Catching Up...

I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog post.  Yikes!   A lot has happened lately and I've been holding on to a lot of really great pictures, so without further ado, let's get caught up.

1. We survived a hurricane evacuation (in NYC...wha?!?) and a lot of rain from tropical storm Lee.  Here are some pictures of the destruction in the Haugen's neighborhood in CT.  When viewing these pictures, keep in mind that this is where we went to escape the storm.  We had a great time with B's family, but seriously...what were we thinking?  Look at the size of that tree that fell right across the street from us.  And, they lost power.  Downtown Manhattan had nothing on Greenwich.

2. I celebrated a birthday and gave in (for once) and let Brad plan a birthday brunch.  I'm not one for making a big deal out of my birthday, but since we're moving soon and this might be the last time for a while that I could do something like this on my birthday, I gave in.  We were supposed to do the brunch the weekend that Irene visited us at Rayuela in the Lower East Side, but had to move it to Labor Day weekend.  As a result, a lot of my favorite people were out of town, but we still had a great time!

3. Last Saturday, Mack Brown turned 4!!  Which means that in dog years, Mack and I are the exact same age.  Weird, huh?  Check out the cake below that I made him.  I bought a cake mix at a doggie boutique in our neighborhood and it was seriously the easiest cake ever to make.  It comes with a cake mix and a icing mix.  You just add water, cook it in the microwave, and ice it.  Mack LOVED it. (We sent his cousin Daisy one, too!)

4.  We continued our Labor Day celebration on Sunday at our friends Jeremy and Danijela's apartment.  They have an amazing terrace downtown from which you can see both the Battery and the progress on One World Trade.  We truly said goodbye to summer in style.  J and D, thanks again for hosting!

5.  Lastly, today is bittersweet.  We're going to a bar crawl/ going away party for our good friend Joe who is moving to London next week to get his MBA at Oxford.  We're so proud of you Joe.  You're truly going to be missed.  Today is also college football Saturday, which means the Horns play!  We're DVRing the game so that we can celebrate with Joe, so, yes, I will be watching football into the wee hours of the morning.  You know someone means a lot to B and I when we miss a Texas game for them!  Hook 'em!!