One week ago and in one week

One week ago we were celebrating our one year anniversary! We had a nice weekend. On Saturday night we went to a local restaurant the Colombia Bar and Grill. I had the ice cold shrimp cocktail, a spring mix salad with dried cherries and blue cheese and most delicious crab imperial topped flounder ever and Duane had a seared Ahi tuna appetizer and crab topped chicken. We shared a delicious chocolate cake dessert and memories of our wonderful wedding day. On Sunday we had a nice surf and turf dinner complete with Mexican appetizers and drinks with both sets of parents. Sticking with the traditional theme gift of paper, Duane added to the pages of a love journal I had given him on a previous anniversary and I got him a print of the night sky on our wedding night from Indigo nights. What a great end to a wonderful year of marriage!

In one week Duane and I will be celebrating our year of marriage in St. Kitts! We can't wait to be in the beautiful weather, drinking cold beverages and lounging on the beach or by the pool!

Since I can't post without some pictures, here are some pictures of that crazy cat Charley again. He is a maniac around strings and seems to have a radar for them. I had to take the one out of my hooded sweatshirt so that I could actually do things around the house. Check out the video of him digging for the string and photos of him enjoying string play time!

One year ago...

...we were on our way down to Mexico :::sigh:::

Mr. Hollywood

Charley is not much of a performer. He has this Feather ball toy that he goes absolutely wild for - he'll play with the thing for hours! Funny how as soon as I try to video it, he goes back to his little Amish-in-front-of-the-camera ways! Anyway, here's some quick video where for a brief second you get the idea about how he drags it around and scoots on his back after it! I'm trying to get some more wild footage, it's just too funny not to get on file! Also we're trying to get him when he sings in the shower, but more on that later!

3 years since settlement!

Three years ago today, Duane and I settled on our first home - a brand new townhouse! Can you believe I still have boxes of crap that I haven't unpacked yet?! Here are some pics from the building by THP.

^Lot B3 even before the digging began

^Living Room THEN

^Living Room 3 Years Later

Academy of Natural Sciences - A bust!

We had won tickets to the Academy of Natural Sciences last summer and finally decided to turn them in. I was excited and expecting to find lots of things to practice photographing. I quickly learned why Duane wasn't too excited to be making the trip - let's just say that it wasn't what I expected. Think lots of bones and dead, stuffed animals behind dirty glass. There was a Live Butterfly exhibit that you walked through which was nice but it was so darn hot and humid in there, my camera fogged up immediately and I was sweating too much before it cleared up! It was nice to visit but I kind of don't think we'll be going back :) Although pretty crappy, here are a few pictures I got...








And today, I got some funny pictures of my captive subject, Charley (I think he was a little annoyed at me for snapping these, what do you think?!):

A few late practice Christmas shots...

Here are a few pics I captured while practicing with my camera and new lens over the Christmas holiday. Enjoy!

^Our stockings

^Love the DOF I can get with my new lens!
We got this ornament while on our honeymoon in Mexico. Not sure why it doesn't look as crisp here as it does in Photoshop...

^Love the DOF I can get with my new lens! Aww, it's a bride and groom ornament! Having the same crisp issue with this one too...


And of course, a few of the little guy, Charley...

Have you seen this site...

I Can Has Cheezburger? When I first was introduced to this website I didn't think it could beat Stuff on My Cat but now I can't get over how much more funny it is! It has a language of its own, kind of like phonetics, that is added to regular silly pictures, most times of cats, sometimes other animals, and just has the funniest writers. Check it out if you like these samples...

Happy Birthday Charley!!!

Our little guy Charley is 3 years old today! The little winter solstice kitten was born December 21, 2004 to Dad, Catara Remington Steel of Lawrence and Mom, Catara Blizzard's Little Snowflake of Phillipsburg, PA. He is a Chocolate point Siamese.

In his 3 years, Charley has enjoyed things such as:

• Being the main subject of his mom's photography hobby
• Being the star of the Peck's 2007 Christmas card
• An addition to the table centerpiece luminaries at the wedding
• Playing with milk caps and wristbands
• Knocking over trash cans to chew on Q-tips
• Carrying around stuffed animals and socks
• Tearing around the house at full speeds
• Laying in the sun
• Sitting on the vents when the heat comes on
• Burrowing and sleeping under the covers
• Making his mom and dad laugh every day
• Being the most loyal cat his mom has ever seen.

Here are some pictures from when we first got Charley (in March 2005) and through the years!

^He was so little when he came home - look at that collar, it was the smallest available!

^He was also very light, the coloring on his face and extremities, like all Siamese, didn't really come in until later on

^For the first few months he was so little we had to keep him in a spare room during the day

^He played from the minute we brought him home

^He was so little he fit in Duane's hand when he curled up!

^He enjoys a good acoustic guitar solo by Duane

^Sometimes he doesn't want his picture taken

^Our wedding reception luminary centerpieces starring Charley (and us and the table numbers on the other sides)

^2007 Christmas card

^Our naked boy. (The back of the 2007 Christmas card)

P.S. - We know we seem like crazy cat people, but we just can't help it! Charley is the best and most loved cat ever!

10 monthiverssary was Monday!

It's been 10 months of marriage - 2 more and we've made it a year! To celebrate we're going on a trip to St. Kitts! We've booked everything and are just counting down the days now!

We'll be staying at the St. Kitts Marriott from February 23rd to March 1st! Now to get into bathing suit shape again!

Weekend Recap

It's been a busy few weeks for us with traveling for work and classes winding down. By the end of this coming week, Duane and I will be done classes until January and I don't have any more trips scheduled for 2007. Two more weeks of work then the holidays! I have the last week of December off and can't wait!

We had Duane's Christmas party at the Commonwealth Manor House on Friday. It was nice because it wasn't the normal sit down format and the band was great - a 10 piece band!

^Here we are ready to go out on Saturday

Saturday night was my work Christmas party. It was at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. On our drive down we were reminded that Hanuka is going on with this menorah on top of a car on the Schuylkill:


The party was really nice but a little overwhelming. I never thought about how many people are at Shire until my manager put it in perspective - three buildings each have three floors of people...makes up about 600 people at this party! Sadly I knew more people at the Nextgen party than mine but hopefully that will change soon! We didn't get to see too many exhibits but we did meet a few of the signers of the Constitution...

^Here's Duane and George Washington! Who knew George was such a big guy!

We left early to make our way up to Tammy's 30th surprise birthday party. When we left, all the cars parked on the street in the area had menorahs again! It was just so crazy!

Tammy's party was kind of winding down by the time we got there. She was definitely surprised and happy to have everyone there though! Good thing we weren't there all night - we had a bit of a fashion fopa...check this out (Great minds really do think alike!)

Happy Birthday Tammy (a little early)!

Finally, some sad news, we lost my Uncle Barry this Friday. I'm sure he's in a better place now with no pain, probably fishing for catfish and finding great deals.