kevinnowak.com

P is for Pierogi.

Great little mechanics outfit for the future baby to wear courtsey of Erin and Matt...

     

Thanks guys!  We'll be sure to raise good little Polack. 

Previous Post FAQs.

The top 10 most frequently given answers regarding my previous post.

1. The due date is around July 26th.

2. Yes, we are excited!

3. Yes, our parents are excited too! [Not sure why people ask this one so much]

4. Yes, Kelly is feeling well. No morning sickness. Just tired. All. the. time.

5. Yes, we do plan on finding out if it's a boy or a girl. Should know that in other 7 weeks!

6. No, the "Princess Room" will not be the baby's room. It's way too big!

7. No, I won't be riding the PMC this year. Bummer.

8. No weird food cravings for Kelly, though she does drink milk now and hated it before.

9. No, I have never changed a diaper before.

10. Yes we know our lives are going to change and we won't be sleeping too much!

[thanks to Marilyn and Gene for this great card they sent in the mail...love the graphic!]

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Yeah...I didn't think this post needed a title!

[photo taken at 12 week doctors appointment]

Workbench Complete.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I was in desperate need of a workbench in the basement.  Prior to building this bench I had been using my old childhood dresser to store my tools and other supplies.  It was a nightmare trying to find anything.  Something had to be done...so I did it. 

  

I had a great location...except for the 6" sewer pipe coming down from the 3rd floor that I'd need to work around.  I did a quick drawing but it essentailly turned into a true "design/build" effort as much of the decisions were made on the fly.  I had to work around the pipe and the uneven floor and walls. 

Below is a little time-lapse of the construction...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

And here she is....100% complete!  Now every tool has a spot and a place to call  home!

  

     

     

     

  

  

I'm not going to say its perfect, as I'm no Norm Abrams, but it'll certainly do the job for many years to come!

Mac-Off.

Last night we attended the 3rd Annual Mac-Off to benefit the South Jersey Food Bank.  For 10  bucks you get to sample all the macaroni and cheese you wanted from about 12 different local restaurants.  My kind of deal...good, cheap food, and plenty of it.  Plus, we were helping people out at the same time with all of the proceeds going to the SJ Food Bank.  All of the pasta was donated as was the time and efforts of the various chefs.  Some of the chefs went all out in creating special types of mac and cheese just for the event.  Some traditional, one that had a bbq twist to it, and even one from an Indian restaurant that was amazing.  I may or may not have gone back for seconds at that place!  Of course, since this is Philly, one guy had a Cheese Steak version of mac and cheese...it wasn't half bad. 

As you went around the ballroom from station to station each of the restaurants handed out a small cup of mac and cheese.  We started out too strong though and didn't pace ourselves...should have eaten just a few bites of each cup, not the entire thing.  By the time we made it around to the 11th and 12th tables we were stuffed, but we found a way to make some extra room. 

     

     

     

     

     

Here was the ultimate winner of the evening...mac and cheese baked into a panzarotti from a place called the Blue Plate.  Very, very tasty!  [they had real judges and everything...2 were from the Food Bank but one of the guys was a quasi celebrity chef who claims he has a show on ABC.  Who knows....]

  

I only found out about this thing last week on my Twitter feed as I "follow" a few of the restaurants in the area and they were all starting to hype it up.  You better believe we'll be back next year!

WorkBench.

In what little free time I've had as of late I decided to finally build myself a workbench in the basement.  This is what I've accomplished over the course of about 8 hours of work.  Still need to build two drawers, lay the top, and then install the peg-boards to hang tools. 

  

I'll have some progress photos of the entire build when I'm done too.  Hopefully it shouldn't take much longer...

I'm also working on my KRN Photography 2011 Year in Review book from Blurb, so I should have that to show you all in a few weeks.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Day.

Here's a plethora of photos from those 3 days mentioned above.  Christmas Eve in Raynham, Christmas Day in Norfy, and New Years Day in Williamstown.  Enjoy.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  

  

     

     

      

     

     

     

     

 

2012.

We had to take a hiatus last year, but Nick and Jules were in town this year so we made sure we snapped a "2012" photo.  I think it came out really good.  Of course we always wait til the last minute to find objects to use for the numbers so we're running around the house like crazy trying to come up with ideas. 

Here are our 2009 and 2010 editions to refresh your memory...

     

Here are a few of the prep shots before we got the actual pose down...they're actually pretty funny.

     

 

     

     

As for the New Years Eve festivities themselves, we had an 8:30p reservation at one of our favorite restaurants, Blackbird.  Patrick and Kristin also joined us for this amazing 4 course meal to ring in the New Year.

      

After dinner we rolled, literally and figuratively, down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks at midnight.  The girls huddled in the car to stay warm until showtime...

  

After the fireworks we found ourselves back at our casa and after a few more cocktails the guys decided we should light off a few fireworks that Patrick and smuggled over the border from PA.  I think we may have woken a few people up...it was about 2am now that I think about it.  Sorry about that neighbors! 

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2012! 

Mug Shot.

They needed a photo of me for work; our internal website as well as for proposals and what not.  This is what we ended up with...not too bad I guess. 

  

Odds and Ends.

I've been super slacking on the posts, I know.  You know how it is though...that pesky j-o-b just keeps getting in the way!  I've got a few posts in the hopper though, so stay tuned! 

Kelly and I have been on a big fruit-cup kick as of late.  I usually make a huge batch on Sunday night and we snack on it all week long.  I usually crack my Tupperwear container open around 11am at work...

  

  

We got a new 32" tv for the bedroom for next to nothing since the big box stores are practically giving them away these days.  Any takers for an old CurtisMathes [I've never even heard of this brand until Kelly had this thing] 19 inch-er?  Yeah, I didn't think so...

  

  

kelly gets me a Lego kit every year for Christmas, this year, the 18 wheeler!

  

  

I spotted this "snack" at the deli near my office a few weeks ago.  Not sure what to make of it though.  "#1 Sports Nutrition Meat Snack"?  First of all...how many sports meat snacks are there out there?  This is the only one I've ever heard of, so I guess it's gotta be #1.  And secondly...this is made from Ostrich meat, seems to me that it would be a better seller in say...Austrailia?  I'm just guessing???

  

I got a new external hard drive for Christmas.  It was time to upgrade from 500 gigs to 2 terabytes!  I was almost full on the old one so this new drive was pretty much a necessity.  Shouldn't have to worry about storage for another few years now...

It took about 7hrs to transfer over all 95,387 photos and other files that I currently have!

  

[the new drive is on the right]