IS THAT A RING IN YOUR POCKET?

Please excuse the delay in this entry as I had every intention of keeping up with a monthly post... That was until I received a text message, roughly a month and a half ago, from MG (AKA Michelle Guerin/ my bridesmaid and future sister in law).
The text read : What kind of ring do you want?
At first glance, this message seemed fairly routine..as MG and I tend to chat about such topics like trendy nail polish colors, jewelry and our favorite new stores opening up. I casually shared the text with my Amie Fabulous who was quick to inform me:
"Oh my god, you are getting engaged!"
My lipless world as we knew it had been changed forever with these seven words.....

I am a self proclaimed "girl's girl"... A hopeless romantic who enjoys long walks on the beach. I don't understand football and Lifetime is my favorite channel. But never have I been one to care about rushing down that aisle!! I supposed it would happen for me someday, but I was happy to sit back and enjoy the ride/ wait.

This ride came to a screeching halt mid August.. and suddenly I barely recognized my own behavior. The weekend following the "ring inquiry", Tommy decided to plan a romantic weekend get away to Booth Bay Harbor....
He insisted on taking care of all of the details and arrangements as I sat back and stared at whom I thought for sure was my future groom. I was nervous, excited, crazy and ready for anything at this point.

As we drove up to Maine, I paid extra careful attention to details....When Tommy looked over at me and said, "You make me so happy..." I thought for sure this was it! I was so happy that I had packed my favorite lipstick!
Once settled at the hotel, after things seemed pretty status quo and Tommy was in the shower, I took it upon myself to search all of his belongings. The bottle of champagne in his duffle bag was a clear sign: I was getting engaged right here right now!

It didn't happen that Friday night, but Saturday was a new day and that champagne was still in hiding. Pretty sure I called about ten people that day just to clue them in that I would be returning a bride to be....
The sunset cruise was upon us and I was ready to say YES! With every question Tommy had to ask me, I was surprised to see him still standing up and not down on one knee. I officially lost my mind here in Booth Bay and returned with nothing but a rough draft of our guest list.

Needless to say, things were never to be normal again. Each time I couldn't locate Tommy for five minutes or more at any given time of the day or night I thought for sure he was up in NH asking for family's permission.
"How is Joe doing?" I would ask him after work....
"What the heck are you talking about?" he would answer as I winked at him. Yikes!

Several weeks went by, our trip to Maine was a distant memory, no one seemed to care what sort of ring I wanted anymore and I was ready to step it into high gear. I searched his underwear drawer, sneakers, cereal boxes and glove box. Nothing.
Tommy (knowing what he was dealing with) would laugh and claim that it would "happen before Christmas and to relax." That certainly wasn't sitting well as I had the entire wedding day planned at this point, but I believed him and tried to forget.

Our one year anniversary.. (one month later) was here and I was happy to exchange cards and play a game of scrabble at home. We had shared an amazing year together filled with fancy dinners, vacations, gifts etc... No need to go overboard.Truth is I had already put together a wedding budget which did not include any extravagant date nights in the mean time.
When Tommy made reservations at the Wentworth (location of our first date) for dinner I thought he was crazy and I wasn't afraid to tell him as much! I reluctantly headed up there with him counting down the days til Christmas. A real roller coaster ride if you will.

As we walked into the restaraunt, a surge of clarity came over me. It may have had something to do with the fact that I happened to feel a jewelry box in his pocket. And can you believe I had no lipstick with me!!???

I was engaged to the absolute love of my life/ best friend that evening and I wish I could tell you that I have relaxed a bit, but that would be a lie. I am frantically planning the wedding of our dreams! Please stay tuned-

Could be the most interesting 8 months of Tommy's life!! XO

SHAINE AND AMIE......

You may want to sit down for this one... this may come as a bit of a surprise... but, I used to by quiet.
I am the youngest of three, by quite a bit and when I was entering high-school my parents had just began their divorce. While my older sister and brother were off at college, I was pretty miserable back at the homestead. Maybe even gothic on some days.
I was very uninterested in socializing, talking or even smiling. I had a couple of close friends and a boyfriend and that was all that I cared about. That, and chain smoking Marlboro Reds and listening to Nine Inch Nails.
When it came time to decide on college, I was quick to choose Roger Williams in Bristol, RI. The campus was pretty, the radio stations played grunge music and it was far enough away from home.
The summer leading up to my freshman year, I attended a few events at RWU with my family and it is safe to say they were pretty concerned about my attitude. I sought out another miserable chain smoker at orientation and we had decided to be roommates. Her name was Dani. My mom said she walked into the gymnasium where the new students were hearing some motivating presentation and found us slouched down in our chairs with our feet up in the very back. I was known to give dirty looks to people without even knowing I was doing it. Things looked bleak.
So, just weeks before summer was over, I got a call from Dani that she had decided not to attend RWU and I was on my own. I was horrified. Now I was going to be randomly matched with someone I had NEVER met before.
Still, we packed up the "buggy" on a very early August morning and headed down with my belongings... a dark green bed spread, a tapestry, a micro-fridge and a trunk filled with Brenda Walsh's wardrobe.
I remember pulling onto campus that day and my mom rolling down her window saying hello and smiling at everyone! (sound familiar?) I was so embarrassed and already home sick.
As we unloaded the car and were shown to my new room, there was no trace of a roommate. To make matters worse, I overheard some girl with a strong NY accent (who is now one of my best friends) say "Oh great! That bitch from orientation is across the hall!"
My mother and sister sensed this wasn't going to end well after a few attempts to spark up some conversation with some of the other dorm mates. I had no room mate, I hated college so far, and I wanted to go home.
They pulled away that day to me sobbing and begging them not to leave me there.
About ten minutes later, my bedroom door opened and in walked the happiest 18 year old girl on the planet.
"Hi, I'm Amie" she said with a HUGE smile... "I am so sorry that I am late!" I watched her in awe as she unpacked her brightly colored bed spread and giggled with excitement. Who was this person? A disney character?
"What do you want to do tonight?" she asked...
Naturally, Amie had made some friends at orientation and she was happy to let me ride on her coat-tails the first night. It was soon clear that I had no choice but to be happy. I was living with a clown. I thought I was going to wake up the next morning and find her juggling.
My mother called that evening, expecting to give me a pep talk I would imagine, but instead I informed her, "my room mate is cool and everything is great!" To this day, my family can recall what a surprise and relief that was!
Columbus Day weekend came very quick...I was having a blast! When I went home for the long weekend, my mom described it as a different person walking into the front door. I was all smiles and eager to return to my new life at RWU.
Today.. 15 years later... Amie is one of my very best friends. In fact, her office is right next to mine. That's right, I get to work with a real life clown! She is one of my favorite people on this planet for many reasons... but the number one reason is because she taught me to smile again.

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TOMMY AND SHAINE PLUS 3....

I am the proud aunt of five of the best looking and best behaved children on this planet. Clearly I am biased, but most would agree this is not merely an opinion.. ...these kids are ADORABLE! The best part is, as their "aunnie" (name used by first born that stuck) , I have always been able to spend a few hours with them doing something special and then given them right back to their rightful owner and spend the rest of my days free as a bird!
This past weekend was a whole new experience...
My brother is the father to three of these children: Cade 4, Mave 2 and Karys 7 months. His wife Lindsay surprised him with a weekend get away for his 40th birthday and Tommy and I were thrilled to help out by staying with the kids! Our shift was to begin at noon on Saturday and last until Sunday at 2pm. I envisioned this being a mini vacation of our own... two beach days with the kids..maybe a back yard BBQ??
We woke up Saturday to some dark clouds looming over the seacoast. I tried to convince Tommy the sun was "trying to come out" as we drove up to Rye, but Tommy wasn't buying it. And sure enough, just as our shift began- the flash flooding alerts did as well. A complete wash out!
I hate crowds, tourist attractions and most any location just north of the Portsmouth traffic circle...but we had no choice but to do the unthinkable. Chuck E Cheese.
I never realized exactly how much energy and thought could go into just the simple things in life- like leaving the house. I packed an over sized diaper bag with a change of clothes for everyone, snacks, toys, books, blankets, bottles... I wanted to be prepared for anything! Tommy was in charge of getting Karys' car seat snapped into the mini- van.. which he pulled off without a hitch and I got the other two out the door. Maeve was dressed from head to toe in rain gear and was insistent on a few extra minutes to play in the puddles as we headed out. Everyone was basically soaked before we even left the driveway.
On our way to Chuck E Cheese, between nursery rhymes, Tommy sensed I was a little on edge. He told me how much fun he was having and how easy this was. He advised me to "calm down." Those words never go over well..specifically when driving an 8 passenger mini van. I am now completely aware of the fact a marriage really doesn't begin until you have kids. I hissed something under my breath at Tommy and continued on with the last verse of "This Little Light of Mine."
The highlight of our trip was the melt down that took place in the parking lot of Chuck E Cheese..right in front of every other young family from the area, all with the same idea. Tommy was hoping to "easily" snap that car seat right out of the van... but no such luck! As I waited with the other two children, I could hear him rustling around and see him starting to sweat. "How do you get this thing out? Oh my god!" As I reached in to help him (and got the seat out no problem by the way) Cade turned to Tommy and said You said God!
On our way into CEC Tommy informed me he was having one child TOPS!
Once inside, "our kids" weren't the problem. We all stayed together and everyone followed directions. It's the other kids with the other parents from north of the Spaulding Turnpike that make this place so unbearable.
The clock read 7:30 as we headed back home, with bedtime right around the corner. Baths, bottles, stories, diapers and we were literally all done by 9:30. I was feeling pretty proud of myself and our day and wanted to share some quiet time with Tommy, but he opted to head straight to bed. I don't think we exchanged more than 10 words the entire day. How do people do this?
After shuffling around a bit and checking on each child at least 5 times, I went to bed myself... and just found myself staring at Tommy as he snored away. I kept thinking I heard someone or something every time I started to doze off. Next thing you knew is was 5am and Karys was up for the day! Cock-a-doodle dooo!
The last time I was up at that hour was for a flight to the Bahamas. It was all worth it when I saw Karys' smiling face looking at me though. I fed her breakfast, we watched the sunrise and played. At 8:30 she was ready to go back down for a nap... just in time for the other two (and Tommy)to be up and ready to eat and play! Nothing easy or breezy about this routine!
Mother Nature was on our side Sunday and we were able to spend a couple hours at the beach. We ran into a few people we knew who seemed to be a little curious about my appearance. I realized that I hadn't looked in a mirror or done anything for myself all weekend. Quite a sight!
We managed to master the car seat snap just in time for Maeve's nap and Lindsay and Brian's return. It seemed the weekend get away had taken years off of their appearance. They were glowing.
I have a whole new respect for all of you parents... particularly parents of three or more! And if you happen to still be married, give yourself a pat on the back!

40 days and 40 nights...

Day one of lent....
Sadly enough, giving up facebook is a real sacrifice. What was once just a means of reconnecting and catching up became a real obsession at some point during this past year. Having the application on my blackberry certainly didn't help with moderating my usage. I knew I had a problem when I found myself friend requesting someone I met playing scramble online. Yikes!
Sadly enough again, I have found myself with quite a bit of time on my hands. I also gave up drinking during the week which is not easy when you are Irish with no upper lip and have an office right next to your college roommate. I have learned that the only way for me to have any willpower is to get the lord involved. Typically my New Year's resolutions are forgotten by the 2nd of January. I've actually been gaining weight in 2010.
I suspect this Blog will really be taking shape in the up and coming weeks. I will have more time on my hands to do things like go to Market Basket, tour time shares, notice road flirts, manage my brother's campaign, shuffle papers around on my desk and pay attention to my boyfriend.
I'll let you know how this goes....Please do me a huge favor and don't friend request me or ask me if I want to grab a drink as I am quite fragile.

"If you had them it wouldn't be fair to the rest of womankind." Anonymous

Just over a year ago, I was sitting in my office admiring some recent pictures of my lovely family members, when I noticed something was missing. Nobody has an upper lip. I was amused by my discovery and thought it could have possibly been just my imagination. So, I asked my friend Amie to come in and check it out. Her response led me to believe I was in fact on to something. Suddenly I had a serious issue on my hands. I was afraid to look in the mirror as we were hysterically laughing at the common denominator amongst my immediate family members.
It's true: I have no upper lip. Even more disturbing is the fact that nobody ever told me. All that money wasted over the years on lip gloss, lip stick, lip liner.... none of my friends ever bothered to mention that I was applying these products to my face/ not my lips!! My face comes to a very abrupt end below my nose and above my teeth...right where an upper lip should be! Friends claimed that they never really noticed... but I find that hard to believe. Although up until last year, I had no idea what I was missing.
I brought this to the attention of my brother and sister that evening on my way home from work...wanted to give them the head's up...thought I was doing them a favor by breaking it to them gently. Turns out- they knew all along! They just assumed I knew as well I guess? They said it was an Irish trait we were all born with. No one ever filled me in.
This wasn't easy to digest at first. Some sort of rare Irish/ New Hampshire gene? How could this be? I immediately stocked up on every lip plumper on the market. <---you'd be surprised how much those things can sting! And clearly (camera don't lie) whatever I was applying wasn't working. I even played around with the idea of collagen lip injections for a day or two. The fact that my new name was "Buttonhole" wasn't helping this news sit well.
Once the initial shock wore off and the jokes cooled down a bit, I was able to consult with others suffering from this same characteristic. I was able to come to terms with my missing upper lip. Can you picture me with big lips? I would look like a Bratz Doll! Thanks Amie for talking me out of that one!
So, yes it is true... I have no upper lip and I intend to keep it that way. I've embraced it by paying closer attention to my teeth...which are tough to miss with no lips by the way! It feels good to get that off my chest and cherry chap stick (for my face) tastes way better than MAC lip gloss! It's cheaper too!

JUST ONE OF THE GUYS

It's been a pet peeve of mine for years when girls pretend to like sports, football in particular so they have an excuse/ reason to be out drinking in a half top with Tom Brady's number on the back. We call that "just one of the guys syndrome." My group of friends in college didn't understand sports and we didn't pretend to either. I've been sticking to that story for the past decade or so and been quite content.
I must mention that over the years football hasn't been completely useless in my life. If I am ever having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep...there is nothing like a football game on TV in the background. There is something about the sound of the sportscasters voice combined with the referee's shout outs that make me want to take a nap no matter where I am or what I am doing. And when I hear the fan's blowing the horns in the stadium I am surely out like a light. I have spent many relaxing/ lazy Sundays with the game on in the background.
Within the past few years, I will admit that it has come to my attention that there are a few rare exceptions to my rule. Apparently some girls really do like to watch sports and some even claim to understand what is going on. My friend Caitlin is not one of them...she knew Tom Brady played for the Pats, just like I knew. But, she didn't know what position either.
This season I decided to try something new. I decided to become a Pats fan...I picked my favorite player: Vince Wilfork. I picked him to avoid the "just one of the guys syndrome" as much as possible. He isn't the hottest and he isn't the most popular. He is big and sloppy and easy to spot on the field! I even bought a Patriots jersey to wear during the season and it was tight! (not a half top, but tight)...
As most of you (just one of the guys) know play offs were this past Sunday. "Wild Card Weekend" if you will. It was a disaster for real and pretend Patriots fans alike!
I certainly picked the wrong season to pretend to like football and I have to be honest I am very glad the season is over. Ready to move on to more important things now like American Idol and the Bachelor.