Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

Click on the photo of Hester to check out my photos from my trip out to Northampton for my 10-year reunion a couple of weeks ago. (This was in Washburn House, which Clementine, Hashbrown and Hester and I visited early in our Reunion festivities... much to Hashbrown's boredom and my and Clementine's geeky delight!)

Here is Miss Hester Willa playing on a recent trip to visit her extended family. I can't believe what a big girl she is getting to be!

We need to take some photos of Billy on a walk or two in his new park, but here's an older one of him in Boston Common from a few years ago.

What a big doggie smile!

And here is a funny old picture of Billy I happened across while going through photos a little.

He looks like he's really got something to say!

So this year is my ten year reunion at college, which is fairly traumatic in some ways.

But, luckily it's also a good reason for a bunch of us to head back out to Northampton and catch up, which I'm looking forward to.

In any case, on that note, I thought I'd share a fun photo from the good old days. Here I am trying to force Clementine to be in a picture with me after, if I remember correctly, also forcing her to put on lipstick. Yeah, we were cool like that. Please notice the Dr. Pepper on my desk as well as the lovely collection of cassette tapes. Excellent. Also, my ghost-like complexion is from the flash - I kind of look like a vampire.

Well, I think everybody got spring fever today. I got so warm on my way to work that I had to take my jacket off.

I love Christopher Columbus Park in the summer, here's a photo for you:

So I have this habit of cutting my own hair. I actually really like getting my hair cut and styled by an actual professional, but at this point in our lives I just feel like it's not in the budget to do it often enough to make it useful. I got a haircut in August and another in October but after that I couldn't justify paying for it again (though really, we're talking a $40 haircut, I'm not spending big bucks - at least not big bucks for Boston), so I Just whined about it and kept threatening to do it myself.

To his credit, robreed keeps discouraging this behavior, but I've never had a major disaster (with one exception, when I was in high school and had very short hair - this type of cut really needs professional maintenance, take it from me) so I usually hack it off late at night at home.

Yesterday I wore it straight and was grossed out by the split ends and really, by how long it was. I'm not a big fan of long hair. It's just dead cells after all. There's no reason to have it hanging all over the place.

Anyway, so last night I had had enough and did a little hacking in the bathroom. Actually, kind of a lot. I think it came out pretty well. I cut it all one length at first, then used Rob's buzzer - with a long length guard on it - to add some layers.

Hooray for short cute hair instead of long gross dead hair!

Poor Hester got very sick this year on Valentine's Day and actually had to go to the hospital!

But she's fine now and we won't talk about the scary hospital trip because that's not the point. The point is this super cute picture of her once she was feeling better!

She kills me.

Today I was warned by someone at my office that people were going to start thinking Hester was my own baby because I have a picture of her in a silver frame on my desk.

Um, did the other 16 pictures at my desk not already qualify as an over-abundance? You know, for normal people. (Also please note that before Hester was born I had sonograms of her on my cube wall. Yep.)

Please observe, what we fondly call "The Wall of Hester"

But come on.... how can I resist? I'm her auntie! And she's so freaking cute! Check it out:

Had to put one more up...

Here I am in Germany with Eva and her dad on my trip there in 1994, after our high school graduation. (In case you can't tell, that's me on the right.)

Besides the totally awesome haircut (or lack thereof) that I was sporting, and some wicked cool cutoffs, I also had on the best pair of Birkenstocks I've ever owned, which Eva's mom gave me upon my arrival. They were mostly green with other bright colors thrown in. I always got compliments on them and never found any like them here.

And do I believe the t-shirt I was wearing sported a Marge Piercy poem on the back. (Not the whole poem, just the last stanza.)

Try wearing that to a small-town high school in Ohio. Do you know how many fights I had with random stupid boys about that?