January

For the second year in a row, Tara and James trek up to Astoria for a wonderful evening of surf and turf, whiskey and international chocolate. They play "Guess the Answer" which is actually called "Time's Up," which is actually a version of "Celebrity" but in a nicely packaged unit from Barnes and Noble.  Tara can never remember that it's called "Time's Up," so she renames it constantly.  Favorite fake titles include: "Think Again,"  "You Guys Are Losers," "Get Drunk," and "Where's James?"  They have decided on "Guess the Answer," which in essence, could be ANY game.  And now you're thinking..."Wow, a whole paragraph devoted to this?  I'm totally going to skim this blog." 

Anyway, it's a great night, even though everyone is slightly horrified by the state of Dick Clark.

The next day, Tara and James make the move.  Down the street.  Literally.  Hey it's a holiday, so why not?  They moved into their old place on Halloween of 2006;  they may as well keep it up.  Family from all sides comes in and helps out over the beginning weeks of January and Dinah returns from the national tour of "Hair."   It's great to have her back, and though she is bewildered in her new surroundings, she is able to find familiar comfort perching atop James' pillow.

Tara's brother, Jordan, visits for a weekend and rocks a gig at Failte, an Irish whiskey bar in the city...

This was the last picture Tara took, but the night was still young for these guys....

February

It's actually a pretty eventful 28 days.  James continues work at Nunu Chocolates until the middle of the month, and then drives 14 hours to Chicago in the ill-fated Chevy Prizm, which still seems to be hanging on for dear life.   Despite the fact that the car appears to be in some kind of remission, James and Tara try to work out another plan, but there is no other way he can travel with three guitars, six amplifiers and a hot air balloon.  Tara flies to the windy city on the same evening, arriving just an hour behind James.  They spend the weekend eating and loafing with their wonderful friends, Tabitha and Shawn McKown, with James staying on for two weeks to record an album that he and Shawn have been working on via the internet for the last year.

James: Doesn't it sound great, Shawn?
Shawn: (Wince)

The Album

The EP

Shameless plug in 5..4..3.. www.rocksongblog.com

At the end of the month, Tara travels to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts with her dad to judge a speech meet and returns to the city with her brother, Jordan, who plays a rollicking gig at the Irish whiskey bar, Failte.  James returns home in a louder, angrier Prizm.

Dinah moonlights for a private detective agency. Unfortunately her insistence on wearing such an obvious costume gets her fired after the first assignment.

March

Starts in full force, as James begins rehearsals for the Public Theatre's second run of the snarky, irreverent punk- rock musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson."

Back in December, Tara won a dinner at Tse Yang, a schmancy Chinese restaurant.  Apparently, she was the most festively dressed at the Globex holiday party, which basically means she wasn't wearing a suit or all black.  She and James pick a date night and gorge themselves on overpriced salt and pepper shrimp, mounds of roasted Peking duck, and fine bevvies.  Tara would have been just fine with a pulled pork sandwich and a couple of beers, but hey...you only live once.

Go for the whole duck.

James begins previews in the Public's 300-seat Newman Theatre.  Tara travels to Greenwich, CT for a weekend to judge a two-day high school drama festival.  Dinah heads down to Fort Meyers, Florida for Red Sox spring training.  All is well with the world...until...

Until Tara and James decide it's time to upgrade their phones with Verizon.  They trade in their old-school flip phones, complete with real keys and user-friendly calling features for the hateful HTC Droid Eris, which markets itself as a smartphone, but is the farthest thing from one.

Oh sure, it looks swank.  It's got a virtual keypad and a little camera.  You can download fun games and facebook your face off.  But here's the reality, stockholders: The Android is actually an alien sent down from outer space to mess with your life.  It calls people randomly while you think it's sleeping inside your purse.  It mocks you when you try to make a real call.  It turns down it's alarm volume on a whim so you don't wake up in time for work.  Let's just say the Prizm is off the hook for a while.

April

Tara spends Easter weekend in the Berkshires, tooling around Bennington, VT

 eating lots of candy 

and admiring Pam Gold's deviled eggs.  (Many of you do not know, but Tara has a slight obsession with deviled eggs, and will always take a photograph of them if they are on display.)

Pam Gold's Deviled Eggs

"Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" opens at The Public to rave reviews yet again, and the opening night party at the Union Square Ballroom receives honorable mention. 

It's a busy month with traveling to eastern CT for James' sister's Bridal Barbecue one weekend and family coming in to see the show on the next.  Tara books a Goldman Sachs industrial shoot and takes the day off from her office job to...go play a woman with an office job.  Hmmm.....

While James and Tara share opposite schedules, they occupy their alone time appropriately during the other's absence.  James does P90X and gets in shape.  Tara bakes whoopie pies and goes glow-in-the-dark bowling with Globex.  You know.  The usual.

Traditonal Chocolate and Cream

Chocolate with Almond Buttercream, rolled in salted toasted almonds.

Banana Whoope Pies with a chocolate buttercream filling.

Bowlmor Lanes.  

May

May proves to be a month of wonderful discoveries...

Anopoli, is THE place to eat breakfast in Bay Ridge and Tara and James make a point of visiting at least once during any given weekend (twice if family is in town.)

Yes, we've even tried the ice cream.

Al Fresco

Really?  Yes.  Really.

They discover that the Norwegian population in their neighborhood holds an annual festival in Owl's Head Park.  Who knew?  Touring Viking ships, brass bands, delicacies that could be enjoyed had they not just gorged themselves on Anopoli's apple-stuffed French toast...

Tara discovers the joys of serving at jury duty in Brooklyn.  It's a fascinating mix of bad coffee, confusion and complete boredom, only to be let go after eight hours of a big, fat waste of time.  

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is extended, so James and Tara make Monday evenings date night, exploring many fine eating and drinking establishments.  

James, enjoying a fine mojito.

And last but not least, Dinah discovers America.   A momentous month indeed.

June

is full of surprises.  Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is extended yet again, and James has the opportunity to play the role of President Monroe for the rest of the run.  A little more glory and a lot more guitar playing is a welcome change.

Tara and James finally upgrade to a queen-sized bed after five years of sharing close quarters with Dinah.  She'd had it with the head-kicking and blanket-stealing, so she promptly orders an entire new set from Overstock.com.  They are all pleased with the results, the most important being better snooze time with less head-kicking coming in at a close second.

Tara's cousin Elisabeth visits from LA in the middle of the month, catching James's show and then traveling to the Berkshires to attend her father's presentation at HIS father's Saturday Evening Men's Club.  It's a lovely evening and a great opportunity to see faraway family.

Tara begins rehearsals for the Berkshire Theatre Festival's production of "The Guardsman" as James finishes up his run at the Public.  He takes over for Tara at Globex simultaneously, so it's a long week for Mr. Barry.  He muscles through, however, and isn't heartbroken over a week of no sleep.  Guess he's just getting ready for future events because...

The best surprise of all comes on June 25th.

Yep.  It's on.  The Franklin Barry Clan is about to expand.

Tara travels to Connecticut during the last weekend of this month to attend her sister-in-law's bridal shower and has to bite her tongue every few seconds in order to keep the baby news in.

July

This month flies by in a flurry of baby announcements to immediate family and attempts to keep the news hush-hush from even the closest of friends.

Dinah is summering in the Berkshires for the fifth year in a row, ""re-bonding" with the solitary goldfish that lives in the small man-made pond in Tara's dad's front yard.

James takes the train from the city every Friday, and he and Tara try and cram their weekends full of activity in early anticipation of having a little one in their midst.  A visit to Mass Moca is inspiring, as are free slurpees from 7-11, Toy Story 3, and dinners at a number of Berkshire restaurants (you can imagine that Tara has become a pretty cheap date lately...)

Tara opens "The Guardsman" in the middle of the month and the cast and crew enjoy a hilarious, accident-prone run, complete with broken couch legs, impromptu acrobatics and an overturned tea cart thanks to the lazy maid (see her below).  Apparently, the clumsiness that goes along with pregnancy is not a myth.

with Jayne Atkinson and Mary Louise Wilson

The show closes on the last day of July, and Tara and James pack up the Prizm to head back to the city...

August...

begins with a bang as James and Tara head back to New York on the first day of the month.  Let's set the scene, shall we?

Picture if you will a hot, muggy Sunday afternoon in August.  

Imagine an innocent couple settling into an over-packed, rusty 4-door sedan without air conditioning or a will to survive, but with a blinding vengeance and a complex close to that of Stephen King's "Christine."

See, in your mind's eye, the young man generously pouring oil into the engine and then firmly closing the hood while whispering a silent prayer that the rest of the trip will be uneventful.

Now watch as the sedan reaches a speed of about 40 mph, a gust of wind lifts the hood, smashes against 

the windshield with a force so great that the metal wraps around the edges on either side,  and a sound so 

loud that the innocent couple may have permanent eardrum damage.

And now imagine that you have the emotional hormonal range of a woman a month and a half into her 

pregnancy or that you are the partner of the same woman.

Needless to say...the score is as follows:
Prizm, 23.  James and Tara, 0.

A very kind state trooper points them in the direction of a body shop, where the even kinder owner leaves his barbecue to beat the hood into submission with a large hammer.   On the last bang, he tells the couple that they probably shouldn't try to open the hood anymore.  Ever.  Awesome.  Also, the gigantic crack in the windshield could pose a problem, but since the car miraculously passed inspection a few weeks ago, the Prizm thinks it has another year of terrorizing and manipulating its poor owners.

With white-knuckles and a rage for the Prizm that has surpassed any other in the last six years, Tara and James make it back to Brooklyn in one piece, not without having a very special conversation regarding upcoming funeral arrangements for their car.  They contact a junkyard, arrange a time and a place, and the deal is on.  Once the cash is in his hand and all the necessary paperwork is turned over to the authorities,  James takes some parting shots.

And that, as they say, is that.  

Other events that take place this month...

James attends a bachelor party extravaganza with some pals, skeet shooting and brewery touring in Pennsylvania.

In an act of supreme generosity, Andy Barry, James's dad, sells his pristine 2009 Nissan Versa to his son and daughter-in-law.  It's sparkling navy blue with a souped-up sound system, perfect oil-change attendance and the lack of desire to anger or harm its owners.

James's sister, Amanda, and her fiance, Chad, celebrate their engagement with a super fun party.  There's a live band, prizes and tons of family and friends.

James and his dad, Andy and sister, Amanda

Tara and James attend the wedding of two wonderful friends, Brian Sell and Amy Hattemer, in New Canaan, CT.  It is a beautiful day filled with love, joy and music.

The last weekend of the month belongs to Chicago as Tara and James fly to the Windy City for a much needed vacation.  They stay at the legendary Drake Hotel...

The Shining, anyone?

They eat at some amazing restaurants...

spend quality time listening to bad lounge club banter between a mother-son duo at the hotel

and best of all, visit best friends Tabitha and Shawn McKown....

James about to hurt himself with sausage.

Tara might be a vampire.  Tab is definitely beautiful.

If you would like to continue to follow the adventures of Tara and James as they head into the Autumn, click "Older Posts" below.  If you have had enough and are breathing heavily into a paper bag, stop here.  If you just want a peanut butter sandwich, go to the kitchen and fix yourself one.