kevinnowak.com

The OD's Visit.

The weekend immediately after we returned from our cruise we had the OD crew in town for a weekend visit.  We took a hodgepodge of photos throughout the weekend...but this one here may be my favorite!  Drink up buddy! 

  

The weekend was a great test for us and the house.  With 3 kids running around it gave us a good idea of what we'll need to baby-proof!  At one point the girls were out shopping and Thomas was out cold on the couch...it was me against the 3 kids!  No idea how Karen does it every single day...

  

Thanks pal!

The rest of the weekend just consisted of hanging around the house and catching up.  We did venture over to the Discovery Museum for a few hours, which the kids loved, as did I.  Very cool place!  I even got to forecast the weather and anchor the nightly news...

     

Here are a bunc

     

           

  

     

Looking forward to seeing  you guys again soon!

Nowak University?

This little advertisement arrived in the mail the other day and it immediatly struck me as....odd.  You want me to buy t-shirts, sweatshirts, and ball caps that say "Nowak University" on them?  Or any other last name for that matter. 

  

Just bizarre, right?  Who would order something like this?  Why would anyone wear the name of a univeristy on thier chest that is entirely made up?  

And I love how they make it like you need to hurry and order before April 27th.  What happens if you wait til the 28th?  Something tells me they'd still take your order!  Just a guess.

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! 

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]

Happy Halloween.

Trick...or Treat?

  

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Credit Card Offers.

We get a lot of credit card offers here at the house.  And I mean a lot of them!  So many that I've decided keep track of them for an entire month.  Below is a scan of the first one that came this month and my plan is to tally them up and post the total at the end. 

  

Let's see how much in postage and printing the credit card companies spend on trying to get new customers!

Stanley Nowak, Remembered; Again.

Back in March of 2009 when my grandfather, the golfing one, passed away, I posted a copy of the article that ran in the local paper.  He was something of a local legend in the golfing community of New Bedford, MA and they did a really nice job on the piece. 

After the funeral I had stopped by a convience store and snagged a couple copies with the intent on having them framed.  Well, one thing led to another and I didn't get them done until last Summer.  I knew I wanted to hang one in the new house, and Erin and I wanted to have one done for Bob-dog.  I kept my copy under wraps until we gave Bob-dog his back in November for his birthday, but now I can finally show you guys the final product.  Sidenote: custom framing ain't cheap!  but I suppose it's worth every penny as this is something we've have on our walls for a long, long time. 

    

    

    

    

    
 

This article hangs downstairs in my office, right next to the two signed copies of Sports Illustrated by Lance Armstrong that I told you about a few months ago.

  

Gives me a couple of cool things to focus on while I'm sucking wind on the hamster wheel!

Great Weekend.

We had a great time this weekend with Nick and Juleswho made a visit to see the casa here in NJ.  We only set this up a few weeks back, but ever since it was on the calender we've been excited to have them down. 

  

We don't have too many photos from the weekend...but sure did have a lot of fun.  Friday, after a great dinner here at the house, we met up with Patrick and Kristin, and a number of his friends who were heading roller skating.  I think the last time I laced up some roller skates was down in Murph-dogsbasement back in junior highschool during some of those no-rules hockey games we'd have down there.  It had been a while, but after a few laps around the rink I had my form back.  Much more of a workout than I ever remember too! 

  

    

Below are a few videos we took during the night.  A bunch more can be found on my Vimeo site.  Check them out...

  

After roller skating we were out for a few drinks and didn't get in until waaayy past my bedtime. Haven't stayed up that late in a long while, but well worth it to hang out with N and J and catch up. 

Saturday found us just lounging around the casa and showing them around our neighborhood.  At one point we were sitting around the kitchen table and sifting through some of our wine corks.  kel and I try to keep wine corks from various meals or adventures and write the date and what we did on them.  They're kept in a huge glass vase that has filled up more and more over the years.  It's fun to look through them every once in a while and look back over some great meals, trips, or whatever it was we were doing at that time.  We realized that a lot of them had "dinner with Nick and Jules" on them, so we started to put them aside and count 'em up.  45 in total!  And we added a handful more this weekend!

       

    

Saturday night Pat and Kris joined us again for dinner at a local restaurant we love, Casona!  You can't beat the food at this place and its BYOB!  

    

And there ya have it...our weekend in a nutshell.  N + J shoved off after breakfast so we're just relaxing today, watching the Celtics game, and then settling down to watch the Super Bowl.  I mean, The Big Game.  [I don't want the NFL coming after me.]

 

Longwood Gardens

My folks were in town this past weekend to celebrate Christmas with us [two weeks late, better late than never] and we made a trip over to Longwood Gardensin Pennsylvania [not to be confused with Windsa Gahdens in Norwood, for those who ride the MBTA] to check out the final weekend of their Christmas display. 

We had to forge through a few inches of snow [also known as a major winter storm in these parts] to get there, but it was well worth it.  The weather was a bit nippy so we spent most of our time inside the main conservatory.  They keep it about 65 degrees in there so it was perfect!

  

  

       

       

       

       

    
    

       

    

       

       

       

Definitely want to go back in the Spring at some point...and bring my "good" camera with me! 

So-long 2010.

2010 was a great year...lots of amazing memories and firsts for sure.  Excited to see what 2011 will bring!

Happy New Year everyone!