2004 Wrap Up

Well, that's it I think. I think I have now posted our lives (as they began to be recorded in digital format) until 2004. If you read this far, wow, bravo, you really hung in there! Now only two more years to fill in...

New Year's Eve

The last day of 2004 and the weather was so mild that we could wear light fleeces and no gloves. We went out to the playground in Prospect Park because I love to swing on the swings.

Xmas Hats

The big hit of this year: Christmas hats that my sister's boyfriend K brought from Scotland. You get a hat and you get a firecracker like thing that pops open and gives you a little treat. It was a lot of fun! Scroll down for more silly photos of people in their Christmas hats.

Christmas 2004 Extravaganza!

So, here's a picture of what Christmas in my house used to look like. This is a Christmas for 6 grown adults. I say "used to" because my sister and I have begun a long and arduous campaign of driving to get my mom to take a chill pill on the present buying. She goes just a tad overboard (we love you Mom, we do, and you rock, and we love Christmas, don't get me wrong)! When I post the pics from 2005, 2006, 2007, and eventually 2008, we will do a side by side comparison to see if she has actually slacked off any now that we're "older".

Me and J

I couldn't decide which of these I liked best - the serious or the silly grin - so you get to see them both. Scroll down for two photos.

My Fam

Here's me and the Fam doing the posey-fam-photo on Christmas eve.

J and the "Insert Crappy Company Name Here" Band

This was the fall/winter of J and the "XXX" Band. He made a band, AT WORK. Seriously, he acquired all the instruments (including the drum kit) and brought them into work and recruited his friends and taught them to play. He made a violinist into a basist and a Serbian guy into the drummer. They rehearsed in the office late at night and eventually put on a very amusing show at the company Christmas party. Sadly, he hasn't been in a band since. J writes a little about it here.

And, MAN, was I ever a bad photographer...

Julia

A recently discovered "deep cut" photo from Julia's photo shoot. This is so awesome! Kids are the happiest people.

J and Julia

It took J quite a while to come around to the idea of Julia (as in Julia "the baby thing" not Julia as a real person). He swears he only knows how to deal with kids who are old enough to wrestle and play monster and climb on him. But, it was super cute when Julia saw juggling for the first time ever. She was completely mesmerized!

The Family

The Mannings asked me to take a family portrait of them and OH DEAR GOD ISN'T THIS HORRIBLE!!!!! I am embarrassed to say that I even shot this...it's part of my personal growth to put this up on the blog and show it to you guys. I love the Mannings, but I had NO IDEA what the hell I was doing. Posed Family portraits are still not my specialty though.

Julia Baby Pics, Round 2

This was my second attempt at baby pictures. Man, haven't I come a LONG, LONG way???? I hadn't yet learned much about white balance at this point so you'll have to forgive the major crapiness. You should see the other ones, she's totally BLUE.

The Farm

Another trip to the Manning Farm. This would be our second annual Xmas-NewYear-ish trip. The first annual was recorded on FILM (for chissakes) and Julia was a teeny tiny newborn baby.

The Farm

Calf

I wonder what cow #591 looks like now?

Nascar in NY

For those of you who don't know, I am a HUGE Nascar fan! At the end of every season, Nascar brings all the cars to their NY headquarters. They parade through the streets of Manhattan and stop right down the street from my workplace on Park Ave. I snuck out of work to go down and see my favorite car, #48 baby!