Evelyn's Visit to Aberdeen in 2002

From Evelyn Cooper, July 2002:

This photo was taken near Braeman on my visit to Aberdeen this year. We are in a jolly mood, having just partaken of an excellent barbeque (with wine) supplied by Pattie and Douglas -- Mary's daughter and son in [can't read the town].

Christmas Day in Randolph

We spent a cozy Christmas day in Randolph this year. There's still snow on the ground, but not as much as about a week ago. The weather was very chilly and we had a fire in the fireplace. Again there was more eating and drinking. We had a big pancake breakfast after opening the presents. Later we ate turkey with all the trimmings and pumpkin pie for dessert.

As a joke, my parents got Amy and I "snuggies" and we laughed about that for a while. I can't bear to put the photos from that on here. It isn't pretty.

We did some after Christmas shopping and I picked up a "Coraline" for us to watch at night. It was fun because it came with 3-D glasses. I"m sure it wasn't exactly like it would be in the theatre, but it was pretty interesting. While I was really excited to see the movie, I fell asleep towards the end with my 3-D glasses on and all. Amy thought this was pretty funny.

Christmas Eve 2009 in NJ

We spent Christmas Eve in New Jersey at the Asheys' house with my Aunt Kathryn, cousins Jeff, Pete, Liz, their daughters (Jill and Paige), my sister and my parents.

I was a little late because I had to work on until about 3 PM on Christmas Eve as my company throws a party for employees' children that day and my team runs the party. The party went well. There were games, crafts, sing-a-longs, and lots of kid-friendly food. Decor included balloon arches and giant snowmen and penguins.

I hopped on the train from Newark and my parents picked up in Raritan. Then, we headed to my cousins' house. When we got there, we were greeted by their chocolate lab, Cody, and my cousin Pete. There were tons of appetizers and wine. After that, we had a delicious dinner of pork, gravy, green beans and salad among other things.

Around dessert, we were visited by some close friends of my cousins'. Their kids are similar ages to Jill and Paige. The adults talked in the dining room while the girls (and their brother) hung out in the living room. When the guests left, we went to the living room to open the presents.

Jill and Paige got a brand new electric guitar and amp. Jeff played a song or two and helped Paige to pluck out a tune. They were thrilled. Everyone seemed very happy with their gifts. Cody was eager to get in on the fun and jumped around with us.

There was talk of Santa coming soon, so we decided it was time to leave and headed back to Randolph to get some sleep before another day of eating and drinking.

Pictured: (top, right) Sue, Amy and Heather; (middle, left) Aunt K, Paige and Jeff; (middle, left) Liz and Jill; (bottom, left) Group shot.

New Home for Heather

Sorry I've been out of touch for so long, but life has been very hectic for me. A lot of big changes at once. Most of my time has been filled with preparing to move, then moving and then settling in to my new home. In addition, I am in my busiest season at work. All in all, a very busy time for me.

My new place is shaping up pretty well. I got most of the furniture that I needed. I was thrilled to get my new bed! Sleeping on a mattress on the floor gets old pretty quick. It has a a bunch of drawers under it so that I don't need a dresser.

Another cool thing that I got is a little table that folds up into a little box where you can keep the extra chairs. It's perfect for a small space like mine. And, it got delivered all put together so I didn't have to battle with instructions or funny shaped tools and things.


The location of my new place is better than I had hoped. I'm near a lot of major subway stops and still in the same neighborhood as before. It's great. Hope that you can come to see it soon!

South Beach!

This year, the summer flew right by. I think this is partly because the weather was strange and unsummer-like. We had rain for all of June; Spring-like weather in July and mixed sunny and rainy-ish weather in August. So September and October, the fall have been chilly. Also, Guillaume and I were both working a lot. We had lots of big projects and other things at work that were keeping us very busy.

During this hectic time, I was able to sneak away for a long weekend in August in South Beach in Miami, Florida. Lucky for me, the weather was sunny with little rain. Most people don't go to Florida in August for the very reason that it's sweltering so it wasn't too crowded. Since South Beach can be kind of sceney, I prefer to avoid to the crowds. And, who cares if it's hot if all you've got to do is sit on a beach chair under an umbrella near the ocean?

I didn't do much of anything while I was there. In the morning, I'd take a yoga class and eat

breakfast. Then, I'd head to the beach with my book and ipod. I'd break for lunch and go back

to the beach again afterwards. After the beach, I'd head to the pool on the roof of the hotel and then look for somewhere to eat. I found an excellent Indian place, enjoyed middle eastern food and took myself out to Wish, a fancy restaurant in the hotel where I stayed.

I stayed at this place called The Hotel of South Beach, which was fantastic. The rooms were nice and the staff was very helpful. The pool on the roof was a nice way to end the beach day. You could see the ocean from the pool and the mojitos were excellent! On Saturday, you could see the cruise ships leaving their ports.

There is a sandwich place, La Sandwicherie, which has fantastic sandwiches. The owners are from France and make the best sandwiches ever. It is on 14th street and Washington near the Club Deuce Bar, one of the older (and divey) bars around. It has an open counter with stools where you can sit and order your sandwich. One sandwich can easily feed two people and comes with the famous La Sandwicherie Vinagrette. It's excellent.

Had a great time in South Beach and looking forward to going back again some time soon.

The High Line in NYC

Recently, after years of planning and negotiations, the High Line reopened in NYC. It is now an amazing park that is open to the public that allows spectacular views and shows innovative design. Guillaume and I decided to visit it to see what all the fuss was about.

It was really amazing. You can access the park via stairs at three or four different access points. You can see the old tracks through the giant bushes and wildflowers growing around them. There are benches to rest and take in the interesting aerial view of the street. At one place, there is a mini-theatre style set up of benches looking through a giant glass window over the street. It's an interesting angle to view the cars whooshing by. The path follows the tracks, which wind through new and old buildings.

The design of the park gives you a good glimpse of its history. Built in the 1930s, the High Line was part of the West Side Improvement, a public-private infrastructure project. It was an elevated train track that removed dangerous trains carrying freight off the streets near Manhattan's largest industrial district. Trains stopped running on these tracks in the 1980s.

In 1999, Friends of the High Line formed because the structure was slated to be demolished. This group works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure. You can see historic photos of the High Line here

Guillaume's Work Summer Party 2009

A few weeks ago, we went to Guillaume's work summer party on Randall's Island in NYC. It's always an over-the-top, fun event. There is a free ferry specifically for the party that takes you to the island.

It has something for everyone. This year there was a fake "rooftop" wine bar that looked just like a NYC apartment building rooftop. They had several different versions of wine and loungy seating on a high platform that rested beneath the trees. There was a skating rink, baby pools, sandcastles and a fake boardwalk for families to enjoy. The kids can make crafts and watch musicians. At night the skating rink turned into a giant dj booth for dancing. Of course, there were tons of Michael Jackson songs this year.

The food was also excellent. You could get the typical hot dogs and hamburgers and corn or you could opt for veggie samosas or jerk chicken empandas. There was also a giant seafood shack with crabs and other stuff like that. There were plenty of bars and places to get lemonade and iced tea and soda.

We mingled with Guillaumes co-workers and bosses and ate ourselves silly. We even tried shooting some hoops along the fake boardwalk. After that we took the ferry home and called it a night. It was a blast!