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!

I love Kena Cakes!

keeping the birthdays going...

Happy Birthday to Serra!

Happy Birthday Lanie!!

Big love to my cousin who is almost in Club 30!

Hope you enjoy your day and some yummy cake. :-)

happy birthday!

to my favorite victor garber fan -- happy 29th! get ready for the big 3-0!

to mr. wonderful's aunt -- happy birthday!

happy mom's day!

to all the women out there who make it happen every day for their families - have a beautiful day!

big love to my mommie-glow and to the newest mom i know, my befrie!

Hanging with TJ

Mr. Wonderful and TJ in our pool!

Looking cute on Mom's Day!

Dad, TJ and Mom

the triple L club at Seasons

Hunger's Hope Breakfast

I wanted to thank best brother, Kathy and Soli for making this morning's breakfast very special.

The local food bank is raising money to fight against hunger.

happy birthday

hope you have a great birthday mom!

and to my cake friend, i hope you make your hubby buy you the best one.

celebrate!

smokey beach with rock star family

Cinco de Mayo

moi, jason and b.

jason's cute pool...love what he did to this space.

b. and cool friendly girl

In Loving Memory

Alyson Grace Gallagher

May 29, 1985 - April 29, 2007

I AM FREE

I am now free.

The restrictions placed upon me

by the confines of my physical limitations

are no concern.

Flight is swift, but effortless.

The joy cannot complare

to any I've ever known.

I am free. My soul was entrapped in a

body aging constantly to the point of rage.

The soul now flies free;

I see the light of the stars.

The rush of the wind tingles

like a cool, morning breeze.

To feel the love of those behind me,

the joy of those who have gone before.

There is peace as I finally see my God. I

will wait, for in time, you too will come.

The Light, The Joy, The Love;

I am now free.

this week already

played a great game on monday night against the 16 year old team in the league. they're faster, younger and have about two subs per player. we shut them out the first half and then they scored two goals. i predicted it would be much worse so it was comforting to know that we could keep up at least enough to avoid double digits at the end. i had a nice cross to jim d. didn't go in but it was a beautiful moment.

lots of sad news this week. people are in the hospital. a friend of ted and i's daughter died. lots happening with certain family members.

the high of my day was talking to be frie twice. also, heather hooked me up with her cool web skills. you are awesome heather!

i'm tired but know that i'm still around. just trying to keep up with these young kids today.

peace to all!

the 98 girls go back

so, i had a splendid time this weekend with my dear friend heather at alumni weekend.

we met up on friday at PVB and headed down A1A for a new place, j.p. henley's, and the friday night reception. mr. wonderful joined us too. got to the reception and had a nice time catching up with a few familiar faces. since i participated in the morning focus group, i got to know some new people and enjoyed reviewing our two hours of share time later that evening. afterward, the three of us grabbed a quick bite and then we headed back down A1A for some much needed rest. (Last week was wonderfully wacky!) on saturday, we got up bright and early for the golf tournament. my first ever where i actually was signed up to participate. i've certainly been involved in my share of golf tournaments over the years. in fact, my first job out of college on the very first day i started, my assignment was to wrangle the photographer at a golf tournament from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. i was so sick and exhausted. i remember thinking, is this what it's like to work full-time? anyway, back to the weekend goods...we, yes, heather and I,along with mr. wonderful and his poppa, all played golf. as it turned out, the dynamic duo, aka heather and i are not too shabby for arriving without clubs, without gloves and without any true golf skills. heather took a lesson the week before and i just listen and try to follow what mr. wonderful says. he can play some golf and so can his dad. we finished the day a bit earlier than expected but no matter because we were ready to get outta dodge. my arms were crispy red. my muscles were sufficiently sore from my power swing. it was time to step away from the golf cart. heather and i were lucky enough to get in touch with my friend rhonda to freshen up before heading to the next adventure -- the lighthouse reception. we got all gussied up (me and my red arms ) and headed over to the st. augustine lighthouse wearing a short sleeve red t-shirt. not a good idea and with my luck, it will be featured in the upcoming issue of the college magazine which means that people may confuse me with that girl who moved back to england and then decided to get burnt less than 24 hours into alumni weekend. the set up at the lighthouse was much nicer than friday and we were able to get some good food before taking our plastic cups to the top of the lighthouses...it's about 300 steps one way. i still to this day have no idea what compelled us to think that walking to the top of the lighthouse after an entire day of golfing was a good idea BUT we did it and complained the entire way. i'm happy to report that we saw no ghosts. according to ghost hunters, they're in there. as the sun was going down, heather and i decided to head back down A1A. it was a fabulous time seeing everyone. look forward to next year and the big 10!

on sunday, i started a fire with my burnt arm...no really, i wanted to show people how hot the sunburn had become on me. i killed innocent ants on the sidewalk and didn't even use a magnifying glass. enjoyed a great day at the heather and marc home. she's joined the club -- the big three oh! woohoo! you have arrived!!

so thanks Heather! thanks mr. wonderful! and, thanks A1A! for the memories and for the reminder that alumni weekend should and hopefully always will occur only ONCE a year!

it's great to be a grenadier! no, i think it's great to be a gargoyle! whatever...it's great to be a graduate!

WELCOME JUSTICE!

so befrie had her baby today.

woohoo!!!

can't wait to meet him.

yippeee!!!

who i got to hang out with this weekend

k and the cute k

century (100 mile riders) couple

the bright volunteer crew (night)

massage therapist (not pictured) and me

the newlywed riders

the bright volunteer crew (morning)

fry guys and first year riders

hanging at the tent and waiting for riders...the

tent was huge this year.

Heather's Birthday is on Earth Day!

Welcome Heather!

Your special member card will arrive soon in Spanish.

Happy Birthday Becky!

just got an email from becky about what she did for her birthday.

check her out in the plane. she said, "i soared with the eagles."

be frie and baby

so, the latest on the be frie and the baby is that she may have him this week, this weekend or get induced on monday. i'm going to guess late friday, early saturday. just a hunch but i could be completely wrong like i was with the other baby that was born to a co-worker of mine over the weekend. i know she knows it but whenever he comes it will be the perfect time! love to you be frie, the be frie husband and little baby j! can't wait to see you all!

Happy Birthday to Theo!

this was taken last year at the BIG partay!

Congrats to Ted and Barbara!

Mr. Wonderful and I went to a beautiful wedding yesterday in Jacksonville. Ted and Barbara got married at River City. It was a good size crowd and a very happy group of guests. Barbara looked amazing. To Ted and his new bride! Big CONGRATS!

Happy Birthday to favorite brother!

almost in the 30 club...enjoy your twenties while you can little bro.

favorite nephew - so cute!

remember

"Sometimes when life gets turbulent, a friend's touch is the only thing that keeps us going."

today I want to send a special thanks out there to all friends, not just mine, who inspire and help us all hold on and get through the difficulties that come our way.

moving to the moon

busy dragonflyer today and must remember to breathe....in and out.

yea, it's almost finished.

be frie will have her bambino soon. she totally freaked me out today with her dr. appt. story. they did what? hello!

playing soccer tonight at 8:30. gin-g is bringing our new jerseys. hoping to take the new team photo soon. :-)

one year ago

it's been a year since i started at the house. my career plans look bright...so said the fortune cookie i opened over a year ago. anyway, i brought thank you bagels and sent some appreciation emails to let those who've made this year so wonderful.

check this article out. good stuff! this was my favorite excerpt. just in case you don't make it to page two.

Things like complaining, resentment, carrying grudges and worrying all chip away at the spirit, which is possibly why, he said, there are more people in this country unhappy with their jobs than there are people happy with them.

seven years already

i believe it was seven years ago that mr. wonderful and i decided to become an item. it has really flown by and yet, we've been able to do so much together in such a short time. big love to my one!

busy busy

strange how you can be busy but still feel so good about getting everything done. my to do list at the job is two pages long. i'm taking a deep breath and remembering that i'll get it done...soon. next week lots of people won't be here so it will be the perfect time to catch up on the website stuff and develop some new initiatives that really make a difference. i have lots of ideas and thoughts so i look forward to the time. this is the year!

Cristos Anesti!

Celebrated Easter Greek style! Didn't win again with the red egg contest BUT I guess that's just my luck. Welcome Spring! It's great to see you!

Calee Anastasi!

Okay, that isn't exactly the Greek spelling but I have to put it somewhere so I can remember to say it tomorrow night as I get ready to attend my seventh Greek Easter service. The fact that Easter -- Orthodox or Western -- is even here completely puts me back. Wasn't it just last year the family was here sitting with Trish in the backyard, bringing her gifts and holding her hand. I have so many pictures but they've just been too difficult to really look at and enjoy. We are approaching the one year anniversary since her death. I look at things so differently and I'm sure that contributes to the rapid time warp I seem to be in with Mr. Wonderful. Last year, we were traveling to Jax every weekend, wondering what was to happen and NOW, we're living in a new home and visiting his dad's house without her here. I visited the cemetery last week and still, I stand there in total disbelief. How can she be gone? How is that possible? There's still so much of her everywhere that I can't believe she's really not going to walk through that door any minute to greet me with her special way that she always did. The acceptance of her passing feels wrong and in my heart, it's almost a lack of Faith but in my head, I know that it is through Faith that I need to move forward knowing that we'lll meet again. This time of year, I believe, will always take me back. I miss her and wish I could sit and hold her hand and let her know that all will be okay.

my VisualDNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I finally checked this out today and this is what they're telling me. Interesting.

what mr. wonderful and i got for Christmas

So many projects, so little time...

We are enjoying the new place. Love the neighborhood, the trees and

it's in a good location for us.

We hope to paint the outside soon. Peach is definitely not our favorite color.

Any suggestions?

in amazement

"People never fail to amaze me. They face the unimaginable with a shot of grace and a rush of adrenaline; they steel their nerves; they summon their cool or anger or faith or whatever it takes to pull them through, and they go on to live another day." -- O.

going there today...not really, i wish though