kevinnowak.com

DC Baptism.

This past weekend Kel and I dipped down to DC for the night to attend my good college buddy, Mark, and his wife, Jeanne, new babies baptism.  My other good buddy Phil was the best man, so it was a mini-reunion of sorts.  

  

  

The 3 amigos!  Always a great time catching up with this crew. 

  

Weekend Visitors.

Last weekend my mom and Aunt decided to take the train down from Boston to visit for the weekend.  When they were kids they had lots of family in the area so they'd take the train down often...this was a little trip down memory lane for them!

We showed them around town, had a great dinner in Philly, did a little baby gear shopping, and even deep fried a turkey on Sunday afternoon!

Here they are at Sampan with a few cocktails before our outstanding chefs tasting...

  

On Sunday one of thier cousins, Tom, stopped by the house to say hello and catch up.

  

I'm sure they'll be making more frequent trips down once we have the baby!  We'll take all the help we can get!

2011 KRN Photography Year in Review Book.

The other day my 2011 Year in Review book arrived via FedEx from the good folks at Blurb.  A nice 13x11 look back at the entire year.  This is the 3rd book I've done at the end of they year and they're a great way to showcase what's been done. 

     

     
     

     

  

     

  

Once again the quality of these books is amazing...and a really great value too!  They have some new pro-line papers that are super thick and really great for showing detail. 

If you need any KRN Photography services let me know as soon as possible.  Things are going to get a little "busy" around here by the end of July!

Valentine's Day.

Most jabronies out there come home from the office on Valentine's Day with an overpriced bouquet of crappy flowers...but not this guy.  I pre-ordered a few crustaceans and 2 dozen steamers from our local fish monger to bring home and prepare for our annual Valentine's Day meal.  [and a few greens to even it out]  We've been doing this for a few years now and it's a great way to celebrate the day and not get hosed with one of those pre-fixed menus at all the restaurants.  Half the price and you don't have to worry about making a mess in-front of other people at the restaurant!

     

  

     

  

     

     

Oh yes...it all tasted just as good as it looks! 

We'll be back at it again next year...

A happy Valentine's Day to you and yours as well.

Sod in February?

On my way to work I pass a couple of newly built houses [they knocked down some old junkers and built some of these horrible cookie cutters, but that's neither here  nor there].  In any event I noticed a few pallets of sod laid outfront, read to be installed.  This was early last week when I think the temperatures here hit the 90's, or it felt like that anyway. 

  

So my question, will this sod take?  I mean now the temps are close to being back to what they should be.  The ground certainly isn't frozen, so maybe with some watering it won't die? 

Jo Jo, Murph, you guys did irrigation in highschool, what's the consensus on this?

SS United States.

If you're ever driving along the Delaware River in South Philly you're sure to notice a towering ship docked alongside, the SS United States.

  

From some angles, the 2nd floor of Ikea for example, this thing is so imposing that it looks like it's actually parked on land.  In doing a little digging on this ship I found out that it's quite impressive and holds many records for speed in crossing the Atlantic while transporting hundreds of thousands of US troops over to World War 2.  It's sat here for years and there are all sorts of proposals to bring her back to life, but thus far nothing has been set in stone.  So for now she just sits and rusts away...

New England Cupcakes.

Today being Big Game #46 Day [for legal reasons the NFL says we can't write/use SuperBowl XLVI] Kelly and I decided to make some festive cupcakes to support our team.  [my team and her adopted team]. 

Check these out.  Red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese icing and some Patriots logos atop. Kelly handled the baking part and I worked the arts and crafts department to create the logos on toothpicks.  

  

     

  

     

They look mighty tasty, no?  I hope people like them at the party we're going to this evening!  

  

Go Patriots!

Car Show.

Kel and I checked out the auto show here in Philly one night this week after work.  We're not really in the market for anything immediately, but it's always nice to see whats out there [and Captain was able to hook us up with a couple of tickets!] 

 Two rides that we did want to check out for close inspection were the Volvo XC60 and the Subaru Outback.  The plan is to go for as long as possible with the one car we have now, but we did want to get an idea of what we'd eventually want should we get another. 

With a kid in the picture by summers end you can't have a safer car than a Volvo, right?  Kel has had her eye on this ever since it came out a few years ago and I really like it too. A great mid-sized SUV.  It's a bit pricey, but hey, safety like that is worth it, right?

  

     

Ideally we wouldn't have two SUVs, so once we need to get rid of our current car I'd like to get a wagon to replace it.  The Subaru Outback is great, plus it's all wheel drive so it really is an SUV at  heart.  This one even had the bike rack on top, ready to roll! 

  

     

The Subaru headquarters for North America is practically in our back yard so I feel like I'd be really supporting a local business if I got one of these.  I think a good percentage of people in our neighborhood work there and drive them!

 

Breakfast.

I saw this recipe for some simple eggs a few weeks ago on Tony Bourdains newest show, The Layover and figured I'd give them a try. 

  

So simple, but so tasty!  Bacon, eggs, scallions, and a dallop of sour cream.  The fine china of paper plates really adds a nice touch too!

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.