Back from Paris

Bonjour!

What a trip...we've already decided to go back for Barbara's 80th birthday!

More pics and stories to come - we had quite an adventure :)


Paris, and France in general, we found to be filled with the friendliest people, the best metro system, the coolest stores - best place to shop anywhere!!!


Still working out the jet lag - this is the hardest time I've had getting back in the groove.

Keep your eyes open for posts this week!

Au revoir, peeps!

HAPPY 40TH, BABY!

A LOVING SHOUT-OUT TO MY SWEETIE ON HIS BIRTHDAY!

Here's to a healthy and happy year, honey :)

We are headed to Half Moon Bay for the weekend - I will check in when we get back.

I should have some crazy pictures of the coast to post :)

GO FLYERS!!!!!

Westside is excited!!!!

Flyers logo in all windows and on our mailbox so there is NO QUESTION where this girl is from, and where her heart is!

HERE WE GO FLYERS, HERE WE GO!!!!!

Nous allons à Paris !

Exciting news! Ak's mom is taking us to Paris for ak's 40th birthday!

Although his b-day is at the end of this month, we will be meeting her in Paris in early July to coincide with the end of her Europe trip.

I can barely get my head around this......

Saint begonias!

41 part duex

Well, I had a fabulous birthday! On Friday, the weather was perfect, and I enjoyed a total lazy day reading and talking on the phone. I got all kinds of wonderful presents that I will always treasure. Axel told me to be ready at 7pm for a 7:30pm dinner reservation, so I got myself all prettied up and dressed up, and we went to The Plumed Horse in Saratoga ( http://www.plumedhorse.com/ ), where Julie and her husband Gabriel were waiting as a surprise :) It was awesome - we had our own private room off of the bar area called the "Champagne Room", and the service was out of this world! They have a crazy wine room/cellar with a glass floor so you can see the whole cellar - so cool! We sat behind the piano player, and he even played "Happy Birthday" and the "meow-meow Charlie Brown" song at our request :)

After a toasting glass of champagne, ak drank his usual vodka tonics, I continued with the bubbles, and Julie and Gabriel got a bottle of red. No one was feeling any pain as we walked back to our cars, but it was evident that Julie was a little more tipsy than the rest of us. We got back to our house, and had started to watch a movie when Julie disappeared into the bathroom. When Gabriel checked on her, it was evident that she was totally sick. He was totally freaked out, and asked me to help her......the poor thing had been sick everywhere - red wine. I jumped into action with the cold washcloth, water to rinse, pulled back her hair, etc., but she wouldn't stop puking, and it was really loud. At one point we thought she was done and headed out to the front patio for some fresh air. I left her for a second to rinse the washcloth, and by the time I got back out there she had power puked out there, too. I got her back in the bathroom right away! By this time, Gabriel had to leave to get home and pay the babysitter, and ak and I could tell how freaked out he was by the whole thing, and possible a bit repulsed. He kept telling her to get in the shower. Finally, it seemed like she was done, so we got her into the guestroom. Within 5 minutes, she was heaving again, so I sat in there with her for like an hour to make sure she didn't choke to death, and to hand her the trash can. Finally she passed out, and I felt comfortable going to bed. Ak checked on her few times during the night.
I woke early to get started on the cleaning.....washing down the front porch, washing out the 3 trash cans that got used, washing the bathroom rug and towels, wiping down the whole bathroom, cleaning toilet and mopped floor.
I can say that at the time I wasn't very happy, but I felt so badly for Julie that it didn't matter. I hope someone would take care of me the same way if I was in the same situation :) We were able to laugh about by Sunday. Julie and I hung out last night, and she is choosing to remember the wonderful dinner only!

Ak is in Fl for the week, so I am flying solo here. Not sleeping very well, but doing a lot of anal rententive organizing :) More soon.

Definately check out the Plumed Horse link - the place was AMAZING!!!

Later, Peeps!

It's official - I am IN my 40's!!!!

Wow - I am 41 today! Just talked to my mom, and I think she is more in shock at my age than I am!!! It is a beautiful day here, and I am ready to enjoy it :)

Here are some fun May and May 7th facts:

Who was born?
Johannes Brahms 5/7/1833
Robert Browning 5/7/1812
Peter Tchaikovsky 5/7/1840
Gary Cooper 5/7/1901
Eva Peron 5/7/1919
Johnny Unitas 5/7/1933
Willard Scott 5/7/1934

Top Box Office 5/7/1941 - Citizen Cane
Bestseller 5/7/1944 - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
#1 Song 5/7/1964 - Hello Dolly!

May's birthstone is the Emerald. Emeralds can guarantee true love and uncover false.

May's flower is the Lily of the Valley. In Victorian times, Lilies of the Valley signified the ruturn of happiness.

Taurus can be kind, loving and mad as a bull. Personally secretive, Taurus is tenacious and known for mental and physical strength.
So what do you think? Does this zodiac description fit me?

Have a good one, peeps!

Scrabble & Poetry - for Meadow

Last weekend, ak and I headed up to Boulder Creek. Ak couldn't wait to show Rob his new iPad! I had my iPhone, book and a small craft with me, so I was prepared for the back and forth tech talk marathon.

Luckily, Meadow arrived, and we engaged in a great game of Scrabble. I told her I would post a picture of our board AND compose something out of all the words we had used.

Check it out ....


And now for the literary portion of the show, here are the 4 short poems I wrote.

I think I rose to my own challenge :)

(Note: red words have been added)

1.
Ode to Sunny April

Bella dia gives joy to zoo life,

And grime aroma.

2.
Tear the web quilt.

Lamps give?

3.
Ed voted yes, re: is in a queer fedora.

Hike to China, be a true yang twin!

4.
Tag sax dogs.

Atone for coy tics.



I think I am ready to be published.

Later, peeps!

Happy Cinco de Mayo & stuff

In tradition with today's holiday, ak and I enjoyed Mexican fare for dinner tonight. We have a great place with the yummiest tacos, and any meat, chicken or fish preparation you can think of.

It's been a busy week so far. We've had to run around alot, but the weather has been fantastic. It's been good to get out of our 2 block radius :) I've started doing the Farmer's Market again each Saturday morning, and am usually there between 9-10am. There was also an art festival happening at the same time, so there were alot of folks milling about. It was a bit too crowded for me, so I hustled through, but I did take the time to get this shot of the am's entertainment. A bluegrass dude is usually there, but this Saturday we had this .....



On Monday we did something we have never done....I was over at my friend Julie's by 7:30am on Monday am. She was running around geting ready for work, so I got the 2 girls going with shoes, school snack, dressing Scarlett, etc. At 8am, Hannah, Scarlett and me set off in Julie's car (car seats) to drop Hannah off for school. She's in first grade. The two of them sang the whole way - a song about the nice sunny day :) Traffic is crazy in the parking lot, which I had to drive through to get to the drop off area. She zipped out of the car before I could say bye, and all I saw was the back of her running to class - blond hair flying and pink Hello Kitty backpack bouncing up and down. I felt like such an imposter, and tried to manuever my way out of there as fast as possible without killing any children.


So Scarlett and I headed to our house. She's 3 1/2, tough as nails and comedian funny, so the day could go either way, easy or very hard. We ended up having a great day here, watching children's programming, singing inane songs, playing inside and outside with her race car and our toys, and putting stickers on paper. The 3 of us had lunch together, and she told us all kinds of stories - she is very expressive with lots of movement and jumping up and down, voice rises, too. We got the call at 2:30 that all parents were back home, so I packed up Scarlett and her huggy (blanket), fairy bear, race car, pull ups, and wipes and headed back to Julie's.

When I got back home, ak was lounging on the couch. I joined him, and by 5:30pm we were both passed out, and stayed there until 1am. We were totally wiped out!

Here is Scarlett hanging out on our back patio ....



Hope all of you had a wonderful Cinco de Mayo!!!!!

funny find

I have been making myself clean up my computer favorites every day. Each time Ak updates my computer, he transfers all of my favorites and puts them in special folders. I now have 5 folders to go through!! Many are duplicate sites, alot are crap, but there are hidden gems everywhere :)

I clicked the link to Tedman's Flicker today - haven't checked it out in probably 3 years? Found this gold nugget picture from our 5 year high school reunion - November 1992. I think it's in Wayne's apartment that he used to have in Media, on the corner of State and Orange. We had a pre-party there (not sophisticated enough to call it a cocktail party yet).


So, here is a shot of Chris (aka Nummer) and me:














1. I loved that white Liz Claiborne suit! Wish I still had it.
2. Chris looks great! I have known him since 1st grade.
3. Nice blush!!! Back then we did NOT practice less is more.
3. OK - let's address the hair. My Lord! Snooki has nothing on my poof, or as we called it "high hair". My poor father had to snake our shower 1-2x a month...I still feel pretty bad about that! Also, it looks as though the plant and my hair are one.
I remember Kelly picked me up, and before we left my house, we actually both made our poofs taller.

Hope this makes you laugh :)

Pooh likes the Ipad

Pooh checking out the ipad ... this a rare occurance as it has been attached to ak since he took it out of the box Saturday!

The Ipad has landed....

At exactly 12:47pm today, I met the UPS man at the door and signed for Ak's Ipad. He will be engrossed with his new toy for many, many hours....only surfacing to grill our lambchops for tomorrow's Easter dinner :)

I am looking forward to playing my current iphone games on the larger screen, and I can't wait to watch a movie on it. It's going to be awesome for travelling. In the last 13-14 years that we've been together, the amount of tech stuff (and all the stupid heavy power bricks) that have travelled with have diminished significantly. Hitting the road with this thing is going to be great :)

One of the new TV shows we do watch is Modern Family - we find it hilarious. Anyway, the episode this week was all about the Ipad, and the shennanigans the whole family went through to get one for the dad. Good stuff.

I am preparing for our Easter dinner tomorrow, however, I am sick with a sinus infection - bad this time. All tired and puffy eyed, falling asleep wherever I sit down. I've downed almost a case of Gatorade this week. In spite of it, we are festive, and have lots of Easter decorations going on, and daffodils everywhere. We are painting eggs today, too.

I am posting the pic of Scarlett Begonia, too, that I received from CNN today. What an Easter treat! She is definately a pollyanna girl :)

HAPPY EASTER!

Addiction-Project Runway

You know how much I love Project Runway, and this week Axel installed the Project Runway game on my computer! It is so much fun - I am completely addicted. The challenges are just like on the show, and you have the ability to cut fabric, pick colors, etc.. My favorite part is the hair and make-up studio because it is so realistic as you apply blush, eyeliner, eye shadow and pick out crazy eyelashes. The challenges are exactly the same as each particular season. I am halfway through one season, and have won every time :) The only part I have trouble with is the runway walk beacuase you have to press the arrow keys in a specific order, but I am working on it.

In other news, I had to take a break from therapy on my doctors orders. Last weekend, my knee was killing me, and I was so scared that I had messed up the surgery as well as being on the Vicodin train again. As it turns out, I was doing too much and strained my quad muscles and IT band muscles, which was causing all the pain. I've been taking Celebrex (sounds like a club) and feeling much better. I return to therapy tomorrow, and hope I can continue.

I can't believe we'll be into April in a few short weeks! This year, Orthodox and American Easter fall on the same Sunday, which is nice. I made crazy candy wreaths this year - I'll post pictures of it later. There are 3-5 pounds of candy on each!

Xmas 2009

Going backwards in time a bit....here are a few shots from the wonderful week I was home for Christmas!

The day after Christmas - Joanna and Nicky

Uncle John & I in Brickersville, PA








My first encounter with Scarlett Begonia - LOVE HER!








Scarlett laughing at one of Aunt Joanie's jokes

Cheesesteaks West Side - Amato's

Hey kids! Ak and I went here for dinner and we were NOT disappointed!!

Nothing like hitting Amato's and getting an authentic cheesesteak and cheese fries to make being far from home a bit more tolerable. The place is decorated with all kinds of Philly memorabilia, sports jerseys, city pictures, etc. I can't wait to go back!

Also, the owner has this crazy truck all tricked out Eagles style. Here is the picture, as words cannot do this vehicle justice. Love it!

Later, Brian

Spent this am reading about the Eagles releasing Brian Westbrook - damn. I know he's had the injuries and concussions, but in my mind, Westbrook = Eagles and Philly.

I really hope he retires, as I couldn't bear him playing for another team. My heart hurts watching Brian Dawkins on the Broncos, and it would be the same with Westbrook. Maybe even worse!

Wow - I am still a bit dazed at this....need some coffee for clarity!

To all the East Coasters - good luck with this next storm. It's shaping up to be a ballbuster, so make sure you have all of your supplies, and hunker down.

Been Too Long...

WOW - it's been a while since I posted!
Many things have happened - Christmas, New Year's Eve, the Superbowl...

Anyhoo, here were are, almost at the end of another month! I had my knee surgery the first week of the month, and I think things are going ok. I really had to slow it down, though. At the end of last week, I was back to cooking & laundry, putting up our Easter stuff, and other things I should not have been doing. Then this past Friday, I drove 1/4 mile to the grocery store & CVS for some stuff. I think I should have waited on that! I am just antsy, and I get really uncomfortable after sitting or lying down after a while, so I do things like rearranging my undies drawers (like I did yesterday) and standing for 45 minutes to an hour. I also just wanted to give my honey a break - he's been his usual amazing self while taking care of me. I get sick of asking him for every little thing, so I wanted to do things for myself. Of course this has backfired - my calf and foot keep swelling up on me, and all of my muscles are so sore everywhere from compensating for the right knee - aye papi! I am back to doing ice packs and taking pain pills again. It's not worth messing anything up, that's for sure!

So I am back to reading, writing letters and TV :) I can sit at my desk for 20 minutes at a time now for correspondence and computer time, which helps break it up. Right now I am waiting for Axel to come into the office at any minute to tell me to put my foot up :) He is like a policeman! He's a trooper, that's for sure!

I totally got into the Twilight vampire teen books during this surgery recovery. Let me backtrack - the week prior to the proceedure, I finally went to our local library, got a card and started checking out books. I've been keeping a list of books that I want to read forever, but I always buy them, so going back to the library after at least 20 years seems amazing and ridiculous for me! Let me tell you, I was blown away! I can put books on hold online, wait for the email that tells me they are ready, head out and go to the hold area at the library, go to the self check out with the books, and I am on my way home! Yesterday I had to renew some books, so I just did it through my online account. I love it! And you get receipts at the library when checking out or returning, so it's like shopping :)

So back to Twilight.....I am a big A. Rice fan, and all of her vampire books, so I thought I would give the series a chance. Plus, it's all you here about, and the teens go crazy for the books, movies, and especially the actors (I may have a crush on the Rob Pattinson dude, I admit). I LOVED the books - I was so surprised! The 4 book series reads like modernized Jane Austen - very cool. So of course we had to watch the first 2 movies. For teen dramas they certainly aren't the worst, and it's not over-sexed, but very romantic. Now I have the Twilight game app on my iphone, and honeyman got me my own set of the books for Valentine's Day! How sad is that??!!??

Okay, I am about up to my time limit for sitting in my desk chair, so I will sign off now.
Next, I will be posting pictures from my 2 recent trips back to Media - lots to share! Great trips!
Tata for now!
xoxoxo

Holidays again??!!??

Editorial note: I forgot to write about what I am doing tomorrow...wait for it, wait for it...I am going to be a chaperone on a high school field trip tomorrow!! My girl Julie didn't get enough parents to help, so I am going with her and 30 of her art students up to Stanford to visit their art museum. I am not sure what I have gotten myself into, and hopefully you won't see me in the news tomorrow. Full report to come if I get home alive!!!

I can't believe that Christmas and 2010 is right around the corner! Why is it that when you are a child it takes FOREVER for Christmas to get here, but as adults it seems that one Xmas is on top of the other? Just another perk of getting older, I guess. Joy.

Well, I will be heading to Media to be with Felicia for the holiday, and Ak will be heading to FL to be with his mom. I am a little pissed that he will be in the warm sunshine, but I get to meet Scarlett Begonia for the first time, and see the Greek Meatball godson. Cold weather can't come close to dampening my excitement for those 2 things, and it never feels like Christmas out here.

So it's been a while since the last post. One of the reasons is that I actually have to have surgery AGAIN. This time on my right knee. Apparantly, all the walking that I had been doing for my back bit me in the ass, and I tore some cartilidge. The tear is causing joint fluid to leak, and I have a lovely cyst sticking out of my knee. Fortunately, the proceedure is the most minimal and least invasive, and I'll only be on crutches 3-4 days (compared to the 6 weeks back in college). I am really beginning to think that my destiny is to be in the Guiness Book of World Records for the most surgeries in a lifetime - not something that I aspired to, I assure you.

So I've been in a bit of a funk as of late. I considered not telling Axel and the moms and to try and have the surgery done secretly - I've put them through the ringer the last 6 years with my problems, and really didn't think I could face telling them the latest thing that was wrong with me. Of course I told them, and Ak's mom's first response was - "I am 73 and am in better shape than you". Gee, thanks, Barb, just what I needed to hear! Anyway, I will probably be having the porceedure sometime in January or early February.

Enough of that crap, and on to the next subject!

My new favorite show is Dexter - LOVE IT!! I read the books years ago, and Showtime has done a brillant job of converting it to TV. Ak says that this show appeals to my Stephen King side - definately dark. Speaking of the master, I of course had his new book "Dome" on my doorstep the day it went on sale, and as always, King doesn't disappoint. Fantastic read!

Last night we caught Gone With The Wind on TCM. Wow - I forgot how powerful that movie was! Ak had never seen it, so it was fun watching with him. They just don't make them like that anymore. We watched the "Cloudy w/Meatballs" the other day, and it is adorable. I wish I were a cartoon! Both of us came up with the food we would want it to rain. Ak's are: filet, lobster, carpaccio, fresh bread with Danish butter and creme brulee. My tastes are more simple: Twizzlers, chicken fingers and pretzels :)

The Beebe-baby should be making an appearance any day now. In an email he said if the munchin is not out by tomorrow that they may induce labor on/around the 25th. If that isn't the best Christmas present, I don't know what is! Wishing Chuck and especially Meg a nice easy labor. The baby will definately have more hair that Chuck :)

Ok, that's all the news from here. Heading back into my Rita Room to work on more crafts. My new title is "Stay At Home Professional Craft Maker".

Happy Holidays - see some of you soon!

I was going through a ton of pics on Tuesday, and dug out this treat from our Las Vegas trip in May 2004. I love this picture!

SCARLETT SCHMIDT

11-10-09

11-6-09

WELCOME TO THE WORLD, DOLL!
CAN'T WAIT TO MEET YOU!

Hannah & Scarlett Halloween

Hanging by the couch, a dazed Hannah












The Bunny & Cinderella

















Hannah's got Scarlett in the hug/strangle hold

Julie and Gabriel brought the girls by on Saturday night before they went out Trick-or-Treating. They were very excited!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!

Scarlett Schmidt was born at 9:41 pm on Friday, October 23rd.

The baby is doing fine, and Chrissy and Eric are recovering from their HUGE day

becoming PARENTS!

We are just thrilled, and have already hounded mom and dad for

Scarlett's stats and pictures!

So proud of you, Chrissy!

We are still in a bit of shock that you are a MOMMY now!

Love you, sister!