The House is Warm! Thanks all! :-)

So, had a little get together on Friday night. Lots of fun and I'm already thinking about my next one. I have photos that I need to download and sleep that I need to catch up on so I shall write more later.

One quick thing...Missed you Fi! Laura and Nate specifically asked about you. Next time!

Oh and Heidi...I am so glad you were there to save the day!

party party party - pics part I

HAGGIS wins again!

So, the Monday night team is a new one and we are doing well. We won last week 1-0 and last night night 4-1. Excited about having a good season. Tomorrow night is the first Wednesday night game since last month so VooDoo Posse is coming back!

Happy Birthday Charley! Mr. Hollywood!!

walking miles and organizing closets

so, we had an extra visitor over the weekend. we dogsat for miles who belongs to rock star family. not sure what kind of dog he is but he's small to medium size and probably over ten years old easily. mr. wonderful had a great time hanging with him...taking him for walks, playing in the pool, throwing his tennis ball back and forth. it was really nice to have him over and to see how it would be if we were to get a dog. now, our dear sweet cats were a little crazy especially bib who is diabetic and obese. he kept hissing and swatting. totally harmless and totally unnecessary given that miles was super sweet to him and little gringo the entire time. in conclusion, miles is the perfect low maintenance dog.

in addition to watching our little four legged friend, we also did a lot of things around the house. it was good to just clean and catch up on some things. there's still things to do here and there. we are making progress. i organized two closets that were in desperate need of assistance. they now look wonderful as well as the pantry and our master bedroom closet. for the longest time, i wasn't sure what was in there. now i do. everytime i organize, i think of the creative organizing blog. good stuff!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!!! I LUV YOU!

To MY Jenny on her birthday -

I wish you all the JOY you can wish!

Hope to talk with you soon and I hope you got to celebrate Shanghai style.

I'm throwing you a birthday party in December when you visit.

Send me your invite list and I'll start planning now. :-)

breakfast with the asterisk

heidi is a much better asterisk hunter than i

the third Zabi is here!

From our brilliant friends across the pond...

Here ye, here ye, the new son of Stephen and Christina Zabinski, born 20June 2007, 11:10 a.m., weighing in at 7 lbs 12 oz. with thick chestnutbrown hair: Sir Cambridge Anderson Zabinski. Height unknown. See below photo. Tarry not.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY CAMBRIDGE!!

Mr. Wonderful and I can't wait to meet the little Zabi!

Happiness to Michelle!

Happy Birthday to my cousin Michelle!

Hope it's a beautiful one for you.

Fun Fact: Every time you celebrate someone's birthday at a restaurant or other public place, you are technically committing copyright infringement by singing "Happy Birthday to You". The song was written 1893, and copyrighted in 1934. Although the original copyright would have expired in 1991, two intervening acts of Congress have extended it through at least 2030. This would explain why some restaurants make up their own silly birthday songs for their staff to sing to patrons. The song earns about $2 million per year in royalties.

Happy Father's Day!

to best brother -- his little one is just the sweetest

to Rock Star dad - his little girl giving gifts to DAD at Father's Day breakfast

Chicago

Back from Chicago!

Absolutely freagin lohooovvve Chicago!

Had a hard time leaving the "windy" city today. More to come...but in quick style, I was on official business but had a chance to fun it up here and there:

-- boat tour
-- bus tour
-- museums galore
-- great weather
-- wonderful walking and biking trails
-- big john (hancock observatory)
-- milennia park
-- WICKED -- defying gravity (thank you kathy!)
-- Frontera (SO AWESOME) Grill
-- Lou Mitchell's (thanks again kathy!!)
-- Showkat (Hyatt Bell Hop)
-- The People of Chicago!
-- Glenn the cab driver
-- Gino's East (WOW!)

Visiting Kathy's New Boyfriend Lou

On our way into Lou Mitchell's for Breakfast in Chicago

Kathy totally in love with Lou...He's awesome.

Lou was nice to me too...Giving me extra turkey sausage and a delicious mushroom and cheese omelette along with a pancake and some greek toast. Fresh OJ and all kinds of other stuff that you need to experience when you're in Chicago.

sometimes all you can ask is why

this morning i received sad news about a co-worker losing his twenty-something year old son to a tragic accident. immediately, pain hit my heart twice since he recently experienced the loss of his father and now, his son. it's times like these where you just don't understand. it's times like these where you see how people are so fragile.

not sure whether to send along my condolences...i just did that less than two weeks ago. for now, i pray that he and his family allow themselves time to grieve and soon find a sense of peace in this tragic loss.

Shoving off Seven Years of Sopranos

just watched the season finale of the Sopranos...i kept anticipating the kind of ending where guns are blazing and people are being taken out left and right. trust me, it's not my thing at all to want a violent end to what is one of HBO's best shows ever. instead, the ending left you wondering, confused, disappointed (mr. wonderful more than me) and so uncertain that it compelled me to rewind my dvr and make sure i didn't miss something somehow. but, nope, that was it...credits are rolling and no one is shooting anybody so it's over...just like that. it's over. i was left with so many questions:

-- what was with the cat? especially when it was staring at chris' picture?
-- did sil live? (i just realized i've never posted before about this show so i really don't know how to spell one person's first name.)
-- what was with paully? there was speculation that he flipped but in the end, he just seemed scared of death and strange about things with "T" and with everyone else?
-- the fed guy who tony met up with in the beginning...why was he so excited to hear when phil got popped?
-- who were those twin babies and that woman that phil was with?
-- did anyone else feel nervous for tony when he was on the balcony with janice?
-- was AJ's psychiatrist aware of tony's condition? she seemed to have a look on her face that said she knew what he was all about.
-- for a second while tony was in the backyard, did anyone think that maybe the ducks would make a comeback?

moving forward, i will enjoy picking back up with the new shows and some of the old shows that seem somewhat interesting. this was a good one though. one i'm gonna miss. so, thanks for the journey. oh yes, the band JOURNEY...Of all songs, they ended it all with "Don't Stop Believing."

here comes the confusion again.

---
thanks to super boss woman at the house, i just got turned on to this article featured in The New Yorker on June 4.

here's a snippet at the end of the article: The end is a mystery, but we know one thing: “The Sopranos” defied Aristotelian conventions. It is a comedy that ends with a litany of the dead and missing. Whaddya gonna do?

--
another great post about the sopranos. thanks heidi!

rainforest baby shower

it's a girl!!

went to Susan's baby shower today at the rain forest cafe.

first time i had ever been to a shower there so it was kind of ironic when the "rain" would begin to happen around the restaurant...it supported the whole "shower" theme. lots of fun overall and i love this photo jami took that shows me right looking somewhat confused as the gifts were being opened.

Stars are out

Carolina girl from Discovery and Dragonfly
at the STAR Awards

on a mixed vacation

i started my first week long vacation of this year at home with mr. wonderful. we did a few things at home and then headed to jax. in jax, we got to see his family and some of trish's friends. its been one year since she passed. there was a special service at the church and a group visit to the cemetery. millie (trish's best friend) and i spent time together. she shared how she still gets angry that she's not home when she comes over. i can't help but agree at times with a strangeness that falls over me when i'm at their house and she is no longer there. so, even though i was dreading the event and the ceremony and all of the hoopla that brings emotions to the forefront that you're really trying to let go of...i'm glad i was there. i'm glad i was a part of something that remembers her the way i like to remember her.

that evening, i headed to atlanta to visit with be frie and the new baby. the drive was quick (thankfully) and when i arrived she was asleep. the nursing schedule will do that to ya (so i hear). her little boy is absolutely beautiful and i am so happy that she's turned into super mom. he's a mere five weeks old and she really is amazing with him.

on memorial day and after volunteering to change diapers, we headed to her parents house for a cookout. it was great to see them, ,as always. enjoyed visiting with matt, danielle, ella, laura, bernie and everyone! be frie's baby is so special. he cried as i held him in her parent's living room watching the syndicated version of the Soprano's. i would cry too. it was the episode where dr. melfi gets attacked and then has the decision to tell tony so he can take care of business or not tell him and just deal with it all internally.

this is where i will eventually write at length about seeing daniel, and having my own little sushi feast. it was completely out of hand.

i headed back to florida on wednesday morning. it was great to get away but i knew the to do list was piling up.
thursday was my official garage clean up day...totally not something i wanted to do but i had to do since mr. wonderful has been so focused on the pool as of late. i got a ton accomplished and i know the happy go lucky trash men were so happy to pick up my curb that afternoon.

friday was, i repeat, WAS going to be my day of R&R (relaxing and reading) but the weather was awful that it changed my plans into what became a day of mixed activities. a little cleaning, a little reading, catching up on show's on the dvr. that night, i picked mr. wonderful up (yea baby) and we headed to st. augustine for a friend's art show and then to dinner with his dad at the Columbia (so good).

then, there's the weekend which i will try to sum up in bullet point fashion:

• laura's 93rd birthday party

• jeremy and mandy's babypalooza shower


• j & g over for XBOX fun while i sat outside in the sun


• skipping sunday soccer

a great vacation overall. next one is in july!

TGH

Happy Birthday to you!

Hope you got your card from me.

Have a special day!