New blog.

No more Snidbits for me.

I moved ! My focus on life is not about my random rants, and it's not about the snippets and tidbits of my life. It's about the adventures Scott and I have together and in life that I want to share and look back on.

Kmeadrandomrants started as "Twentysomething" when I was Twentysomething and unsure what to do next in life. I felt like I had a lot to rant about and didn't know where to direct it. The blog was half assed and stalled - not surprisingly - since it didn't have a very positive start. I tried to salvage it as "Snidbits" - taken from a boss who constantly comes up with her own words and combines cliches, but couldn't get motivated to update it.

So with that--

I'm moving on! Come read about our life here:

http://theadventuresofscottandkim.blogspot.com

All along the interwebs

Happy Friday! It's been a long week, and I am so excited for the weekend!! 
First, my favorite Friday treat, the Shirk Report! 

Also, in my random internet browsings, I found a few cool things to share. 

Wonderbread got it right with this ad:
http://creativity-online.com/work/wonder-bread-moving-out/34594


This guy is a genius and will make life easier, if anyone picks up his design! 

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/its-time-to-redesign-the-airline-boarding-pass-this-is-the-answer/

The John Hancock tower in Chicago put in tilted windows. I'm sitting at a desk, touching the ground and my stomach is doing flips. this would be my worst nightmare. 

 

Funny: (credit: http://bitsandpieces.us/)
 http://bitsandpieces.us/2014/05/22/red-coats/

Happy Friday

Happy Friday! 
 This week has been looong. So much to get done, so little time. I have 3 shoots to prep for and am constantly double checking to make sure I'm not forgetting anything major or minor. 


In this hectic week, I've of course made time for finding random stuff on the internet. Here are a few of my highlights. 

http://www.adverblog.com/2014/04/03/honeymaid-turns-hate-into-love/



http://twistedsifter.com/videos/shortest-film-ever-nominated-for-oscar/

My new favorite site: 
http://twistedsifter.com/

And most favorite piece - the Shirk Report!

http://twistedsifter.com/category/shirk-report/

32

32 is going to be a great year! It's an even number (which according to Heather is a good thing) and celebrations for my bday were great! 

B-day love from near and far

Celebratory drinks at my fave CT Mexican spot

Flowers!

Late lunch/dinner at Bar with the parents!

Random Bagpipers and Cat? Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our St. Patrick's Day started off with a new family member moving in! 

Nash White, is now Nash White Mead-Vollono. She made her grand entrance on March 17 and promptly claimed the top of the green armchair as her designated spot. How fitting for her move in date! 

We celebrated the holiday with Lori (& Colls the day before), Green Beers and Random Bag pipers at Harry's 

The bag pipers were hired by the owner who also owns The Avenue, White Horse Tavern, and Shanghai Social Club  - to rotate between the aforementioned bars playing bagpipes the entire weekend.  

Let's go to the movies!

If you have seen the movie Annie, you would have sung the title of this post! ha. Reference video below. 

Scott and I have quite a list of movies to see, and recently watched Gravity and Wolf of Wall St. 

Gravity: 
I was NOT interested in this movie at all. I'm not opposed to Sci Fi, so I think I was just turned off by the thought of watching Sandra Bullock float in space for 1.5 hrs. But, a few minutes in, I was hooked. I get really annoyed when I can predict what will happen in a movie, but this one kept me on my toes. Just when you thought things were going to end one way - something you didn't expect happened. We saw it in IMAX 3D, but I don't think that would make or break the movie. The main thing is that you need to focus on the movie and not have any distractions, which would make it tough to watch at home where we are so inclined to be on our phones and computers ! 

Wolf of Wall Street: 

Everyone is raving about this movie, and I was not impressed. When someone asks what I thought of it, my first question is: Have you seen Goodfellas? Martin Scorsese took his format from Goodfellas and applied it again to Wolf of Wall St. From the main character talking directly to camera and narrates while cutting to scenes of all the debauchery that happened at this time to the way it ends - I felt like I was watching Goodfellas - the finance version. Jonah Hill was great in this movie, and played a pretty quirky character. Leo DiCaprio was good, but he played a pompous a-hole so I couldn't stand him throughout the film. Some scenes were done really well, but some were dragged out too long and were repetitive. We get it - they did drugs and partied a ton, then paid for it. Anyway - I don't really see this winning any awards but who knows. 

Winter Recap

We kicked off the New Year with good food and friends! We made pulled pork, jalapeno cheddar corn muffins, and enjoyed a variety of cheeses before we had some Guinness floats and beers to ring in 2014! 

We have gotten a TON of snow this year which everyone is well aware of and over it! The one nice thing is that we have a lot of places we can walk to, and then we get to see cute snow art like the heart in the playground above!

Scott got new glasses! After only wearing contacts for quite sometime, he went for a new set of frames. Doesn't he look so handsome? 

Parent visit

 My parents came up in January to see the musical Once, since we got my dad tickets for his bday. Their dog Shiloh stayed at our apartment overnight. Looks like she is perfectly comfortable coming up on our couch and relaxing! 

After the show, we had dinner at The Stockyard in Brighton. It was good, but not the best place I've ever been. I felt like it was a bit overpriced too. 

Local hangouts

One random Friday night, Scott and I stopped in at Patron's to play some pool. It was pretty empty for a Friday night, so I wonder if it gets busier later, or just isn't popular. I've only been here one other time, when it was named something else, on a bar crawl so I didn't have high hopes. It had some good beers, but I don't think I'd ever eat here. It was cool to have our own space / table, and to see the NY, New Haven, Hartford sign on the wall! 

Chili Cook Off

I'm not sure what people did before social media, because that is where I find all the cool things going on in town! ha. I saw a tweet about a chili cook off in Harvard Sq. so Scott and I checked it out on an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon. 

All the local restaurants involved made very distinct and different chili - one had lamb, and one was a chili pizza! I thought Grafton St. bar should have won, but they were beat by the new restaurant on the block Beat Hotel. 

Snow Days

Winter has not been kind in terms of weather. We've had numerous early dismissals from work, and 2 official snow days where they closed the office. It was kind of fun to work from home with Scott, and run down to Subway for lunch before digging out our cars later that day. 

Our cars were not quite as buried but it was pretty close! Living in the city in a storm is the WORST. There are only a handful of people that shovel spots clean and well, instead of leaving lumps and piles of snow they just drive over. It makes it almost impossible to park later in the week when it all freezes over! Just the other day - I had to call Scott for help when my car got stuck on snow that was like sand! ugh. Is it spring yet?!

The Vollono Family Christmas Tree

Last year, when Scott and I didn't really have space of our own, his parents graciously let us put up "our" tree in their living room. They loved so much that they didn't have to cut it down, bring it in, etc. that they asked us to pick out a tree for them this year! 

We went to Oak Ridge Tree Farm in Middletown, same as last year. We found the winner and loaded it up in Scott's dad's truck. 

Tree Cart

Safety first

It's a beaut Clark!

Rudy eating residual hay from the farm

Not too much off the top! 

This thing has at least 1000 lights on it

Finished! (sorry for the crooked photo!) Sophia showing off her decorating skills

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Turkey day

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Scott and I made the trek to CT on Tuesday night around 8p to avoid the predicted rain/wind storm and to miss the traffic. 

Looks like everyone else had the same plan. It took 2 hrs to get to CT vs the usual 1 via the mass pike, but 3 hrs total wasn't bad for the holiday travel time. 

Thanksgiving day, we started off with the usual Turkey Trot  in Stratford. It was so cold, I didn't even take pictures!! It took me a mile in to feel warmish, and to feel my toes! I took my gloves off by the end because apparently my hands are heaters when I run. I thought I did pretty well, but my time was a bit longer than I thought it would be. Oh well - it was fun to do. Next up - dinner prep! 

We hung around my parents house and watched the parade, had a cheese plate (again, no pics! such a slacker) and then dinner around 3:30 with my grandparents. We left around 6 to head back to Wallingford for the night! 

Shiloh would love for you to drop some Turkey her way. 

Restaurant Review: Tasca

Tasca is a Spanish Tapas restaurant in our neighborhood we wanted to try out. Friday, we walked the whole 1/4 mile to the restaurant for our 7:30 reservation. 

We walked in and the hostess said it would be a few min, so we ordered drinks at the bar. Almost immediately we were seated, and told our drinks would be brought over. 

 

We sat, browsed the menu and got some water. No drinks. 10 min later: no wait staff, no drinks. 

15 min later. no waitstaff, no drinks. I started to get annoyed. It's clear this place caters to groups of 5+, but don't neglect the 2-4 tables! I closed my menu and started to try to catch the eye of ANY waitstaff the walked by. Nothing. 

Finally out waitress came by and was clueless that our drinks were at the bar waiting for us. Clearly the guy who sat us and assured us our drinks would be delivered was not in communication with his staff. ugh.

anyway - I WANTED to love this place. The atmosphere is great, the wine and sangria were delish, the food was overall pretty good. The service was out of control HORRIBLE. They left a comment card, which I turned into the hostess (cause what if the waitress tossed it in the trash?!) Maybe we can give it another try. It is so close and has so much potential! 


On to the food: 
Tapas, In case you have never gone (it was my first time) - are a lot of small plates of food. They reccomend 2-3 plates per person. We ordered 6 total dishes. 

Per the menu: 
12 Pincho de pollo y chorizo 
Grilled chicken and chorizo skewer with peppers and onion in a spicy chili sauce
Delicious! spicy sauce, chicken, peppers, onion - no complaints! 

21 Albóndigas 
Beef and pork meatballs with romano cheese and fresh herbs in a green peppercorn sauce

meh. the meatballs were squishy and bland, with some sort of potato chip shredded on top. Do not order. 

29 Brie a la plancha 
Grilled imported Brie cheese with a homemade savory apple and raisin chutney served
with a grilled baguette
meh. the grilled brie was cold, and the grilled baguettes were soft. If they were crisp, and the brie warm, it would have been great! sadly, that was not the case. 

35 Canelón rellono de pollo 
Chicken and spinach stuffed canelon baked in a duo of tomato and smoked cheese sauces
OMG delish. Saucy, chicken and spinach cheesy goodness. Definitely recommend. 

18 Couscous con verduras 
Israeli couscous tossed with roasted eggplant, red peppers, zucchini, tomato and
grilled artichoke in a fresh basil marinade
Pretty good. refreshing and yummy. maybe a little heavy on the balsamic vinaigrette but overall worth ordering if you like the components. 

Also, we had Chicken Croquettes (not on the current menu) which were Delicious! and in some sort of red sauce. 

Introducing....

Scott's blog!! Moving from suburban CT to Boston is a bit of a change, and in good spirits and fun, Scott refers to his getting used to urban life as "Scotty in the Big City". I'm able to contribute (mostly the intro and pictures) but he is chronicling his adventures and our life in Boston! 

Check him out! 

http://scottyinthebigcity.blogspot.com/

Tool Time

When Home Improvement was on the air, my grandma typically referred to it as Tool Time. So now, when I have any home improvement projects, I think of them as "Tool Time" 

Anyway - This weekend we had some typical cleaning to do, but also we had to defrost and de-ice our fridge. Our refrigerator had a wall of ice on it, that literally took up half the shelf space and froze all our produce and yogurts. We were throwing out a bunch of food, so we had to fix it. 

Cut to Saturday - when I unplugged the fridge, and melted the ice with a hair dryer. Scott and I used a knife sharpener and a hammer to break the glacier. After an hour or so, we had our fridge back but are still battling with the temp to get our yogurts to not be frozen! 

 

Scott hammers out the ice                              ice.                        

Tis The Season

Saturday night was the Faneuil Hall Tree Lighting / Blink!  Scott has always been very into the Christmas Spirit, and I'm coming back around to loving the season. We've listened to Christmas music already and even watched The Santa Clause last weekend. (sorry for breaking the rules, Heather!) 

We arrived super early after grabbing a bite to eat at Mija, and settled in at the outdoor bar of the Ames Plow Tavern. So glad we waited there, it was roped off, capped off on entry, with a good view of the tree and access to beer! It was a bit cold (we had to buy gloves and a hat at Urban Outfitters) but fun to watch the insanity that we were not a part of. People were trying to climb over and under the chain to get in, and bouncers were so annoyed. When the event started, local radio DJ's intro'd the musical guest, Paula Cole. (Yes, the Dawson's Creek theme song singer) After the build up - the tree was lit! Countdown, cheering, and then a 2.5 minute light show ! 

  

They even shot out paper "Snow"! so fun! 

The crowd was intense. I didn't get a pic of it, so I borrowed one from Twitter.

 In the pic below, you can see my location was much closer, so think of how far back some people were and how crowded it was! Insanity. We took refuge in the Ames Plow Tavern for a bit before tackling the T crowd. 

Photo courtesy of https://twitter.com/OIITVideos 

Broken Hearted

 November 11, we lost our best friend, Ozzy.
He was the most loyal, loving, sweet natured dog, and 

would do anything for his main man, Scott. 

Oz and I had a special friendship. 

He let me in to his relationship with Scott, and let me know that he knew

Scott was OK in Boston.  He followed me around when Scott wasn't 

home, and made me feel special that I was second in command. 

I have never been so heartbroken, or loved and lost so hard. 

I have lost pets I was close to, but Oz was something special. 

He literally took a piece of my heart with him, and will always be a part of mine. 

Rest in Peace my little Baybo. You will always be missed and loved. xo. 

Electric Run

Scott, Colleen and I signed up for the Electric Run at Gillette Stadium. 5k, at night at a stadium, sounds fun! When we first got there, I was a little concerned. There were a TON of people. So many were over the top dressed up and blinking in glow sticks /lights/etc. I thought, Oh man, are we too old for this?? But, after we got through the corral to start, it was a fun time! 

At the start

These glasses blinked, and died before the run started.

The course had all different light set ups throughout. 

We started in front of the pro shop, ran through the lot, around the side of the stadium, and finally up through the zig zag walkway to the 300 level seats, across, and back down. 

It was super crowded so you couldn't run the entire thing if you wanted to, but we still ran a good portion. I think night running is my time of day - it felt easier and less like a chore. Maybe because I knew it was only 3mi not the 13 I did a few weeks ago! 

Lights on the trees and signage

Our fave section! 

Done! the crowd was nuts so we left right away.

All done! Happy Friday!