. all of our friends went out for our last dinner together and stefano and i destroyed the "grease beast"...it's a double cheese burger with two grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, fries, and onion rings all piled high on top of each other. delicious. 

and yes we did have chest pains later that night. 

 getting gas in some state in the middle of the night. we were both over driving at this point. stefano was driving the penske truck with the volvo on the back and shilah and i were following behind him in the jetta. 

every time i looked back at her on the trip she looked so peaceful and cozy. poor thing has such a hard life. ha!

never been so happy to see this sign. 

we made it! woo hoo!

im on a boooooat.

this past weekend we celebrated our friends birthday by renting a boat. it was such a blast. we cruised over to peanut island and got to see west palm from a different angle that you normally don't see from the road. it was such a relaxing day on the water with great friends. 

getting ready to unleash the boat....

 the birthday boy and his lovely wife. 

love these two!

still not sure why i'm wearing two hats? lol. 

you can always count on lots of laughs and lots of food when you're hanging out with all of us.

it was so nice to be surrounded by our lovely friends on our last few days here in west palm beach.

 it's going to be really hard to say good-bye to our friends. *tear*

two of the coolest girls. ever.

for the past few months i have had the pleasure of nannying two amazing girls. 

today we had to say "see you later" (i don't say good-byes well, lol) as they left the country and we leave next week for philly. 

i'm really going to miss spending time with their amazing family!

 taking a homework break for pool time and nutella....of course.

 love this chicka!

i am going to miss these two so much! 

packing and tutti frutti

so we have been busy this past week packing up our apartment. we leave next week for philly, and i am still shocked on how fast time has gone by. we enjoyed some quality time with our friends recently by going to the norton arm museum and eating tutti frutti. our favorite. 

there is something about picking different flavors of yummy frozen yogurt and multiple toppings that i just love. 

i hope everyone had a great 4th of july. i spent my day with some amazing girls at a water park, and a bbq and fireworks for dinner. such a splendid day! :)

simply delicious.

so yummy.

back to the reality of packing. almost there.

all snuggled up to watch the storm outside.

 i get excited over buying a new trash can. i am pathetic. 

mr. harriton

so i have to dedicate this blog to my brother-in-law lorenzo. stef and i surprised him and his mom by coming to his high school graduation. they were both really happy...we even made his mom cry. hehe.

over the past 8 years i have seen lorenzo grow up to be quite a young man. it was so exciting to see him walk across the stage and begin this new chapter of his life. 

so proud of you lorenzo!

it's offical.

 lorenzo and monica

brothers and sisters

philly willy

these past two weeks stefano and i were visiting family in philly because his older brother got married, and younger brother graduated high school. yay! 

we are packing up our belonging and heading up to philly in 14 days. craziness. but amongst the wedding planning we were able to explore and prepare for our move. 

carlinos. chicken salad sandwich and fruit smoothie. enough said.

 rey and hilary's awesome cat liam. he will just randomly lay like this throughout the day. and he even does tricks. 

 the little brothers being spiders at the park.

 started painting the new house! 

 going to lorenzo's graduation with my sister---so fun to say this now :)

 being amish for a day in lancaster.

 we discovered a 5 acre dog park that is absolutely beautiful. can't wait to take shilah

these little love birds are enjoying their honeymoon, but their wedding was so wonderful. more pics of it to come. 

mango addict

there are many good things about living in florida, but one stands out among the rest. 

mango tress.

 its heavenly. 

stefano ate six in one morning. im so proud.

ruff. ruff.

ok i promise that every blog post won't be about our dog. ;) but i have been dog sitting and couldn't help but share these cute pictures i captured. 

found these two cuties all cuddled up after my shower.

 reading. 

nap time. sal passed out on our suitcase. cutie.

shilah finally learned how to jump off the side of the pool. groundbreaking.

our furry child

some of you may already know that stef and i are moving back to philadelphia this summer. for those of you just tuning in now, i will post more on this topic later. 

the thought of moving is truly bitter-sweet. we are so excited to be surrounded by family and friends in philly, but sad to leave the memories we have made here. our furry child- shilah is a florida girl at heart. she is every bit lab, and surely will miss the beach and her friends at the dog park. she will be 2 in july, so we wanted to share how much she has grown. 

first time at the beach.

 playing at the park.

first trip to the vet.

 christmas morning. her new bed.

key biscayne.

her partner in crime emma.

 at the beach.

the morning we flew her to dallas.

shilah has turned out to be a great dog. our furniture, shoes, and carpet are still in-tack. she pretends to be protective, but really is a sweetheart. she thinks she is 5 lbs by the way she cuddles on the bed (taking up the whole thing and only batting her puppy dog eyes when we try to move her). 

shilah's first trip to the beach. 

the holy land of pizza

this past week i visited chicago. part business part play. i took a certification exam for the child life council and attended a three day conference that they hold every year. i learned so much! i was able to stay a couple of extra days to soak up the city, and i am so glad i did, because its awesome!! i had a great tour guide (regina, a very good friend from west palm, that is familiar with the city) so i saw a bunch of places that you would not find on your average tourist trip. 

i did of course indulge in pizza, on more than one occasion.

 we ate at this cool taco place called big star in bucktown. if you're ever in the chicago area, you should check it out! great food.  fun atmosphere.

this street was a gem. how cute are these homes?

 on the last day of my trip the weather was gorgeous! i happily spent the day in lincoln park.

 michigan ave.

water towers

 bucktown.

 quite possibly the best french toast i've ever had. i wanted to finish all 4 pieces but i was afraid the button on my jeans would shoot across the restaurant. 

 view of downtown from the john hancock building. 94 stories high. eek!

my wonderful view from the hotel room :)