My Life Today

Fall at The Purple Poppy

2011-11-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

Fall at The Purple Poppy by thepurplepoppy featuring waxing poetic jewelry

2010!!!

2010-01-06T12:34:00.002-07:00

Wow...can you believe it's a brand new year? So much has happened since my last post...was it really in July??? I am so sorry for the long delay...

The dogs are still growing like crazy! Kimi gets more spoiled every day and the boy just grows and grows and grows!!!

Big news for us is that I'm opening up a retail store. Yep...The Purple Poppy: Home Decor and Chick Stuff Galore. Which means...that with the opening of the store, I won't have any time to blog and I definitely won't be travelling any. So...you can now follow me (and the store) at www.thepurplepoppy.blogspot.com. I will start posting there soon.

I am leaving for Dallas market on January 13, will be there for 5 days then I'll be in Las Vegas for 7 beginning January 30. My landlord is in the process of pulling permits to start the construction on our space so by the time I return from Vegas, construction should have started and I should have something to blog about.

See you there! You can also find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lafayette-CO/The-Purple-Poppy-Home-Decor-Accessories/202291304235.

Best wishes and a very Happy New Year to all my friends and family who have been following me here!!!

Angie

The Dog Days of Summer

2009-07-13T19:00:00.006-06:00

Cody looking so innocent....who knows what terror he's dreaming up in his head to inflict on us!!!

Kimi is just over a year and a half years old. She's a real sweety and brings so much joy to our life.

The boy again...more plotting, I'm sure!!!

Hmmm...now the two of them may be in cahoots ;)

Don't let the innocent look deceive you...they are definitely cooking up something!!!!

Who...us?????

Roma In Less than 48 Hours

2009-07-13T15:56:00.010-06:00

Two days is not near long enough to spend in Rome, but unfortunately, that's the only time that Donna, Jason & Regina had since they were all flying out on Monday morning. We tried to pack in as much stuff as possible in the less than 48 hours that we had. We arrived right after noon on Saturday so that only gave Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. We were lucky to have found a B&B in Rome, within a 20 minute walk from the Piazza del Popolo. It was very reasonably priced and beautiful. If you're travelling to Rome anytime soon, definitely give Marco a call and check them out. His wife is a local artist and is quite famous for restoration work on frescoes around Italy. She has done all of the painting in their hotel (Suites Piazza del Popolo).

Here's Marco showing off his breakfast spread. Nothing fancy but plenty of strong espresso, cereal, orange juice, croissants, etc.

The Goldoni room...this is a huge room with a balcony. This is the room Jason & Regina stayed in.

This is the street view from our room. It's a very quiet street so there was no noise at all in our room (on the 3rd floor)...that's the shuttle tracks in the picture. Not only is it a short walk, but there is a shuttle that goes all the way to the Piazza del Popolo....very convenient if the weather is bad.

One of our very first views of St. Peter's. Donna had tickets to mass on Pentecost Sunday (with the Pope). I don't have her pictures yet but I promise to post them when I get them from her. The four of us did not go....we just went with her to pick up the tickets and walk around St. Peter's.

Sunday morning, the four of us walked to the Vatican to meet Donna after mass. Here's Jason & Regina taking a break across the river from the Castel St. Angelo.

This is one of the 10 angel statues along the Ponte Sant'Angelo. All of the angels hold instruments of the passion. This one is titled "Angel with the Garment and Dice."

The inscription reads: "Super vestimentum meum miserunt sortem" which translates to: For my clothing they cast lots (Psalm 22:18) The significance is found in Mark 15:24, Roman soldiers took Jesus' well-made garments and played dice for them.

Everywhere you go in Rome you will run into priests....

Saturday night near the Spanish Steps. My friend Robin over at My Melange is not a huge fan of Rome but I personally love it. I especially love Saturday nights around the Spanish Steps. There is so much energy and everyone is relaxed, having a good time.

Sisters in Rome at the Spanish Steps.

Artists in the Piazza Navona.

Sisters in Rome again....now we're heading to the Pantheon.

I love this guy on the fountain at the Piazza della Rotonda.

A great view of the Pantheon's oculus....it's only source of light and it's open to the weather allowing rain to enter and fall to the floor, where it is carried away through drains.

One of the fun things about being in Rome on this particular Sunday was the Giro d'Italia was finishing up. We did not spend much time watching the race but it was fun to be there amongst the crowds. This is along the Via del Corso...for my cycling friends...two names you might recognize:

Allesandro Petacchi who won several stages in the Giro and

Michael Barry of Team Columbia.

My peeps cheering the cyclists along the Via del Corso!

Donna, Jason & Regina having fun with the local Arma dei Carabinieri...the Italian National Polizia! Those Italians definitely have a sense of humor!!!

Fans at the Giro finish line.

A giro car at the Victor Emmanuel Memorial. This was the 100th anniversary of the Giro.

Approaching the colloseum...all of those people are there for the Giro...not the colloseum.

Monday morning....Donna, Jason & Regina are all off to the airport and Dick and I are heading north. Arrivederci Italy!

Venice - The City on Water

2009-07-08T15:16:00.012-06:00

Paris continues to be my all time favorite city but when I go to Italy I get conflicted. I love Rome for it's ancient ruins and the energy of the city. I love Florence for the art and the beautiful Tuscan countryside. But when it comes right down to it, I think my favorite Italian city is Venice. I love everything about it...the water, the colors, the fact that it's so original....so I won't bore you today with much commentary...just photos.

My peeps waiting for our water taxi. We had just driven 3 1/2 hours from our villa to arrive here...

Our first glimpse...sun washed buildings

narrow waterways...

Brilliant colors....

Al Fresco dining on a canal...

Boats tied up....waiting.....

More al fresco dining!

Gondolas waiting for couples to be romanced down the gentle canals....

Our first glimpse of Piazza San Marco...

Narrow alleys...

Two sisters in Venice!!!

My honey bunny and me at Piazza San Marco.

Domes of San Marco Basilica...taken from the Campanile. Luckily for us, no climbing...this tower has an elevator!

Gondolier taking a break....

Pretty red dresses on canals...

Now the sun is starting to set and the colors are getting richer, deeper.....

The city takes on a much softer feeling at night...the air is cooler and the water seems more gentle without the sun beating down on it....

The sky begins to glow upon the Grand Canal as we say Arrivederci!

Tired, but happy, tourists speeding down the canal ...for a long drive back to our villa!

A day in Florence

2009-07-08T12:03:00.012-06:00

It's Tuesday so we must be in Florence! We took our lives into our hands and let Dick drive us into Florence. It's always a harrowing experience but even more so during morning rush hour traffic. We had 10:30 a.m. reservations to see Michelangelo's David at the Accademia. What an incredible piece of art. No pictures allowed so you'll just have to head over to Florence and see him in person. Once that was checked off our list, we headed down to the Duomo.

The Duomo (The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore)is one of the main reasons people visit Florence. Designed by Brunelleschi its construction started in 1296 and took almost 150 years to complete. It is 153 m long and 38 m wide making it the 4th largest cathedral of the world. The exterior is faced with marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival facade by.

The cathedral complex includes the Baptistry and Giotto's Campanile. The three buildings are part of the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE covering the Historic Centre of Florence . The basilica is one of Italy's largest churches, and until the modern era, the dome was one of the largest in the world, being surpassed in width only by that of the Pantheon in Rome. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.

The line to go into the Duomo. It was scorching hot on this day so we decided to bypass the crowds that were going into the Duomo....

and make a climb instead to cupola. 463 steps to the top...but it was one of the highlights of our visit to Florence.

Once inside, you are treated to the magnificent paintings of the inside of the Dome...it's amazing because you are up close and personal to these beautiful pieces of art...although they are pretty scary depictions of heaven and hell.

The obligatory group shot of us outside the cupola....the beautiful tuscan hills behind us. We had beautiful weather the entire week...although the day in Florence was the warmest.

A view of Giotto's Campanile from the Duomo.

Another beautiful Catholic Church, the Basilica of Santa Croce, is seen the distance.

The Uffizi Gallery in the distance.

One last look through an ancient window.

With the cupola climb behind us, it is time to head out to the Piazza Dell Signora, a popular spot for tourists and one of the city’s most splendid piazzas which has been the hub of Florence political life since the 13th century. It is filled with replicas of famous sculptures and historical buildings including Palazzo Vecchio, a copy of Michelangelo’s David and the Neptune fountain.

One of the things I love about travelling in Europe (or anywhere else) is being able to watch the world go by. I love this pic taken at the Piazza della Signora because it's an example of how diverse the world is...and how wonderful it is to visit places that you can experience all of the different cultures surrounding you.

It's a hot day, remember? So a little bit of R&R is needed at the piazza.

After our quick break at the piazza, we headed off to find lunch and something cold to drink. I don't know what the actually Italian name of this restaurant is, but we all got a kick out of the English translation.

We finally made it to the Basilica de Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) is the principal Franciscan church in Florence and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church . The site, when first chosen, was in marshland outside the city walls and is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machavelli and Marconi, thus it is known also as the Temple of the Italian Glories. It is also the largest Franciscan church in the world but unfortunately, today was not our day to visit. The church was surrounded by Italian secret police because the Italian President was visiting that very same day. Oh well...maybe next time!

I love the "living statues" all around Europe. This guy had just finished getting prepped...it must have been 100 degrees and he was sweating like crazy but once he got all of his gear on he was strictly professional. The amount of work that these guys put into these is amazing! Donna was the lucky recipient of his attentions since she's the one who dropped the coin in his basket.

Two sisters in Florence!

A scorching day on the Ponte Vecchio.

Ciao!

Relaxation in Italy

2009-07-08T09:46:00.006-06:00

7 days isn't near enough time to spend in Italy (or Tuscany for that matter). It's difficult trying to balance relaxing time with tourist time...especially for first time visitors like Donna, Jason & Regina. Luckily, the temps were high (close to 100) on somedays so those were perfect days to lunch in Montespertoli then hang out by the pool...drink some limoncello...and just enjoy the pleasure of renting a villa in Tuscany.

Jason, Jennifer and Donna strolling through Montespertoli.

The girls striking a pose...

A toast to Tuscany!

Giuseppe, our favorite waiter at our favorite restaurant, joining us in an afternoon toast!

Jason & Donna checking out the limoncello supply.

Proof that limoncello brings out the goofiness in people....we were supposed to go to Pisa on this particular day but we were running late after a trip to the Ugolini vineyard and lunch so we decided to hang out in Montespertoli then hit the pool....here's the girls making our own "leaning tower".

Striking another pose for the boys :)

Limoncello will apparently also make you skip arm and arm through foreign streets....

Whew, it's hot so now we have to move to the pool....

Jason perfecting the art of keeping pool toys on your head with no hands!

Moving on from limoncello to red wine!

A friendly game of "volleyball"...

Fun in the sun!!!

Siena

2009-07-07T14:15:00.008-06:00

I can't believe I'm actually getting several posts done in one day! We found ourselves in Sienna two days. We first visited on Sunday, after our day in San Gimignano. Unfortunately, it was late afternoon and we really didn't have enough time to explore the city. So, we ventured back on Wednesday to try our luck again. The most interesting part of our day was driving around the city trying to find someplace to park. Come to find out, Wednesday is market day in Siena so the city was packed. We finally got all settled in and started our journey through Siena.

Siena is another Tuscan town that was settled in the time of Etruscans. At one time, it was a major city of banking and the financial industry. In time, it fell to Florence and it's great reign came to end.

Our first view of the city through the trees....sigh.

Jason, Donna and Regina checking out the local fruit.

Fruit too beautiful not to take a picture of....

Jason and Dick obviously enjoying some Italian humor.

The Torre del Mangia. Built in 1325-1348, it is located in the Piazza del Campo, Siena's premier square, adiacent to the Palazzo Pubblico(Town Hall). When built it was one of the tallest secular towers in mediaeval Italy.

The marble loggia, known as Cappella di Piazza, was added in 1352 as a vow for the Holy Virgin by the Sienese survivors from the Black Death. The tower is visible from all parts of Siena and was built to be the exact same height as the Duomo di Siena as a sign that the church and the state had equal amounts of power.

The walls of the tower are approximatelty 11 ft. thick on each side. The stairwell up to the top of the tower is cramped and most visitors need to duck their heads at some point on the way up the tower. There is little room for two way traffic on the stairs, so only 25 visitors at a time are allowed to enter the tower...here's two of them now!

The girls hanging out at the top of the Torre del Mangia

Another day...another tower climbed by these two sisters.

I love Siena's rooftops...

Jason and Donna persuing the counryside...

A view from an ancient window...

The Piazza del Campo from the top of the Torre del Mangia. The Campo is the town square and is famous for hosting the Palio horse race.

I have no idea what was going on but it was quite a treat to see this group in their costumes...complete with drums and monks.

The Duomo del Siena

In the interior the pictorial effect of the black and white marble stripes on the walls and columns strikes the eye. Black and white are the colours of the civic coat of arms of Siena. The inlaid marble mosaic floor is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy, covering the whole floor of the cathedral. This undertaking went on from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, and about forty artists made their contribution. It is truly a spectacular church to see in person. Unfortunately, it's hard to take pictures so I don't have anything that does it justice.

This is my favorite part of the Duomo...The Piccolomini Library, housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael.

The visual impact of these very colourful frescoes is stunning. The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favourite son, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II. He was the uncle of cardinal Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini (then archbishop of Siena and the future pope Pius III), who commissioned this library in 1492 as a repository of the books and the manuscript collection of his uncle. The ceiling is covered with painted panels of mythological subjects. They were executed between 1502 and 1503 by Pinturicchio and his assistants.

To see these frescoes in person is amazing...they are extremely bright and colorful and look like they were painted yesterday.

The amazing ceiling:

The Continuing Italy Saga

2009-07-06T12:09:00.005-06:00

Here I am again! Let's pretend that it's Sunday, May 24 and I am returning from a wonderful day spent with friends in San Gimignano. San Gimi is one of my all time favorite Tuscan towns. The town originally had 72 towers, giving it the nickname "Manhattan of Tuscany". Only 15 remain today...one of which Jason, Regina, Donna and I climbed. San Gimi is also known for it's local products: ceramics, olive oil, saffron and Vernaccia wine (a high quality white wine made exclusively in this medieval town).

Jason & Dick exploring the wee alleys of San Gimi:

There are fun courtyards with doors to peer around...

and gas lamps and frescoes to admire....

many towers to climb....

beautiful views from those towers....the Tuscan countryside is amazingly beautiful...too beautiful to capture in photographs.

and views into piazzas...whew, that's a long way down!!!

Photo ops for showing off new shoes!!! According to Donna, her new Keens were great shoes for climbing towers.

Fun ledges for more photo ops....

breathless laughter as we ascend another tower....

So many places to explore (and eat gelato)

tourists everywhere...

local ceramics....

yummo...local treats...

curious doors at the end of streets....I wonder who's lucky enough to live here?

My peeps: Jennifer, Donna, Dick & Jason posing for their San Gimi pic.

narrow streets all over town....

Hope you enjoyed the little tour of San Gimignano. It is a MUST see if you visit Tuscany!

Arrival in Italy

2009-06-11T10:12:00.007-06:00

Well, finally I have some time to post some trip stuff before I head off to the beach! Our first travel day is always long. Dick and I had the 6:00 a.m. flight out of Denver to D.C. That got us in way early since we weren't leaving for Rome until 6:15 that evening but since there is only one flight to Rome from D.C. every day, I never want to take the chance of missing that flight. Case in point. Jennifer, Jason and Regina were flying from D.C. to JFK to catch their Rome flight.

Here's Dick sharing a pre-Italy glass of wine before they head off:

Well, we all leave our wine and go down to their gate to see them off...oh oh....flight to JFK delayed. Dick and I have to go back to our terminal to get ready for our flight but we are communicating by Blackberry. Last we know before we head for Rome is that they are on their way to JFK. Well, we arrive in Rome...along with my sister, Donna, who has made the trip from Houston, through Philly, to Rome. I couldn't believe that she and I were in Italy together....a dream come true for both of us.

But more oh ohs....the rest of our group missed their flight to Rome from JFK. After much wrangling, they have gotten on a flight to Pisa and are expected to land mid morning. So Donna, Dick and I load up our fancy Alfa Romeo station wagon and head up to Tuscany!

Of course, we have to head straight to Montespertoli to Il Mondo Degli Gnomi, our favorite restaurant in all of Italy!!! This is a small pizzeria in the Piazza Popolo in the center of Montespertoli. Rosa and Giuseppe (brother and sister) run the restaurant and welcome us as if it had been just days since they had seen us instead of a whole year. Plenty of pasta and wine later...the rest of our group arrives. Exhausted from their adventure...it took them almost 2 hours just to get a rental car in Pisa...more pasta was had, along with more wine. It was a great way to start our trip. Finally, it's time to head off to our villa. This year we stayed at a place called Villa Castiglione near a town called Fiano and about 8 km from Montespertoli. A little more remote than our villa last year but still great!!! We had a brand new pool which came in handy with temps in the mid 90s this year, and we had great views of San Gimignano.

Here's the front of our villa... you can't really see them in this pic but there were gorgeous roses everywhere!!!

ere's the view from our "backyard". Plenty of olive trees and vineyards on those hills!

Our awesome pool. It was down the hill a ways so was very private and a fun place to hang out.

After a long, exhausting day you'd have thought that we would all be in bed early but no, not this group. Dinner was waiting for us at the villa so we had dinner then we started on our wine and our limoncello. We ate, drank, put on music and danced into the wee hours of Italy!

Here's our dinner all prepared and waiting for us: lasagna, salad, bread, wine.

Hanging out on our loggia after dinner.

The girls looking relaxed and happy.

And last, but not least: Donna teaching Dick to dance to her music.

Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Food, food and more food!

2009-06-09T17:44:00.004-06:00

We're back!! 17 days away from home feels like forever but we had a great time. I'm trying to catch up on household stuff, bills, etc. before I head off to South Carolina for Sally's big birthday bash, but I hope to get the blog updated before I go so please be patient. I just thought I'd share one thought with you tonight. Normally I'm a pretty healthy eater. I try to watch what I eat...stay away from too many carbs, sugar, etc. but on this trip I really outdid myself. I usually profess to "not like Italian food" in general but it seems like I couldn't get enough pasta and pizza and gelato while in Italy this year. Add alot of yummy Ugolini white fizzy wine....need I say more. Then just when I think I'm out of the woods, we head over to France....the home of frites, frites and more frites. Just as long as it wasn't pasta...I was good. I definitely had my fair share of excellent food and wine so for tonight...here's our before and after shots.

Me and Dick before we went to Italy:

and now...upon our return!

Hope you enjoyed the update. I promise to post more soon. By the way, both of these statues were in Monte Carlo. The before was at the Jardin Exotique near the Palace. The after is a sculpture near the harbor and the casino.

Tell someone you love them!

2009-05-16T14:18:00.003-06:00

This is my dad and me. He died on April 23, 2002. I don't remember when this picture was taken other than it was in my parents' dining room in Louisiana and I was there during a flood. It's not the best picture ever taken of the two of us but I think it truly reflects how we felt about each other...we loved each other!

Why am I posting this now? I've never posted anything about losing my dad before but I watched the stupid Grey's Anatomy finale last night...and yes, I broke down at the end, even though I had an inkling of what was coming. If you didn't see it, I won't spoil it but the whole point of the episode is "don't wait...tell the people you love TODAY...tell them how much you love them...tell them what a difference they've made in your life."

I know, I know...we all say that don't we? When something happens...we all say that it won't happen again....

I don't need to talk about the pain of losing my dad...everyone has lost someone...everyone has felt grief in some form or another. What I want to say is that I did tell him...from the time he was diagnosed with cancer until the night he died....I told him how much I loved him...how special he was to me...what a difference he made in my life. I told him over and over again as we hugged and cried and laughed and cried.....there was lots of crying. Angry crying when he was diagnosed, happy crying when his treatment was going well and horrible wrenching crying when he died unexpectedly from surgery complications. I can say now that I have no regrets...

I know that he died knowing how much he was loved...there was no doubt he knew how much we loved him...because we couldn't stop saying it. Over and over and over again...because we were scared...and we wanted him to know ....

...don't wait...don't wait for a diagnosis or a death...say it today. Tell someone right now how much you love them....a spouse, a child, a niece or nephew, a friend...don't let another day go by because you never know ....

A month to go!

2009-04-19T15:27:00.003-06:00

Woo hoo...in just over a month, we'll be heading off to Italy again. This time with a whole different groups of friends....and my sister!!! Well my sister isn't final yet but we should know something tomorrow...she's in the process of getting her passport expedited!!! This would be her first trip to Europe and we are both psyched that she's able to join us. This is really a dream come true for her (and me). We'll spend our first week in another villa in Tuscany AND we'll be there during the Montespertoli Chianti Festival....AGAIN!!!!! woo hoo :)

Everyone else will be heading home...but my sweety and I are staying an extra week...driving up through the south of France..ending up in Paris for our last weekend. I can't wait!!!!

I can't wait for a stroll through Lucca

Haggling at ceramics outlets

and looking down on Sienna!!!

When nothing is going on.....

2009-04-14T14:26:00.004-06:00

just talk about the dogs!!! A trip down memory lane:

Remember this cutie? Kimi at 8 weeks:

She's turned into a beautiful 17 month old!

and here's Cody @ 8 weeks...another cutie:

growing tall at 10 months!!!

April is Here!

2009-04-13T11:07:00.006-06:00

Well hello friends!!! I know it's been awhile since I've posted and I do apologize. Life has been busy around here and quite frankly, since going on Facebook, I don't have nearly enough time to spend here in blogland. I am still doing some work with Sally in the furniture biz and that's keeping me pretty busy. I went on my first solo sales calls two weeks ago and it made me so nervous. But I got through it and just need to get myself out there some more and try to sell some furniture.

All in all things are going well. Dick has been busy busy busy which is good. The dogs are great...they are growing and still manage to crack me up every day. Here's some recent pics, taken with Teddy, our friend Kristi's new pup.

My babies love chasing other dogs and Teddy is way faster than they are.

Teddy & Cody waiting for water...Cody's really growing tall. He's still a little skinny squirt but he's got long legs and a long tail

This is what happens when all the chasing stops! Kimi is still just the sweetest girl and she loves Teddy.

Kimi & Teddy romping in the leaves.

We've got plenty of travel on our plate in the next few months and I promise to be better about positng: I'll be in High Point, NC for furniture market then mom's wedding on May 8 so I'll be spending a whole week down south in Lousiana, then we're off to Italy and France at the end of May, beginning of June and mid June I'm heading back out to South Carolina for a friend's 50th birthday celebration on the beach!!!

Last weekend, Dick and I spent four days in Charleston, South Carolina. We joined Sally and some of our friends from North Carolina for a 10K race over the Cooper River Bridge. It was great weather and we had a great race. Sally and I are both run/walking these days....my ankle is still not completely well and she's still having back/knee issues but we finished the race and had a great time...that's all that matters! Here's a glimpse into that fun weekend. Here's the house we rented on Isle of Palm. It was perfect for our group. There were six bedrooms with 4 bathrooms and there were 12 of us. The house was perfectly situated with a large living area and kitchen in the middle of the house and of course, those wonderful porches. It was so nice to sleep and wake up to the sound of the ocean! This is the back of the house which faces the water....Dick and Ihad the downstairs bedroom to the right of the porch...perfect!!!

Here we are with Ron and Pam celebrating being together again...it's been almost a year since our Italy adventure so there was lots of catching up to do.

Here's all the girls...happy to be together again! Stanage, Me, Pam, Sally and Gina.

Me and my sweety at the Shem Creek Restaurant...yummy seafood for dinner!!!

Our first morning there, all the girls headed out to the beach for a walk. It was a beautiful cool morning and we had a great walk.

It was great being there for a few extra days because we had a chance to explore the lovely city of Charleston. It was stunning this time of year...with the flowers starting to bloom. Pam, Ron, Sally, Dick and I enjoyed a fun day....walking along the water, admiring the beautiful homes and enjoying a yummy yummy lunch of southern food at Jestine's. I had fried okra, collard greens, meatloaf and cornbread...all washed down with some sweet tea and followed by a shared slice of coconut creme pie....it's not very often Iget down home southern cooking and it was delicious!!!!!

The running group: Stanage, Joyce, Gina, Sally, Me, Jerry, Pam & Ron. It was a cool morning but the weather was clear and dry. It ended up being a beautiful sunny day...perfect for running a 10k across a bridge.

Pam, Sally and I after a liquid lunch at the Windjammer on the beach. After the race we decided to re-hydrate ourselves with margaritas and beer! Seemed like a good idea at the time...LOL.

Our last day...sigh. For most of the group, this trip to the Cooper River Bridge Run has been an annual event for close to 10 years. This was our first invitation to join them and we feel honored to have been included. Thanks y'all!!!! Here's our last meal together...their traditional Sunday breakfast at Joseph's...famous for their HUGE blueberry pancakes.

One last stroll around Charleston before heading home!!! I have really enjoyed the time I've spent in South Cackalacky and am looking forward to Sally's birthday trip in June!!!

Italian Cooking Lesson and Dinner

2009-03-17T18:11:00.009-06:00

We have a dear friend who is a coach for a local swim team (she also happens to be the grandmother of our cute neighborhood kids and the mother of our cool, hip neighbor). Every year, the swim team holds a dinner/dance/auction...you may remember from this post last year...that we came home with a scooter! Luckily, we did not come home with any motor vehicles this year! But we did buy an evening for 6 with the swim coach...for Italian cooking lessons and dinner. What an awesome night this was and we were so lucky to some great friends to share it with!!!

Here's the guys - spending more time talking about wine and politics than paying attention to their food preparation!

One of our recipes was an eggplant rollup that was absolutely delish - I don't have a pic of the finished product but here's Donna and I slicing our eggplant.

The girls are paying much more attention to the food preparation!!!

Donna and Sally enjoying the great weather, watching our lead chef fry up the eggplant.

Sally and I sharing a toast.

Part of the group enjoying wine and appetizers.

Yummy appetizers: shrimp & garlic.....

Here's our almost finished project - homemade ravioli. None of us had ever made homemade ravioli before....it was amazingly easy but messy. These happen to be stuffed with a ricotta/basil mixture. A note here: the "boys" decided the ravioli would be best if they added some red wine to the mixture....DO NOT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE!!! Those ravioli were not edible...luckily, the rest of us had made enough to feed the whole crowd!

Adding the stuffing to the dough.

Alberto's came out beautifully!

A beautiful table set with a nice, fresh Caesar salad and Pelligrino.

A good time being had by all!!!!!

Not only did we make the ravioli, we also made the homemade sauce...yummo.

Dick with our amazing hostess. Note the empty Limoncello bottle which was the cause for quite a few headaches the next day.

Hope you enjoyed a peek into our fun cooking class!!!

Sister's Visit

2009-03-17T17:45:00.003-06:00

I am always thrilled when my sister comes to visit and recently she's been making it every year for my birthday. This year was no different. As usual, we had beautiful weather and a great time. I'll share more pics and less words in this post but before I tell you about Donna's visit, I need to share something else. My dear friend, Regina, is about the sweetest person who walks the face of the earth and I adore her. Apparently, her mom is just as sweet...I mentioned to Regina during their visit that I loved the scarves her mom had made for Regina and her friends at Christmas time. Well, lo and behold if I don't get two scarves in the mail last week. They are gorgeous, handmade and perfect for our Colorado winters. She made me a red one (I assume to match my red coat) and made me this blue one to match my eyes....isn't that just the sweetest!!!!!! Thanks Regina for mentioning and thanks Clara for your hard work and good heart.

Now I'm being lazy because my pics got uploaded in the opposite order that I wanted to talk about them but oh well, I'll have to tell the story backwards.

Here's Donna and I on Pearl Street in Boulder. It is an awesome pedestrian street with fun shops and restaurants. We did plenty of shopping then finished it off with a glass of wine at the historic Hotel Boulderado. The mall is a great place to hang out on a warm Saturday.

Here's my dear hubby and Donna giving me nice smiles for the camera.

Now this is where the story gets kind of backwards because on Friday, Donna and I woke up at the crack of dawn and headed down south to Manitou Springs. What's in Manitou Springs you ask? Well, you can take the cog railway to the summit of Pikes Peak. You may know this but Pikes Peak was the inspiration for "America the Beautiful" and it is a gorgeous ride up to the top. For 115 years, the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway (the world's highest cog train, the highest Colorado train AND the highest train in the United States) has taken passengers to the 14,110 foot summit of Pikes Peak.

Again, these pics are backwards but bear with me. Here's Donna and I on the train coming down the mountain.

We had snowy, foggy weather riding up, but the ride down had clearer weather and we were actually able to see some of the beautiful mountains surrounding us.

Here's Donna at the summit. We had gone right through the clouds on the railway, ending up above the cloud line. What a magnificent site!

Here's our view as we were coming up through the clouds...foggy and snowy below...sunny above.

Here's the longest straight part of the ride...you can see how foggy it is, although at this point, the visibility was starting to get better. It's a 1.5 hour ride up the mountain so there's plenty of time for weather changes.

Here's the scenery lower down...no visibility so we had no idea of the beautiful scenery that inspired "America the Beautiful."

Warnings about altitude sickness...it is 14,110 feet high!!!!

Donna waiting outside the train depot for the ticket office to open...I think this is just the cutest little depot...all nestled in the mountains!!!

Birthday Girl

2009-03-11T16:27:00.004-06:00

I'm getting some flack for not keeping the blog up to date. I am now completely addicted to Facebook...and there's not much going on to talk about on the blog. Today is my birthday...not important what year...but I do like to celebrate. My DH is out of town but Sally and I are heading down to Denver for a nice dinner at LaSandia. I'll let you know how it turns out....

Here's my birthday present to myself...2008 BMW 328xi (need that 4 wheel drive for our Colorado winters...LOL)

I'm becoming quite the ski instructor. Helped Regina out last week then took Sally's niece, Bonnie, up to Vail last Friday. Bonnie had skied before but it was years ago. We started on a blue run up at Lionshead...here we are enjoying the snowy day. Bonnie was quite the trooper!!!! She picked it up again quickly and we ended up having a great day...despite one yard sale fall.

I probably didn't need my helmet on this day...no real risk of running into trees but it helps keep my head warm on snowy days!!!!

While I'm at it....

2009-02-23T15:38:00.003-07:00

Two weeks ago, I worked with Sally at the furniture market in Las Vegas. And as usual, it was a week of hard work and moderate play!

We saw Donny & Marie at the Flamingo...had great seats but this how close we got to him after the show.

Girls just wanna have fun!

I'm Back!

2009-02-23T15:16:00.007-07:00

As promised, I'm back! It's been a long weekend, and I am so happy it's Monday! Jason & Regina (remember them from our Paris trip?) were out here from Maryland. It was their first trip to Colorado so we spent some time in Boulder then went up to Vail and Beaver Creek to do some skiing!

We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was sunny and warm the entire weekend. Friday, Regina took a class while Jason, Dick and I played around in the snow:

Dick and I clowning around on the mountain!

Dick and Jason: good buds! Jason hadn't skied in a while but took to it like a pro.

Me and Regina "posing" like the ski bunnies we are.

Rather than spending a second day in lessons, Regina decided to brave it and spend some time with me (then with Dick) learning the fine technique of skiing....LOL! This is the two of us after a hard morning, getting ready for a nice, long lunch break.

Saturday afternoon brought some non-snowsport fun. Regina and I both played around on the bungee trampoline...boy, was it fun. I wish we had pictures of us in action. Regina got some big air and I could do flips!!! Fun Fun Fun!!!!!! Here we are being harnassed up for the action.

A good day of skiing deserves a great happy hour. Here we're hanging out on the deck at Beaver Creek, drinking margaritas and listening to the band.

But to top it all off....a dinner of good wine and good food. We shared a plentiful meal of cheese fondue and raclette...yummo!!!

Stay tuned for more adventures!

I'm Still here

2009-02-18T16:16:00.001-07:00

Ugh, so sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I am now on Facebook and that takes up way more time than I care to admit. But I promise within the next few weeks that I will start blogging again so don't give up on me!!!!

Already February?

2009-02-02T10:17:00.003-07:00

Good morning and I apologize for not being around for almost a month. It's not that things have been crazy...it's that they haven't. January was a relatively quiet month for us...spending time at the gym and just hanging out. Dick hasn't been travelling since early December and it's been great to have him home. I've started going back to the gym....mostly doing a Body Pump class and walking on the treadmill when I have time. Lots of quality time being spent with the dogs.

I spent 5 days in Houston with my mom, sis and bff Margaret - shopping for wedding stuff for mom. It was a fun, productive trip and we all had a great time. I even scored a couple of great bargains for myself!!! Here we are on the balcony of my sis's great apartment. Unfortunately, it's a bad pic and you can't see the beautiful view that she has.

I've been doing a little work for Sally with her new line of accessories and am going to Vegas market with her next week. I promise I'll have pics when I come back.

Jason and Regina will be out here the weekend of February 20 and we're all going up to enjoy some snow sports at Vail. I'll have pics of that trip too!!!

Lots of trips coming up: Charleston in early April, High Point furniture market in late April, Louisiana for the big wedding, then Italy and then off to South Carolina to celebrate Sally's big ???? birthday!!!! Whew...I'm tired already.

Well, enjoy the week and if you get a chance, check out my Facebook page!

Here's Sally visiting with Pagli. The three of them actually get along really well once Pagli realized he was smaller and faster than they were and he could fit under furniture!

Because we have nothing better to do!

2009-01-10T11:19:00.005-07:00

It's been a pretty slow week around here. Dick is home and we've just been kind of hanging out...running errands, etc. Dick has been playing with his favorite toy:

and we've been hanging out with our favorite entertainment:

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-02T19:49:00.005-07:00

It's been a whirlwind week. We went up to Vail on Monday morning to spend a few days with our friends, Dan and Tina. It was a great week with plenty of great skiing, great food and way too much wine consumed!!

A great dinner and crowd at Vendetta's in Vail. I had an excellent Italian seafood stew called Cioppino, an yummy Tiramisu and a great Pinot Noir to wash it all down!

Checking out the Nutcracker ice sculpture in Vail Village after dinner:

Heading home after a rocking New Year's Eve party at Sweet Basil.

A little fun in front of the fire!!

And the very best part: blue skies and great snow on the slopes of Vail, Colorado!!!!!!

Happy New Year!

Angie

Two Posts Today

2008-12-26T20:37:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the double post but I had two different things I wanted to talk about so it's easier to split them up. We went to see "Marley and Me" today. I had read the book so I knew how the story ended but I still cried my eyes out the entire movie! I thought it was a great book when I read it and thought the same about the movie. I know not all of my readers are "dog people" so it's hard to explain how important our dogs are to us. They truly are our family. They are not children and I would never compare my dogs to someone's child but they are our family. The amount of trust that they put in us and the love they give so unconditionally continues to fill my heart with joy. There are plenty of days when they are manic and crazy and get on my nerves but there are more days when they lie on their back and want nothing more than a quick rub on their tummies...those days make it totally worth it.

There was a scene in the movie that moved me to tears because it was so real to me. When Jen has her miscarriage, she comes home, sits on the couch and holding Marley, cries into his neck. It was such a tender scene and I could relate so well....there are so many times when I am feeling sad or lonely or depressed when I just cry with the dogs. They don't say anything, they don't try to fix it...they just lie there with their beautiful big, dopey eyes and let me pour out my emotions. Those days are priceless. So, here's a big shout out to the two big, beautiful pups that brighten each and every one of my days!

Kimi (13 mo)

Cody (7 mo)

Not in Paris

2008-12-26T20:20:00.005-07:00

Cold and fog...that's what I posted on my blog 12/26/2007....from Paris. It had been a cold, foggy day and I had a cold that lasted several days. Sadly, I am not reporting from Paris but happily from my cozy home in Erie, Colorado. I can't remember the last time we had such a laid back holiday. Having spent a week in Louisiana visiting my family over Thanksgiving, not being with family for the holidays was not so hard. We decided at the last minute to hold a Christmas Eve open house. We had several neighbors and friends that do not have family here and had no plans for Christmas Eve so Dick and I threw together a little shindig. It turned out even better than I anticipated...about 25 people, including kids and we all had a wonderful time partying into the wee Christmas hours. We had plenty of food and great Champagne. Our friend, Gavin, brought homemade eggnog....yummo!!!!! Here's a few pics of friends and fun:

Dick dancing with the dogs before our guests arrive!

Yummy appetizers waiting to be eaten!!! (excuse the firelighter in the background...)

Dick with Sally's crew: Ed, Nancy (Sally's aunt & uncle), Joe (Nancy's son), Sally and Will (Nancy's oldest son). We were so blessed to have them here visiting from North Carolina.

Judy and Sally having a chuckle over something!!

The Alm boys with Jasmine (Seth, Jasmine, Josh and Ken).

Us, hanging out with the Gaspars and Kevin.

Hello...I'm here!

2008-12-22T08:52:00.006-07:00

I know my blog posts are getting farther apart...there's just not that much going on right now around here. It's been cold...brrrr...but luckily we have plenty of warm clothes and boots so it's not so bad. We are going skiing up at Vail December 29 through January 1. We will get more ski days in next week than we got all of last year! Woo hoo!!!

I've been busy getting ready for our little open house Christmas Eve...just neighbors and a few good friends. I always start to get the holiday spirit around this week so this is what I've been up to:

In the past, I have made Christmas cookies but I really wanted to do something different so I tried out three different candied nut recipes...they all came out tasty so I pulled together some gift bags, tucked them into my nice basket, put on my red coat and delivered them door to door to my neighbors. It was a fun little trek and it's so nice that a simple bag of nuts can put a smile on someone's face this time of year.

My mother in law, before she passed away, made butter cookies for my hubby every single time we visited and they were a staple around her house during the holidays. I thought it would be a nice treat for him to have some this year at home...it's his mom's recipe and they always come out delicious!

What would a blog post of mine be without a pic of the puppies...here they are romping in the cold weather last week!

Oh, and one last thing....my fave new Christmas gift....a new camera from my mom!!! It's the Nikon D60...now I just need to take some classes and learn how to take better pictures!!!

Friday Night Boredom

2008-12-12T18:30:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Winter Hikes

2008-12-10T11:10:00.004-07:00

Monday night we got a a couple of inches of snow so it was a beautiful white winter morning yesterday. Poor little Cody was neutered so he spent the day at the vet and Kimi and I had the whole day to ourselves! I had forgotten how easy one dog was.

It was so quiet around the house so I decided to take her out to Coot Lake near Boulder Res. It's a great trail for dogs because they can be off leash with the proper county off leash tags. Here she is, enjoying the new snow. I continue to be amazed how beautiful she is!!!!

And here's a view of our gorgeous Boulder flatirons as seen from Coot Lake....what I wouldn't give to have this view from our house!!!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

2008-12-07T16:25:00.007-07:00

Dick put up my Christmas tree last week so today while he was gone, I decided to decorate it. What fun I had!! I really do love Christmas and especially enjoy putting up the tree. Last year we were in Paris and it made me so sad not to have my tree up. There were years in the past that I had to fill up the empty spaces with glass balls or "generic" ornaments. This year I actually had trouble finding space for all of our ornaments, and it got me thinking. You can tell alot by someone's Christmas tree. Here are some of my fave ornaments that we've collected throughout the years and what they mean to us (descriptions read from top row left to right)

First Row:

1. Clay ornament from Crested Butte - my parents brought it back from a vacation they took there.

2. Top Dog Waldo - Dick and I's very first dog together...our beloved Great Pyr.

3. Mickey bell from a long ago trip to Disneyland with the Morgan family.

4. Pair of riding boots from when we were in Virginia and I was taking riding lessons.

5. Ornament from the 2001 Bush Inauguration

6. Clay ornament we got when we were first married...with Dick's two daughter's names included.

Second Row:

1. New York Taxi from one of my trips to NYC

2. Provincetown ornament from a trip Dick and I took to see Danielle & Sydney

3. Dutch Shoes that Dick got years ago in Holland

4. One of my favorite White House ornaments - I now have 10 years worth but this was always one of my faves

5. This year's White House ornament....

6. Ornament sent to me from Marie when they were stationed in Hawaii

Third Row:

1. Champagne Bottle & Bucket Glass ornament - cause we like the bubbly stuff

2. Wooden Berner ornament for our love of our dogs!

3. Mount Vernon ornament - Martha welcoming George home.

4. Another from a collection...The Library of Congress...this has one of my fave T. Jefferson quotes: "I cannot live without books."

5. Crystal Champagne bottle & bucket - see a theme?

6. Wooden skis from Vail 2000

Fourth Row:

1. Adorable snow globe ornament I got from our book club ornament swap (thanks Kerry!!!)

2. Hard Rock Paris - you'll see another theme here shortly!

3. Brass Eiffel Tower ornament

4. National Cathedral ornament - most of the DC/political ornament collections were started when we lived in Northern Virginia.

5. Glittery Eiffel Tower

6. Crystal Champagne Glass......

Fifth Row:

1. Paris ornament from one of our many trips - can you tell what our favorite city is?

2. This year's Library of Congress ornament

3. Glass Eiffel Tower and Poodle

4. "Handyman" ornament given to Dick by the Patten family after helping them with some home stuff.

5. "Travel Girl" ornament

6. Cafe Du Monde ornament from a trip to the Big Easy.

Sixth Row:

1. Skier Guy that I bought for Dick one Christmas.

2. Another Paris ornament!!!

3. Our very first ornament together - Hallmark 1992...our first Christmas

4. One of our recent acquisitions - from Key West for Jason & Regina's wedding. I love the glittery sand dollar!!!

5. Another Eiffel Tower...

6. Our very last purchase - a pewter ornament of the Munich Maypole...purchased last month on our weekend trip.

So, there you have it...a small sampling of our ornaments. Now you know quite a bit about us!!! What does YOUR tree say about you?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

Bad Blogger

2008-12-07T16:17:00.003-07:00

Hi and sorry I've been gone for so long. Thanksgiving week was a whirlwind trip. Dick and I drove down to Louisiana via Lake Livingston, Texas (to see Bill & Maggie). B & M are old friends that were some of our first neighbors when Dick moved to Colorado in 1991. They have remained our best friends throughout the years and we miss them terribly now that they are in Texas. Luckily, I get home to Louisiana often enough that I can always make a short stop to see them. It was great to spend two whole days with them this time. Maggie and I took a little shopping trip to the Houston Ikea while Dick and Bill hung out in the boat on the lake. I was sad to go.

But go we did...driving another 2.5 hours to my hometown of Jennings, Louisiana. It's always makes me sad to go home....my dad died 6 years ago and just being there without him makes me sad.

We had a great Thanksgiving...almost 40 people (friends and relatives) at my mom's house and plenty of good food too numerous to mention here. It's always great to be able to see both sides of my family in one place.

The big news of the week is that my mom got engaged! We are very excited. Her fiance is a wonderful man who loves her very much and I know will take very good care of her so Mom, if you're reading this..CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!!!!!

On the Road Again

2008-11-20T15:11:00.002-07:00

Leaving tomorrow for my hometown: Jennings, Louisiana. The truck is all packed and the dogs are ready. We're spending the weekend in Lake Livingston with our friends Bill & Maggie. Maggie and I will make a trip to Ikea on Sunday...woo hoo! I can't wait. Monday we're off to Jennings for two weeks. My whole family will be there for Thanksgiving and I can't wait.

I'll post again once we're all settled at my mom's. Until then...have a great weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Kimi

2008-11-17T13:17:00.003-07:00

A year ago, our little angel berner was born! Remember this...the first day at our house...11 pounds of fuzzy preciousness!!!

And today - 70 pounds of fuzzy preciousness!!!

Happy Birthday Kimi!

The Otto Story

2008-11-17T10:57:00.005-07:00

So now, in hindsight, this story doesn't seem as funny as it did when it happened but since I mentioned it I now have to tell it. As you know from my previous post, we were only in Munich for one and a half days. We flew out of Denver on Saturday morning, arriving Munich Sunday mid-morning and we left Munich Tuesday morning. So we were there for 5 meals. Sunday we had lunch at a nice local place near the Marienplatz (yummy schnitzel & I had chicken curry), Sunday night was dinner at another local place, this one near our hotel (more chicken for me and pork for Dick). Tuesday morning breakfast was a croissant for Dick and a big, steaming latte for me and lunch was another fun local restaurant (pumpkin soup for me and I think more schnitzel or something like that for Dick).

By the time Monday evening rolled around, we had been shopping all day and were really ready to kick back, relax and have a nice, romantic last night in Munich meal. Which, by the way, had to include apple streudel because despite our mission to have it, neither the right moment nor the right streudel had arrived. We had packed our bags and didn't have a early flight on Tuesday so we were really planning on making a night of it. We didn't know where we were going to go but we decided to head out near the Opera because it was such a nice area.

First we ended up in this really fun Weinstube (small, homey restaurants known for their wine and food). It's very similar to a beer garden...communal tables and a really fun atmosphere. So, there we are enjoying our wine...chatting over what a great trip it had been and just having a really good time. Soon we were starting to get hungry and decided to venture out to a nicer restaurant for dinner. At this point, I noticed that someone had left a pair of eyeglasses on the table next to us. I mentioned it to Dick then we headed outside. We immediately ran into a couple who I recognized from the table with the eyeglasses. They were out talking and smoking with an older, traditionally dressed German gentleman. Well, Dick speaks pretty fluent German so he asked if anyone had left their eyeglasses on the table.

This is where it got kind of weird. Dick was positive that he was asking the question correctly and even repeated it....explaining it in more detail. The younger couple who had been sitting at that table "acted" like they didn't understand what he was saying. The older gentleman however, immediately latched onto the face that we were American and started speaking to us in mixed German/English. He seemed like a nice fellow....asking about Obama and how we were enjoying our trip. Then he asked if we had gone to dinner and we told him that we were heading out to do that right now. So he then proceeds to tell us that he'd love to show us a little of the real Munich and show us to a nice restaurant. Well, there was really no way to say no because he kind of just latched onto us and started out to the sidewalk. At this point the other couple made a beeline for the Weinstube again....in retrospect, not surprising! So we are realizing now that the three of them were not together....hmmmmm....ugh oh!

Well, Otto...yep, his name was Otto....pointed out a few interesting facts along our walk and then we ended up at a restaurant (can't even remember the name) that we had considered for dinner so we all popped inside. Okay, at this point, I expected one of two things to happen:

1. Otto knew the restaurant (and people), was a regular and was going to introduce us as his friends (apparently that was too much to ask) or

2. He was going to drop us off, tell us to enjoy our dinner and be on his way.

You can probably figure out that neither of those things happened. And....duh...the waitress was much quicker to catch onto the fact that perhaps he was a little inebriated. So, we all sit down at a table....and Otto proceeds to talk about the U.S., his family living here, and a whole lotta things that were depressing and going downhill....AND to make it worse, he and Dick were talking in German/English so I couldn't understand half of what was said. I could tell that the subject matter was not pleasant and was none too happy that my nice romantic dinner with my husband had been so rudely interrupted by a drunk German.

Luckily, alot of Germans still smoke, so it was just a matter of time before he had to go outside. Dick and I agreed (with plenty of pressure from me)...to order appetizers and a glass of wine and get the heck out of there. Ugh...even that took forever...3 Otto smoke breaks to be exact. With him coming back every single time saying "in 15 minutes, I will be on my way home and you can eat your dinner." And to be truthful, every time he went out for a smoke break, I tried to convince Dick that we should run out the back door!!!!

Never happened...finally, I had to say "I don't feel well, we have an early flight and we really need to get back to the hotel." So, there we went...leaving him still nursing his beer at the table. By this time, we were stuffed from the wine and appetizers that weren't even that great! We trecked back to the restaurant where we had lunch because they had a really, nice cozy interior and I just wanted something cozy and romantice. We finally got our apple streudel and yes, another bottle of wine. So all in all...not the night I was expecting but an evening that ends with apple streudel can't be all bad!!

In retrospect, Otto was a very sad, lonely man and I suspect, just wanted someone to talk to. Dick, being the generous sweet soul that he is, was much more patient than I and speaks German so could communicate so much better.

So, that's it...that's my Otto story!

A Weekend in Munich

2008-11-12T15:53:00.006-07:00

I know it comes as no surprise to anyone who has known me and Dick for any length of time that we would fly to Munich for the weekend! And what a fun weekend it was. We left Denver on Saturday - a perfectly on time flight to Chicago where we connected to Munich. We got one upgrade to business class and Dick was sweet enough to take the coach seat and let me have the business class seat. As with all of our Europe trips, I had dinner and went straight to sleep. When I woke up, we were in Germany!

Of course, since we only had two days in Munich, we hit the ground running. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Hochstrasse. I can definitely recommend it. It was very clean and they had a room ready for us at 11:00 in the morning. It also had a great bar and a subway stop at the hotel....very convenient. We washed our faces, unpacked our small carry ons then headed out the door. We spent the day wandering around town...like we always do. We had lunch near the Marienplatz in the old part of the city....Dick had schnitzel (he couldn't wait!!!) and I had yummy chicken. The one thing I had forgotten was how much I loved German food (and wine).

The weather was so gorgeous...blue sunny skies and mid 60's temps kept us outside the entire two days...walking, people watching, shopping and eating all of that yummy food. Here's a few pics of our adventures.

The Odeonsplatz is one of the cosmopolitan centers of Munich, at the intersection of Ludwigstrasse, Briennerstrasse, and the Royal Palace. It is also the location of the Feldherrnhalle. Modeled after the Loggia die Lanzi in Florence, the Feldherrnhalle brings a bit of Italian renaissance to Bavaria. It was commissioned by King Ludwig I to honor the Bavarian army, but is best known for its role during the Beer Hall Uprising led by Adolf Hitler. 16 Nazis and four policemen were killed during the subsequent riots. Once once the Nazis came to power, the Odeonsplatz became a shrine to the fallen Nazi “martyrs.” Every person passing by was required on threat of arrest to greet the honor guard with a Nazi salute. A small alley way behind the monument became almost as famous, called Viscardigasse, because there were locals who took the passage rather than being forced to give the Nazi salute. Today, Odeonsplatz is one of the cosmopolitan centers of Munich, at the intersection of Ludwigstrasse, Briennerstrasse, and the Royal Palace.

Next on our agenda was the BMW Tower and the BMW Welt. The Tower has been the Bavarian automakers headquarters for over 30 years. Built between 1968 and 1972, it was ready just in time for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Its inauguration followed on 18 May 1973. The building stands 101 m (roughly 331 feet) tall, is located in direct proximity of the Olympic stadium. The main tower consists of four vertical cylinders standing next to and across from each other. Each cylinder is divided horizontally in its center by a mold in the facade. Notably, these cylinders do not stand on the ground, they are suspended on a central support tower. During the construction, individual floors were assembled on the ground and then elevated. The tower has a diameter of roughly 171 feet.

During the 1972 Olympics, BMW branding was removed from the buildings to prevent undesirable product placement.

Here we are on Monday...enjoying the beautiful sunny day in the Marienplatz...people watching and shopping.

Another pic at the Marienplatz...in front of the Glockenspiel.

Part of the second construction phase of the New Town Hall, it dates from 1908. Every day at 11 a.m. (as well as 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. in summer) it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century to the amusement of mass crowds of tourists and locals. It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the world famous Hofbrauhaus) to Renata of Lothringen. In honour of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white). The Bavarian Knight wins every time of course. This is then followed by the bottom half and second story: Schäfflerstanz (the coopers' dance). In the 16th century a particularly bad period of the plague hit town and everyone went into hiding. The first people to dare go back onto the streets were barrel makers who performed a big dance to show that it was okay to come out again. The Duke of Bavaria was so happy about this that he actually ordered them to re-enact this every seven years, a custom which continues to this day. The dance can be seen during Fasching (German Carnival) but the next one is not until 2012. The whole show lasts somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes long depending on which tune it plays that day. At the very end a very small golden bird at the top of the Glockenspiel chirps three times, marking the end of the spectacle.

A testament to the unbelievably great weather - a nice lunch outside on Monday.

Stay tuned for our funny Munich adventure that I will recount for you tomorrow....hint: it involves a guy named Otto!!!

The Exciting Life of a Stay At Home Dog Mom

2008-11-05T17:17:00.003-07:00

To my loyal followers (all 2 of you)...I apologize for not being around for the last week. Truth be told, if I got on my computer in the morning, I wouldn't get off until afternoon so I'm trying not to spend too much time on here. Maybe once the winter finally shows up here and the days are short, I might have more time to hang out. Life here is about the same...we went to dinner Saturday night with Randy & Meri then spent a disappointing afternoon at the Broncos game on Sunday. Monday I went to the movies with Sally and her mom. We saw "The Secret Life of Bees". Cute movie...for a $5.50 matinee...it was okay. More importantly, I saw the trailer for "Marley & Me". I can't wait for that to come out at Christmas. I loved the book and movie looks hilarious!!!

Some walks this week with Sally and some with the dogs. I tried running last week and although it was painful on my legs and lungs, my ankle hardly ached at all. That's great news. Who knows, maybe I have one more marathon left in me.

We are off to Germany for a quick long weekend....it will be short but fun. We can pile alot of fun stuff in 48 hours!!!

Oh, I have been cooking since I stopped working...okay, I cooked twice. Friday night for Halloween I made Dick's favorite: pot roast with potatoes and carrots in my crock pot. It was delicious if I say so myself. Tonight I made myself a big pot of chili...it's my "go to" winter food...so easy to throw together and so good for you. Speaking of food, I have to give a shout out to Rachel from my book club...she made some awesome snacks for our monthly book club: the tastiest pumpkin soup I have ever had, delish cranberry relish and a double yummy blue cheese and nut hot dip...I'm sure I ate half the dish!!!! And then she sent me home with yummy spiced roasted pumpkin seeds. I've been munching on those seeds all week and just dreaming about that dip!!!

And last, but not least, unlike the last time I wasn't working, I've actually had quite a bit of creative energy lately. I am almost finished making all of my Christmas cards and I actually got out Halloween cards and am almost finished with Thanksgiving cards. Woo hoo!!!!!

Here's a few pics from the weekend:

Dick and the big scary dog!!!

My little boy is getting big...I am just so in love...he's so adorable and snuggly!!!

And here's a close up of Kimi, my beautiful big girl who's turning 1 this month. She is such a little prankster but is so adorable!!!

It's Been a Long Time

2008-10-28T14:21:00.008-06:00

Happy Tuesday and thanks to all of you who continue to check up on me here. Lots of stuff going on right now so this will be a pretty long post. Most of you who have known me for some time know that I went back to work in April of this year for a start up company. I wasn't thrilled about going back to work full time but it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up. Well, I guess all good things come to end...I got laid off yesterday. Don't fret...it's okay. I'm actually happy to be semi-retired again...as is Dick. He really likes having me home and having me free to travel or just hang out with him. Sally is pretty thrilled too (I hope) because now I can go back to doing some work with her in the furniture biz...and I get to go back to Vegas in February for furniture market again!! Woo hoo girlfriend....Viva Las Vegas!!!

Anyway, this time around I'm hoping to be more productive in my time off....spend more time in my craft room, with my girlfriends, at the gym, etc. All those things I never seemed to have time to do when I was working full time.

I don't think I mentioned it previously, but my one and only awesome sister, Donna, bought a car here in Colorado. Two weeks ago, she flew here and she and I drove it to Houston. It was a long (17 hours) trip but fun and it gave us some great quality sister time together. Here she is a rest stop someplace in Oklahoma, showing off her Volvo S40. It was an extremely comfortable car to both drive and ride in and got great gas mileage. I know she's going to love it.

As you can see, the weather was awesome and we had an easy peasy drive until we got here:

Dallas, Texas Saturday afternoon traffic. Luckily, it only put us behind about 30 minutes but it was a real pain to deal with. We spent the night with my great friend, Bill then back to the airport and home to Denver I came.

Only to be home for a week then taking off for LAS VEGAS!!! Dick and I spent the weekend to celebrate his...and his friend Scott's birthday. Nancy and Scott took a road trip to the Grand Canyon since we didn't arrive until Friday night. I had upgraded our rooms at the Bellagio to a corner room and we had several gorgeous views...this one we could view out of while we were in bed....awesome!!!! We were on the 27th floor so it wasn' t noisy and those mountains were gorgeous at sunrise (or so Dick tells me). Dick got sick Saturday night and spent alot of time in the room so I'm glad it was so nice.

Sorry for the dark picture but this is the picture in our bathroom...that's the jacuzzi tub underneat the window.....great taking a bath while enjoying the view. It's just a good thing no helicopters flew by!!!

I love the Bellagio. It's such a beautiful hotel, and Ilove that they decorate their conservatory for every season. Right now it's decorate for autumn...here's Nancy and I enjoying the fall "foliage". That's a scarecrow behind us...too bad his head got chopped off!

I loved this beautifuld display of pumpkins....the color really made smile.

And last, the old man in the tree. It's not obvious from this picture, but his eyes moved, like he was watching us...spooky!!!!

Hopefully now that I'm home again you'll hear from me more often. Ciao!!!

Angie

Have You Missed Me?

2008-10-16T14:32:00.007-06:00

Happy Thursday and I apologize for being gone so long. It's been a busy month and I just haven't had the time nor inclination to blog. Busy, busy but not necessarily interesting stuff going on...in other words, not much to blog about. But it's about to get busier around our house for the next few weeks so I thought I should post a few thoughts before I really go underground for awhile. We went to the Broncos/Jacksonville game on Sunday...ugh...Broncos played badly and lost the game but we had a blast. We took Kevin & Judy with us and some friends from work also came along so we had our own cheering section. As you can see, it was slightly chilly...we got a little bit of rain and frosty drizzle but all in all, it was just fun being outside, watching the game and spending time with friends.

Here's Judy and I getting ready to eat our chili cheese fries....I'm such a healthy eater normally but when I go to sports events I can't help but eat stadium food. Also note the new jacket...apparently Dick thought I might have not have dressed warmly enough so I got a new Broncos jacket which kept me toasty warm and dry. Thanks sweety!!!

No post of mine would be complete without bragging on the dogs. Whew, having two dogs is exhausting but fun. The two of them are constant entertainment for me. Here they are sharing a toy....can you believe how big she is and how big he's getting????

He may be growing but he's still a big baby and he adores Dick. He's quite the snuggler and loves being close...especially in the mornings when we're all cuddled up in bed. This was Saturday when it was cold and drizzly outside and we were watching "Ironman" which I loved...

Here's another flying dog pic...every single time I get out my camera one of the dogs goes flying towards me. Cody is at that stage where his ears are too big for his head...what a cutie.

Tomorrow my sister, Donna, is coming into town from Louisiana and we are driving her new car down to Louisiana. Yep, you heard me...she's flying in mid-afternoon and as soon as I get home from work, we are hitting the road South. It will take us about 17 hours to get to Houston where we'll stay with friends Saturday night then she'll head home in her new car and I'll catch a flight home. What a whirlwind weekend, but I am looking forward to so much quality time with her.

We'll try to remember to take some road trip pictures...4 states in 1.5 days!!! Stay posted.

Sunday Updates

2008-09-28T17:33:00.008-06:00

Happy Sunday!! I hope everyone had a great weekend. We are having the most beautiful weather here in Colorado...warm, sunny days and cool, dry nights. It doesn't get any better than this. Our beautiful maple tree in the front yard has turned a beautiful autumn red and is losing its leaves - winter is just around the corner. That's amazing, isn't it? I don't know where the summer went. I didn't do any of the things I wanted to do and here we are, getting ready for ski season.

My ankle is feeling much better but I haven't started running on it yet. Sally and I went for a 2 hour hike yesterday in Boulder...it felt great to be outside and moving. I've started going back to the gym...if I'm not going to run, I have to do something! I've also started taking a yoga class at lunchtime and all that stretching is making me feel great. I've exercised my whole adult life so to have now spent over a year basically doing nothing felt yucky, yucky, yucky. I don't think there are any more marathons in my future but I do hope to get up and running again.

I know time is flying because we're so busy but it doesn't make it any easier. Here's Dick and I at the Broncos game last week...we had a great time, making a day of it and we won!

Work has been busy too and the pups keep me busy at home. Here's some puppy love for you. Cody is 4 months old now and boy, is he a cutie and sweet!

The two of them are really getting along well and together, they make my heart melt.

They can be very attentive when Dick has treats!!

I've been spending alot of time in my craft room, working on Christmas cards and other things. It's been a long time since I felt any creative mojo, but spending the weekend with Suze in Chicago....chatting and visiting paper and stamp stores has gotten my creative juices going again. I don't think I've ever posted any of my cards but here's one that I made last weekend that I thought came out pretty well. It's a bad big but it looked really good in person and who knows, someone reading this blog may be the lucky recipients!!!

And last, but definitely not least, Dick has been travelling alot this year but is just short of making his normal United 1K status so to help him along, we're going here for 3 days in November - Munich, Germany. It will be a quick trip but we're always up for an adventure. We've been once before but it was at the tail end of a whirlwind 17 day trip and I didn't really enjoy the city. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend there and getting to know it a little better.

Have a great week!!!

Work Work Work

2008-09-18T13:27:00.005-06:00

I've been swamped at work lately and with Dick out of town, my nights are filled with puppy duties. So here's a little fun info about me today. This is from the Very Good Taste blog and it's 100 things they thing every good omnivore should eat in their life. Here goes:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos Rancheros

4. Steak Tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba Ghanoush

11.Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J Sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice & Beans

25. Brawn or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar3

7. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken Tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly Pear

52. Umboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S'mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis

69. Fried plaintain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe Beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose Harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

100. Snake

Wow, looking through my list, I'm a pretty good eater and there's really nothing on here that I wouldn't try...lots of things I don't want to eat but nothing I wouldn't play around with.

IKEA & Puppy Update

2008-09-11T09:21:00.002-06:00

I am so excited...on the front page of the Denver Post this morning: Ikea coming to Colorado!!! I am thrilled, even though it will be close to 2 years before it's finished. In our current house, Ikea furniture wouldn't really fit in with our decor but when we were Townhouse living in Virginia, it was perfect. But, they have the most awesome prices and selection of kitchenware, dishes, glass jars...I can't wait!!!

Puppy update. There's a reason puppies are so cute! This morning I went outside to find a large hole in the middle of my outdoor sofa cushion and a puppy pulling out stuffing. Since I did not see the original crime occur, I don't know who started it although I am pretty sure it was Kimi, the big sister who was the original perpetrator. Cody just got caught living off the spoils!!!

A Puppy Fix!

2008-09-04T20:35:00.003-06:00

This is Kimi & Cody's favorite spot to hang out...our new bathroom...I'm sure the tile is cool on their little Berner tummies. And aren't they just the sweetest looking things? And so innocent....
Oh wait...this is what happens in puppies favorite spot when he & Kimi get hold of Mommy's nice bathroom rugs that keep her toes nice and cozy warm in the winter!!! Good thing we got the radiant heat in the floor!!! Can you see the little pieces of blue yarn scattered throughout? They were also scattered throughout the bedroom so apparently a tug of war had occurred!!!

But look at this adorable thing and you know why I can hardly stay mad for a second....

and here he is tonight...a whopping 21 pounds of pure fluff and cuteness.

Fun Fun Fun in the Big City - Warning Long Post

2008-09-03T11:50:00.020-06:00

I'm back and get ready to read because it was a jam packed weekend of fun!!! Now I'm back but busy with puppies and work so it's taken me a couple of days to get to the blog.

Chicago was wonderful!!! Suze and I haven't spent any quality time together in years so it was so fun to just be us girls being silly in the big city. I arrived Friday morning, via an unusually on-time United flight and headed straight to our hotel. My DH had let us use his Marriott points to score two free nights at the Marriott Magnificent Mile. What a sweety! It's a nice hotel...nothing to complain about. In fact, there's a brand new Starbucks in the lobby so lots to be thrilled about. Suze and I spent alot of time at the Bucks around Chicago...enjoying our lattes. The hotel is in an awesome location...right on Michigan Ave...a stone's throw from Nordstrom's and all of the other magnficent shopping. Wanna hear something funny? We didn't even go into any of those shops....nope, not even Nordstrom.

Friday was a whirlwind of a day. I checked us into our hotel (thank you Marriott for having a room at 10:30 in the morning) and headed down the street to get Suze. Once we were all unpacked, we headed out the door. Suze was on a mission for a camera so we scounted out the nearest Wolf's and headed there. Ooops...well, we got sidetracked by Old Navy where we picked up some cute jammies on sale then we had lunch so THEN we found her camera. Once that mission was accomplished, we were free to hang out and just have fun which we did. More window shopping on Friday then we stopped in for a quick nibble and glass of wine at one of our fave Chicago spots - Quartino - on the corner of Ontario & State Street. Awesome inexpensive Italian wine and pizza (Italian style, not Chicago style). Well, one glass of wine turned into a bottle and nibbles turned into a yummy pizza topped with fresh arugula that turned into yummy, yummy grapefruit martinis and a fun bartender named Eric so needless to say....we never made it past Quartino.

We were in bed early on Friday...both of us had early mornings and those comfy, fluffy pillows at the Marriott were calling our name.

Saturday morning was exactly what I was hoping for...luxuriously sleeping in...no pups whining for food or attention. Heaven in Chicago...LOL. When we finally drug ourselves out of our room, we opted for a walk along the lake. It was a gorgeous day and I couldn't believe how many people were out walking, running, biking, rollerblading, swimming. It made me think for a nano-second that Chicago is a city could live in (at least until winter arrived!). We made our way leisurely back to the hotel...stopping to have a yummy cinnamon dolce latte for me at Bucks and a nice, icy 7-Up for Suze. Along the way, we stumbled upon the Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago. The church is a landmark Gothic Revival church and a welcome relief from the middle of the day heat and crowds on Michigan Avenue. We stopped for a moment of silence inside the church then made our way to the lovely courtyard and fountain. It's so nice to come upon a peaceful place in the middle of a city.

Quick showers and we were off again. We were on another mission. Both of us had done some research and come up with ONE, yes ONE, stamp store in Chicago that we wanted to visit. So it was our mission on Saturday to find it. We decided it was such a great day that we'd venture a walk down Rush Street and work our way up to North Clark to visit Stamp On In. We ventured through Chicago's Gold Coast area. In the late 1980s, the Gold Coast comprised the second most-affluent neighborhood in the United States, behind Manhattan's Upper East Side so it's not surprising that we were shopping for this:

or maybe one of these that comes with a cool price tag of $438,000!!!!

Along the way, there were the obligatory Bucks stops...a long peek into Anthropologie...a too yummy for words lunch at another of our faves: Le Colonial. This was our first trip to the Chicago restaurant but we had a yummy dinner at their New York location several years ago. So yummy that we have been talking about going back there for 4 years!!! We had a cute little table outside and ordered up some fabulous appetizers.

goi Cuon
Soft salad rolls of shrimp, rice vermicelli, lettuce, bean sprouts, & aromatic herbs in rice paper, with peanut plum dipping sauce

hao tom
Grilled shrimp wrapped around sugar cane, with angel-hair noodles, mint, cilantro, & lettuce, with peanut plum dipping sauce

ca song
Tuna tartare with tomato, cilantro, & cucumber,tossed in ginger soy dressing, served with wonton crisps

More wandering...through Lincoln Park...up to North Clark and finally...Stamp On In!!! Well, we were delighted to be there...what a cute little shop...so cute that we didn't take any pics. Well, we took some pics of samples but other than than, we were way too busy filling up our baskets with fun craft goodies. If you are a crafter and are in Chicago, definitely stop in to see Terry and Rick...the stamping guys!!! Not only do they have a great shop but they were so much fun to chat with!! Sadly, they closed at 5 and we had only arrived at 3:30 so we were unable to do leisurely shopping....it was definitely craft speed shopping. We did have the time for creative genius Rick to give us a tutorial on Copic markers. Fun fun fun and now we actually know how to use them!!!! Whew...we piled in a bunch of fun in that 90 minutes. Ooops, totally forgot our earlier excursion into Blick Art Supplies where we had the craziest (not in a good way) salesperson trying to sell us Copics. She even went so far to give us a demonstration. Suze was all set to buy...until the demonstration....it was so weird that we couldn't wait to get out of there, much less purchase anything from the clearly mentally unstable salesperson. Did I mention that there was a mishap on Saturday and I came away with a black eye? Hmmm....

After our wonderful adventure at Stamp On In, we wandered down Wells Street, ending up in Old Town. What a glorious part of the city! We wandered in and out of small boutiques, bakeries, spice shops...fun fun fun. But all that fun left us weary on a Saturday night. And although we had the best intentions to go down to the Navy Pier and watch the 10:15 fireworks, it didn't happen. Instead, we put on our new Old Navy jammies....had fun looking through all of our fun craft purchases, rented Sex and the City, ordered room service and went to bed at a reasonable hour. A perfect night if I say so myself.

You would think that all that relaxing in our hotel room would have us up at the crack of dawn...nope, we had another luxurious morning of sleeping in...had our showers and Bucks lattes then headed to the Navy Pier. Sunday we were more on a mission than any other day...probably because up until then we had pretty much just been wandering around Chicago. We hopped on a 10:30 a.m. Architectural boat ride, sat back, enjoyed the lake breeze and watched the skyline go by...what a nice way to start the morning.

We had another crystal blue day but it was starting to warm up just a little so it wasn't as comfortable as it had been earlier in the trip. Like the funny girls we can be, we decided to ride the carnival swings on Navy Pier...fun fun fun...but thankfully I had not eaten anything before riding them...from the Navy Pier, we took the water taxi up the river to the Sears Tower. And this , my friends, is as high as we got in the Sears Tower, once the tallest building in the world. There were too many people and we just did not feel like standing in a sea of humanity so we took our pic here at the entrance to the SkyDeck and went on our merry way.

We ended up at Bin 36 for lunch...a cozy wine bar/restaurant that was perfect. We were hungry and nibbles of cheese & olives (along with a flight of Sauvignon Blanc) were just what we needed!!!

I loved the presentation of the cheese on the tile square. Hmmm...something I could do at home with my leftover tile from the bathroom makeover???

We continued to wander around Chicago and it seemed like we couldn't turn the corner without running into these two beauties....formally known as Marina City and quite famous in many movies but also affectionately known as the corn cob buildings which cracked me up everytime we saw them because yes, they do look like giant corn cobs!!!

We couldn't end the weekend without a little culture and some much needed A/C so we headed over to the Art Institute. If you go, the museum closes at 5:00 but at 4:00, they drop the prices to 50%...so instead of $12.00 per person, we only paid $6.00!!! And what a deal...we saw:

American Gothic by Grant Wood

The Thorne Miniatures - actual rooms that were recreated in dollhouse size...amazing!!! Can you see the Eiffel Tower out the window? It's faint but the details in these miniature rooms are stunning!!!

The very large Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte by Georges-Pierre Seurat

and Suze's favorites, architectural elements from Chicago landmarks and buildings.

And last, but not least, ending our day at the Buckingham Fountain.

And our last evening, spent relaxing in our hotel room watching this:

Monday we both had early afternoon flights so we made a quick trip to The Paper Source for more stamping fun items and then to O'Hare to get home to our sweet hubbies.

Puppy Emergencies & Lack of Sleep

2008-08-23T10:01:00.009-06:00

Well, just look at this face...is he not adorable??? He is such a sweety and has the cutest personality. He also had a belly button hernia that had to be repaired with surgery on Friday...his 3 month birthday!!! He's fine but has 3 inch cut in his belly and needs to stay quiet for the next two weeks. I don't need to tell you how difficult it is to keep a 12 week old puppy quiet...especially since he and his sister like to wrestle all the time!!! He's not sleeping well through the night (still!!!)...so I am still sleep deprived and my allergies are bothering me so I feel like a walking zombie these days!

Kimi is a great big sister and just a big puppy herself. It's so funny to me that this is one of her favorite spots in the house. When she's really feeling playful, she'll drop her treat filled Kong toy from up here because when it hits the floor all of her treats come out. Smart girl!!!

Other than doggie stuff, it's been normal around here. As usual, we are constantly in a state of travel planning. We have a couple of trips coming up that we're excited about.

Labor Day weekend I am heading here with my best friend, Suzanne, who lives in Virginia:

We did a girls' trip to NYC a couple of years ago so this time we're targeting Chicago! I'm sure there will be plenty of good food and shopping while we're there. Suze is putting together a list of things that she wants to do/accomplish while we're there. All I want is to spend quality time with her and get some sleep. The thought of three nights in a nice, quiet hotel room is more than I can stand!!

In October, Dick and I are heading here, with Scott & Nancy, friends from Florida. Dick & Scott share a birthday week so we are celebrating together this year.

And we're going to see:

This will be my 3rd time seeing this show and it's awesome!!!! Sally and I saw it when we were there for market last year then I brought Dick to see it because I knew he'd love it. We tried to get Scott & Nancy to join us then but they had a grandchild on the way so it was impossible, but we talked them into joining us in October. I can't wait. If you haven't seen it, it's a fun, fun show...and we normally hang out at the Revolution Bar in The Mirage before the show. Last time we were there, there was an awesome DJ spinning some fun tunes.

Last but not least, for 2008, we are heading to my hometown in Louisiana for Thanksgiving.

We are packing up the truck and the two pups and driving home. It's not a bad drive - about 19 hours - and with the price of airfare, rental car there and putting two dogs in the kennel, it's easier for us to drive.

Hopefully, we won't see any of these:

but I bet we have some of this. This is Boudin, a cajun sausage type food, but rather than just meat inside, it's stuffed with a rice and spicy meat mixture. It is my all time favorite cajun food.

And this is Dick's favorite cajun food...cracklins. Basically it's pig fat fried in pig fat...okay, it's a little more appealing that that....it's like bacon with the fat on it, fried and highly seasoned...okay, that probably didn't make it sound any more appealing but trust me, they are a tasty treat----and when cooked perfectly they are nice and crunchy (perhaps bad for your weight and cholesterol and your arteries)!!! Throughout the years, I've found that you either love them or you hate them and in general...most men love them!!! They go especially well with a nice, cold beer.

A New Adventure

2008-08-12T12:04:00.003-06:00

photo by Filippo Fior

Can you guess where this? Well, it's where we're going May 23, 2009!!! Yep, it's funny...Dick thinks that I plan my next vacation while I'm still on vacation...LOL. Not true, I've been home 3 months now.

Yes, it's true...Italy again in 2009. This time with friends from the East Coast...I'll keep you posted on the details. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself.

On a puppy note. Whew, I forgot how exhausting having a puppy was...and how much sleep I was deprived during Kimi's early days in our home. Cody is adorable and sweet, but he only sleeps until 4:30. We can get him to lie down for about another 45 minutes but by 5:15/5:30, he's whining & barking and ready to be up and playing with his big sister. I am so tired!!!

Gone To The Dogs

2008-08-03T16:42:00.006-06:00

Happy Sunday. Have you had a good weekend? We've had a great weekend!! Friday night we went out to dinner at a local Italian place that we both like (Zamparelli's in Lafayette, CO). Sorry, Robin, no pics but we split the antipasto plate which was delish...lots of dried tomatoes, salami, mozarella, etc. Dick had the chicken marsala while I had the gazpacho that I love!!! I adore tomatoes and fresh gazpacho is the perfect summer meal for me. I also had two grapefuitinis....more delish with fresh grapefruit juice...yum yum!! After we got home, we sat in our front yard with our dogs then a couple of neighbors dropped by, we opened a bottle of wine and sat around "visiting" with the neighbors and the dogs. A Friday evening doesn't get much better than that for me.

Saturday, Dick finally got the neighbors' go kart up & running...here's Dick & Derek, our neighbor, getting ready for the test run. The kids had a great time playing on it all weekend.

Saturday we spent all day putting together our new patio chairs!! Exhausting. I had some errands to run, baby gift to buy and a short trip to Hobby Lobby for more craft stuff!!! Today, spent the entire morning putting together the patio table, pulling weeds, watching the Formula 1 race on TV and napping (yep, I said napping...and did I mention it has been HOT here??). Sunday afternoon and I am just exhausted...ready for some down time in my craft room before I settle down in front of the tv and watch my DVR shows!!

Here's weekend puppy pics for your enjoyment. Kimi really looks huge next to him and she is. He's a little chewer...anything close to his mouth and put those teeth on it!!!

This picture is misleading because Kimi had been terrorizing him for awhile....when he finally got himself unpinned from her, he was up & barking at her like crazy!!

Boy, is he a cutie. Kimi is also a beautiful pup but he's very cuddly and would just like to lay around with his plushy toys if she didn't keep stealing them!!!

Have a happy rest of the weekend and a good week!

Puppy Antics

2008-07-27T13:26:00.002-06:00

What have we done? The double puppy saga begins!

2008-07-27T13:20:00.004-06:00

Happy Sunday! Well, here we are...at the beginning of our two puppy saga!!! We picked Cody up this morning at a Starbucks in South Denver....my two favorite things: puppies and Starbucks! A nice way to start the morning.

Here he is, sweet little Cody, during a quiet moment on the way home. He whined most of the way home then fell asleep.

Kimi seems to have adjusted well already to him. She's been playing with him and doesn't seem to be too annoyed by him. I think he got tired of her because she just wouldn't leave him alone. But here they are, our little berner babies. I'll keep you posted on future antics!!!

Blog Love Award

2008-07-25T16:27:00.008-06:00

Wow!! I've been given a blog award...tee hee. My new friend, Fifi, who painted the beautiful Tuscan Courtyard scene for me has given me some blog love! I'm so excited!!! And we're gonna have a big blogland party along the Seine!! Do stop by her blog, check out her incredible art and give her a big hello!

Of course I belong in Paris!

2008-07-25T10:55:00.006-06:00

I Belong in Paris

What City Do You Belong In? (Take Quiz Here)

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris.
The art, the fashion, the wine!
Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park...
You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

I Miss Italy

2008-07-24T12:03:00.005-06:00

One of the things I miss most about Italy is my friends. Ron, Pam, Gina, David & Stanage all live in North Carolina...makes it kind of hard to see them on a regular basis. Luckily I have Sally here, otherwise I would be all alone (except for DH) with no Italy buds to reminisce with. I posted this pic back when we were in Italy but I look at it every day and it makes me smile. This was the first day we walked into Montespertoli so we were at the very beginning of our adventure and so eager to explore everything!!!

FYI, this little fun pic was done using http://www.picnik.com/. Check it out...lots of fun stuff for camera amateurs like me!

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” - Bill Bryson

TV I Hate to Admit I Watch

2008-07-22T16:00:00.004-06:00

Well, only 4 more days before new puppy boy comes home. I have finally decided on Cody...just seems to suit the pair better, don't you think? Kimi & Cody?? I think it's cute.

I can't believe I watched this!!!!

Everyone who knows me knows that although I love TV (I mean I really love TV) and movies, I despise reality shows. I think I have enough reality in my life...give me pure fiction and entertainment when I'm watching TV. Which is why I surprised myself twice in the last month because I watched Tory & Dean Home Sweet Hollywood. Not only did I watch but I cried during last night's episode. It freaked me out...LOL!!! She was in San Francisco for her book signing and went to see her Uncle Danny - her Dad, Aaron's, brother. It was such a sweet scene and he looked so much like her dad. Dean said at one point that he thought it was so sweet because it was like watching her with her dad. Having lost my dad six years ago, I completely related to how she felt being around her uncle. It was a really heartfelt episode and made me weep. And I thought those tears were reserved for "Gray's Anatomy"!!!!!

Monday & Missing Paris

2008-07-21T14:38:00.006-06:00

Wow, postings two days in a row! It was a pretty busy weekend. A run, coffee & Pilates with Sally on Saturday then a mad rush to shower and get my hair done. Another mad rush to meet Judy for dinner and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival's "The Three Muskateers". It was a fun day but I was exhausted as I fell into bed around midnight. Sunday was spent recharging my batteries...cleaning out my frig, a playdate for Kimi with Marty. She should be very excited when Cody (yes, I've decided on a name) arrives...she'll have a built in playmate! But enough of that. One of my co-workers just came back from a working trip to Paris & Rennes. He and I had spent a little time before he left, going over things that he should see in Paris "off the beaten path". In return, all I asked was that he bring me back great photos. And he did...obviously I can't post them all but these two almost made me sob! The Eiffel Tower...as cheesy as it may sound...is still one of my favorite sites in Paris. Maybe because it's just so PARIS!!! It makes me tear up every single time I see it in person....so, here's a few of Nick's views of Paris.

This was taken from the top of Tour Montparnasse...isn't it beautiful? And the weather looks gorgeous. Be still my heart.

Notre Dame Cathedral is always on my must see list....even though I have seen it a zillion times. I just adore the gargoyles...doesn't he just seem to be contemplating life?

But look how scary these guys look!!! I love Nick's camera - he took some awesome pics!

I want to be here!!!!!

And a last look at this beauty!

Finally...we know which puppy is ours!

2008-07-19T16:54:00.004-06:00

Happy Saturday and let's see who the lucky dog is! It's Bobby...although we have already decided on a name: Cody. We've been thinking about "Cody" for the last weeks but now I'm having second thoughts....Bobby is such a cute name and that's what we've been calling him since he was born so I don't know....I think we'll bring him home and see what sticks! Isn't he adorable? He's got a great personality and when we were visiting them at 4 weeks, he was under Kimi's feet the entire time....following her around like a "little puppy dog". It was too cute. She, on the other hand, didn't want to have anything to do with him but next Sunday she won't have a choice...she'll have to cohabitate with her new little brother. Yep, next Sunday, the 27th is when we bring him home. I'm very excited but a little nervous...an 8 month old and a new puppy...whew!

Company Picnic

2008-07-15T16:38:00.003-06:00

I had a few minutes so I thought I'd share some pics from our Atrato company picnic. We had it on July 3 which was great since it gave us a 4 day weekend!!

It was held at the Boulder Res and there was beach volleyball, bocce games (my team won...must have been the practice I got in Montespertoli), watermelon, boats and plenty of camaraderie amongst all of our employees. It's always great fun to get our families together in a social atmosphere.

Dog Days of Summer

2008-07-15T09:25:00.003-06:00

Happy to report that there's not much going on around here these days. We are so glad to be home with no travel in our near future...at least not personal travel. It seems like summer is just flying by!! Do you feel that way too? We get our new puppy in less than 2 weeks. I am very excited, but nervous at the same time...two dogs...ugh! What were we thinking. Kimi continues to grow and continues to amaze us with her "smarts". She got a bunch of neighborhood dog buds now and we bought her a plastic swimming pool for the back yard so she's quite popular in the dog community...tee hee. Dick is still playing with his car on the track. He spent this past weekend in Pueblo and had some great times. He's also been promoted to instructor so he's really having a good time both driving his own car and helping new drivers become addicted to the track!!! It's Concert in the Park time here in Erie so this past weekend, I went down to the park with our neighbors, the Simeons. A good time was had by all on Saturday night. I've started running again. Although my ankle is still a little sore the next day, I can manage close to 3 miles now. I've also started doing Body Pump at the local community center...so I'm moving again...slowly but surely. I had gotten way too lazy during my semi-retirement. Other than that, not much else is going on. Just enjoying our beautiful Colorado summer weather. Hope all my friends out there are having fun summers as well!

Art & Dogs

2008-07-05T13:39:00.004-06:00

If only I were a better photographer! Here's a gorgeous painting that Fifi (http://fififlowersdecor.blogspot.com/) did of the courtyard of our Italian villa. I adore it and it is now hanging in a great spot in our living room where I can see it every single day. It makes me smile and brings me back to a "happy, happy place". You have to go over to her blog and check out her gorgeous art...and members of 8 in Italy (you know who you are), be on the watch for something special for you also coming in the mail this week!!! You definitely need to check out her Etsy site that has some great stuff. I think I'm addicted to Fifi art!!!

And of course, no post in complete without a pic of my baby! Can you believe how big she's getting???? And no, those aren't my young, skinny legs in the photo!!!!

Puppies and Weddings

2008-06-26T13:41:00.006-06:00

Things are busy here around the Radawicz household, as usual. We went to see the puppies yesterday. How fun!! Sara has 5 adult berners and right now, 5 puppies...whew, that's alot of dawg!!! Here they are:

Peter, Greg & Bobby!!! We don't know which one will be ours but they are all so adorable we don't care. They are 4 weeks old right now so we have 4 more weeks before we can bring our little boy home.

We are home now for the summer...no big trips planned. I am so glad to be nesting for awhile. Here's some snaps from our Key West wedding adventure. It was a great trip...although not without some drama.

Dick and Jason with the rest of our group on the Sunset Cruise. We had to stand in line to get our "boarding passes" for an hour at 6pm on a concrete sidewalk with no awning...I have never been so hot!!!! Luckily, once the boat took off and the champagne was flowing, it was much more comfortable.

Here's the view of our hotel (note the big cruise ship that completely blocks the view). We stayed at the Westin, Key West. Nice location but warning: if you get a room with a view or even a partial view, your "view" will be the cruise ship which is docked right in front of the hotel.

Here's Dick hanging out on Duval Street, Key West's main party street...tons of restaurants, bars, tacky souvenirs...you name it! As you can see, the weather was perfect!!!!

Here's me at the end of the world....mile marker zero on Highway 1.

And don't forget, we were there for a wedding! Here's a pic of Leonard, the father of the bride, with the female wedding guests. It was a beautiful wedding...a beautiful setting and small & intimate...only 10 guests that weren't family!

Here's the minister and Jessica, Regina's best friend and maid of honor...she was so much fun and another friend we look forward to spending more time with!!

Here's Regina...that gorgeous bride with her dad, new hubby Jason and his parents. The drama: Regina's mom got sick Thursday night and was hospitalized the entire weekend. Regina & Jason went out to the hospital and took pics with her before the wedding but we were all sad that she was unable to make the wedding.

The reception was delightful...dinner at the outdoor restaurant on Sunset Key Island which is where the wedding took place. But afterwards, we went to Regina & Jason's cottage and continued the celebration...Kelly pulled out her IPod and we danced until the wee hours of the morning!!!

And last, but definitely NOT least...here's Dick with Jennifer, his gorgeous first born. We met Jen and her friend James in Miami at the beginning and end of our trip. This is Sunday night at Monty's in Coconut Grove. Jen is not only gorgeous but funny and talented too!!!!

New Puppy on the Way

2008-06-25T10:56:00.004-06:00

Well, these aren't great pics but you get the idea! We are getting a new puppy! A little brother for Kimi. These are the three boys in the litter and we're not sure which one we're getting so for now, I'll share all three with you. We are very excited and are going this weekend to see them in person. Aren't they just adorable?

Kimi is still growing like a weed, I'll post pics of her later. She is such a fun, although mischievous, dog. She loves to counter surf...not necessarily looking for food but anything she can get her "paws" on...she's dragged postcards off the fridge, nail polish off the counter and even brought the phone outside!!!

We just spent the past weekend in Key West for Jason & Regina's wedding. I'll post pics later this week. I'm still trying to get all the Italy pics organized, but I promise I'll post some wedding pics soon. The weather was beautiful, but HOT!! HOT!!! HOT!!! More details to follow!!!!

Our friends Kate & Curtis, from San Diego, spent the night with us last night, after a long driving trip through the wild, wild west! It was great seeing them and their two beautiful children, Drew & Kendall. It's been several years since we've seen them so it was great to catch up over a relaxing dinner at home. Kate makes awesome notecards so you should check out her website at www.hwbt.com/customcards

More Italy Memories

2008-06-15T17:33:00.004-06:00

This was Sally's chicken in San Gimignano...it wasn't her favorite but I think it looks pretty tasty!

My lunch in San Gimignano.....WARNING: Tuscan white beans are addictive!!!! I had them EVERYWHERE they were on the menu. Here they were served with sausage....reminded me of home (Louisiana) but my favorites were tossed with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper....Yummy!

Carla's caprese. Fresh tomatoes, fresh mozarella and that amazing fresh basil. This was another favorite that we had several different places...why do tomatoes taste different in Italy???

This is Carla, our chef, fixing up Dick & Ron's favorite: Melon & Proscuitto...again, the melon was ripe and the sweetest I have ever tasted!

Pam & Ron enjoying some alone time in the hammock...yep, the villa had a hammock...does life get any better?

Here's proof that the entire trip wasn't filled with eating, drinking & shopping. This is on our hike in the Cinque Terre....a 2 hour hike that took us from the town of Monterosso to Vernazza...absolutely one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Monterosso

Overlooking Vernazza...is this a beautiful place, or what? And in this pic you can't really see how gorgeous the colors of those buildings were...those fabulous, fabulous sunwashed yellows, pinks and greens all set against the blue of the Ligurian Sea!

Home Sweet Home & Missing Italy

2008-06-15T17:14:00.004-06:00

Sorry I haven't been very good about posting. A combination of the new job and a little jet lag has kept me from spending any time here at the computer. I found myself really missing Italy today...probably because tomorrow it's back to work. We're heading down to Florida on Wednesday for Jason & Regina's wedding so work is incredibly busy....catching up and getting ready to be gone again.

I'm throwing in a few pics that are in my first group of organization....mostly villa pics that just make me sad to see them but so thankful we had the opportunity.

Our pool at the villa...living in Colorado, it doesn't make sense to have a pool in your backyard but every time we go someplace with a pool, it makes me long for one!!!

Our inner courtyard where we had our chef prepared dinner....there are big white lights in the trees and from the table, there is a view of the Tuscan countryside. At night, this was such a beautiful spot!

This is the girls posing the night we had our dinner at home. This is just the first of many pics where we are laughing....LOTS of laughter during this trip!

Yves, our villa owner...who lives in a restored barn on the property. Yves is a famous mime artist who hails from Paris!!

"Happy Hour" before our dinner. This is on the other side of the villa...there were plenty of outdoor spaces to hang out!!!

Fun at Flickr

2008-06-09T17:39:00.004-06:00

Sigh...I am exhausted today and have been working to get pictures organized. 15 days and 4 cameras...I still have lots of uploading to do. So I thought I'd take a break from the picture organizing to do a fun little project that Robin at http://www.mymelange.net/ inspired me to create!!! Robin is a friend I've met solely through blogging and she keeps me grinning at her fun and creative posts!!! Here's my mosaic created with answers to the questions that follow:

Each picture coincides with the answer to one of these questions. Robin has great directions on her site if you want to do it yourself!!!
1. Your first name.
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Under The Tuscan Sun #2

2008-06-04T03:14:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, Dick and I spent the day in Cortona...the city where "Under the Tuscan Sun" takes place. What a charming little town. We had lunch...pasta fagioli zuppa for me, pasta for Dick (of course). And a little white wine to wash it all down. After Cortona, we drove up to Arezzo to see the frescoes at San Francesco church. These were the frescoes that were featured in "The English Patient". Can you tell I'm a movie buff? Here are scenese from Cortona.

Here's Bibendum & Gianni at the scenic overlook in Cortona.

Grappa Can Cause Serious Headaches

2008-06-01T05:40:00.009-06:00

Ouch...that was the first word out of my mouth this morning....too much grappa!!! Grappa is an Italian brandy made from distilling grape skins that remain after wine production. Warning: grappa can cause serious headaches!!

One of the best things about this trip has been spending time in our little town of Montespertoli. A wine festival has been going on all week and for 5 Euro...you can buy a souvenir glass and use it all week for tasting at various vineyard stalls. The stalls are open every night and all day on weekends and a taste is not all you get...in fact, for 5 Euro we could have had all the wine we can drink in one week!! Even though we have bought many (and I won't tell you HOW many) bottles of local wines at the festival, we continue to go up there every evening and drink the free stuff. We've also established the Italian version of "Cheers"...we have a restaurant in town where they now know us...and we know them...it's the only restaurant we've been to in Montespertoli...Dick and I found it for lunch our very first day here and we've been at least six times so far in the past week. It's a family owned restaurant and although the name escapes me right this moment, it's run by two brothers (Gregory and Giuseppe), one sister (Rosa) and Rose's husband whose name has been erased by my grappa memory. The food is great and cheap...typical local dishes...pizza, fabulous fresh salads, and white beans with local olive oil from Lucca. We are all hooked on the beans!!!

I'm sorry I haven't had more time for blogging....our days have a very slow feel to them but I never seem to have time for sitting at the computer. Luckily, the girls have been posting on http://www.8initaly.blogspot.com/ so you can see lots of pics there. Today Dick and I are home at the villa...lying by the pool....everyone else is in Florence visiting David and the Uffizi. Not that we didn't want to see David again...but we both needed a down day so it's been perfect so far. I just finished reading Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture"....what a perfect place to read a book about how to live your life!!!! If you haven't bought it...it's a must read.

It is so incredibly gorgeous here that it's impossible to describe. The rolling hills are covered with grape vines and olive trees. The roses are in bloom right now so everywhere you look, the earth is bursting with color. They've had an unusually rainy May so it's also very lush and green.

The villa is great as well. Plenty of room for 8 adults to roam around without bumping into each other all the time...and the pool, albeit a little cool today, is perfectly relaxing on a hot May day. Now, here's a few pics to recap where we've been so far.

Florence

Greve in Chianti

Pam & Dick in San Gimignano

Angie atop a wall in San Gimignano

Sienna

This is a ceramic shop in Sienna...the reason it's here is that in talking to the saleslady, she mentioned that they had a workshop in Montelupo....that's less than 20 km from our villa!!! So, on Friday, David, Sally, Gina and I headed there to see if they had a "shop" there because the prices in Sienna were $$$$$$$ but the stuff was gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!! We all dropped more Euro at the workshop.....prices were about 75% lower than retail here in Italy so I can't even imagine what we would have paid in the U.U. And we made friends in the process which we seem to do everywhere we go. Marco and Giovanni...both artistes at the workshop helped us pick out pieces and negotiate the awesome prices!!!! If you ever get to Montelupo, stop into the Ceramiche Tombelli workshop. When I get home, I'll post pics of the pieces I bought.

I shouldn't even have to label this since every person in America knows what this is. Pisa was okay....it is Italy, after all...but too many tourists. We got out...got our pics and headed over to Lucca.

Lucca - our favorite city by far. This picture does not do justice to the colors here. We rented bikes and biked around the city for about 2 hours....our best day yet!!!

And we ended up here....Giuseppe, Stanage & Angie about to "sample" the local lemoncino.

A Whole Week has gone by

2008-05-29T03:26:00.003-06:00

It's Friday morning here in Tuscany and I can't believe a whole week has gone by. We're still having an amazing time. It rained almost all day yesterday...nice because it has been hot hot hot here. This is a much needed break from the heat.

Tuesday, the rest of the group went off to Rome (check out their pics at http://www.8initaly.blogspot.com/) while Dick and I "stayed in". After a very lazy morning, we hopped in the car and drove through the Chianti region to a small town called Greve...another cute Italian wine town. We had lunch, a bottle of prosecco, then wound our way back to the villa. Here's a shot of the centro of Greve.

We've been spending most of our evenings at the wine fest in Montespertoli....we're starting to feel like a native....or as close as you can get in 5 days...we even have a favorite restaurant where the owners are getting to know us. I can't even figure out the name of the restaurant but I'll know before the end of the week...I just know that it's next to the lady that sells fresh cherries.

Wednesday we went to San Gimignano with Ron, Pam & Sally. What an amazing little town....here's a few pics. Of course, before we even got to town, we had to stop for some wine and olive oil tasting...

It's like stepping back in time once you get within the walls of San Gimignano...this city is known as the city of beautiful towers and 14 original ones are still standing.

This is in the center of town...this cisterne provided the town's water for many years.

Sally and I climbed one of the towers and this is what we saw!!!! We must have lingered up there for an hour, it was so gorgeous...it takes your breath away.

Just an Italian back alley that Sally and I stumbled upon. Can you see those frescoes on the wall?

If it's Monday, this must be Florence

2008-05-26T23:48:00.003-06:00

I don't need to tell you that we're having a fabulous time but here are a few pics to prove it. It's actually Tuesday morning now and I finally have some time to really sit down and blog. It's been a whirlwind 3 days already!!! I'll spend a few lines here telling you about our villa. It's about 3 km from a teeny, tiny town called Montespertoli. Lucky for us, there's a Chianti wine festival going on there this week because otherwise, I think it's a pretty sleepy little town. The great news is that we are walking distance...the bad news, it's a hilly, windy road and you really have to keep your wits about you because there are cars, bikes, motorcyles, coming at you at high rates of speed. But it's a picturesque walk and we've done it once already. The villa is huge...there are 8 of us and we could all be at different places in the house and never run into each other. In fact, we have two bedrooms, each with 3 twin beds that aren't even being used. It's old, but Yves has a done a beautiful job of restoration....beautiful clean white walls, stone floors, marble countertops in the kitchen...for use, not show...a million windows that open onto the incredible views I showed you on Saturday. The villa is at the top of a hill so we have a spectacular view into the valley of olive trees and vineyards. Dick and I have the outer bedroom....maybe a garage??? Separated from the house by a small walkway, a bedroom and bath that has doors opening onto the patio which look down in the valley. The bed faces the door so we go to sleep at night gazing down at the valley lights and wake every morning to the view...too spectacular for this amateur blogger to even put into words.

The dinner we had on Sunday cooked by Carla, Yves' chef also was indescribable and huge...and here a note about $$$$....since I don't have a Euro button on the computer. Things don't seem overly expensive here, even with the dollar where it is...we've managed to find "cheap" eats for lunch and there's a small market in Montespertoli where we've bought groceries. Obviously, being in the villa and being able to buy staples makes a huge difference in cost. At the wine festival....where we've already purchased 8 bottles of wine and need to restock soon....the most we paid for awesome wine was 5 Euro....most of our bottles were 3.50 Euro...so we're drinking much better wine for much cheaper than at home. Our private chef cost us 30 Euro per person but we all ate way too much that night....then ate leftovers last night...and we still have food leftover for tonight....and that included wine :)

Today Dick and I are on our own...and he's still sleeping. The rest of the group are in Rome. Sally, Ron & Pam are headed back this evening...David & Gina come home tomorrow night and Stanage is on her way to Pompeii and we're not sure when we'll see her next.

Okay, one last thing before I get to a few photos. We (Me, Dick, Ron, Pam & Sally) piled into our little VW Golf and drove into Florence yesterday. We were fine driving in....around 11 yesterday morning (along with "Alice" our Nuvi GPS)...but we timed it badly and came out right about 5:30....yep, rush hour....unfortunately none of us took any video but I'm sure it will be the funniest story of the trip. Thankfully, Dick is an awesome driver and all that time spent on the track with his car has finally paid off!!!! Cars, buses, scooters, motorcylcles and bikes....all sharing the road...which, by the way, does not have any lines so it's pretty much a free for all....but it is controlled chaos!!! And now...proof that we're still in Italy!!

There's just no way we can pass up taking funny car pics. This is a one seater electric car....with gas at about $9 per gallon here....it makes sense.

The famous Ponte Vecchio...it was a beautiful, sunny day in Florence and after dropping some coins on the Ponte Vecchio...yes, Pam and I both bought jewelry...we had a beautiful walk through town. I never tire of this view down the Arno....

You can't send 5 marathon runners to Italy and not expect us to climb every staircase there is! We did climb the 463 steps up to the Cupola in the Duomo to witness this gorgeous Florentine landscape.

And from the bottom of the steps....the Duomo.

Day Tre in Italia

2008-05-25T09:55:00.004-06:00

Buena Sera!! That's us girls on the way home from Montespertoli this morning.

Wow...I can't begin to tell you how indescribably beautiful it is here. After a much needed night of sleep, we were up this morning ready to start our Tuscan adventure. Sally, unable to sleep, was up at 3:00 am chomping at the bit for the rest of us to awaken...Gina & David were next, Dick and I were up by 9, Pam & Ron shortly behind and Stanage about 10...once we were all up having decaf coffee (what's the point??)...we decided to walk into Montespertoli for our morning expresso...for those of us who need the caffeine!! There's the chianti festival going on this week in Montespertoli so it's a happening place...even on Sunday. We had tasted about six wines and bought plenty all before noon. It's been a relatively slow pace today...I guess that's what happens when you drink wine in the morning. We took a ride into Empoli to check out the train station...note to self or anyone else: Empoli...don't bother. I don't need to say more. Here's a group pic from today and I'll say ciao! We have a private chef coming into the villa tonight to make us dinner...a full report to follow tomorrow!!!

Oh, just another amazing moment. We came home from dinner in Lucardo last night...Robin at www.mymelange.net should be proud of me...I've actually remembered the name of the restaurant (Volta) but alas, I did not take pics of food....sorry Robin!!! Anyway, after a delicious meal and plenty of wine, we arrived back at our villa, went out to our patio that overlooks the Tuscan hills and I'll be darned if there weren't fireworks going off in the distance....what a perfect ending to our first perfect day in Tuscany.

Bueno Sera

2008-05-24T11:04:00.003-06:00

Despite the drama of the morning with our car not showing up, everything else went off without a hitch!! An on-time flight to Washington, DC and an on-time flight to Rome...in fact, we arrived Rome 30 minutes early. It was an easy getaway...no lost luggage...straight to the Avis counter to pick up our VW Golf!!! Just enough car to fit two people and all of our luggage!!! So, here we are at our villa in Tuscany. It was an easy drive up the A1 and we had great directions from Yves, the French owner of our villa. Dick and were early so we had lunch (pizza & chianti, of course), in Montespertoli...that, after driving around in circles three times :) Anyway, we are here at this wonderful, fabulous, romantic, rustic villa in the heart of Tuscany. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful and perfect it is. So, without further ado, here are some pics:

Off We Go!!

2008-05-23T14:10:00.002-06:00

So, here we are!!! Dulles airport waiting for our Rome flight which, so far, appears to be on time. We had a hectic start to our day but things are much more relaxed now. We got up this morning at a reasonable time, 6:00 a.m.....had breakfast...did last minute packing. At about 7 I said to Dick "this is why I would prefer to take our own car...when we're ready, we just go". He had booked us a sedan to take us to the airport with a 7:30 a.m. pickup...we had a 10:19 flight so we wanted to be at the airport no later than 8:15. So we sat around, read the paper...7:15, 7:20, 7:25, 7:28, 7:30...still no car. At 7:35, Dick called the car company...5 minutes on hold...no kidding...5 minutes!!! Finally I couldn't stand it...sent him outside to pack up our car while I waiting for a representative. Short story....no car coming...no explanation...ugh!!!!! Luckily, we were able to drive ourselves but so much drama so early...on a day that I was sooo looking forward to being relaxing :(

Now here we are sitting in the Red Carpet Club having my last glass of wine because I need Ambien to sleep on that overnight flight...wine and Ambien....from experience I know that's a bad mix!!!

Next time you hear from me we'll be in Italy!!!!! Ciao :)

5 Days and A Wakeup

2008-05-17T18:44:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that we're only 5 days away from being in Italy again. It seems like ages ago that we were there. Here's a little teaser...taken from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. I can't wait!!!!! Today was spent starting the preparations: copying passports & credit cards, paying bills, calling credit card companies, getting my folder of important travel docs ready i.e. air itineraries, car itineraries, directions to the villa...woo hoo!!!! Now I'm getting very excited. I also started pulling out clothes so I can start packing...I think I'm bringing enough clothes to last me the summer....just in case :)

Happy 6 Month Birthday to Kimi

2008-05-17T18:39:00.004-06:00

I can't believe it, but our little girl is already 6 months old!!! Can you believe how big she's getting??? Remember all those sleepless nights and the constant watch over her? She's grown into a really sweety. She still has her moments. According to our trainer, she's too social and excitable so having people come over to the house...to the door...is a challenge. She just wants to greet them like crazy...and that includes some jumping. Right now it's our biggest challenge because otherwise, she's been pretty good. With my going back to work, she's back in her crate during the day but it doesn't seem to affect her much. She'll even go in now without any prompting. She's still sleeping in bed with us and I have to tell you...there's nothing sweeter than waking up to her lying next to us in the middle of the night. Who says dogs don't snuggle?? Anyway...this is how we/she spent her birthday. I spent the day starting to pack for Italy!!!!

Have You Missed Me?

2008-05-13T19:39:00.007-06:00

I know it's been forever since I've posted. The new job is keeping me so busy that I am exhausted when I get home at night and not in the mood for blogging. I love being back at work...feeling productive and social again. It's a great group of people that I'm working with and I think this could be a really long term thing.

Lots going on in our world...the best is that my nephew, Cory, is back from Iraq safe and sound. I haven't seen him since he's in Louisiana but my sis has sent pics and hopefully I'll talk to him soon. It's such a relief to have him home!!!

My sweety has been home now for a couple weeks and that's been awesome. He's so much fun to have around and handy too!!!

On to more fun things. Only 10 days before we're off to Italy again!!! I am so psyched but so busy that I hardly have time to think about it. Here's a little taste of where we're gonna be hanging out!!!

f course, being in Italy means we won't be with our friends here in the hood. Speaking of which, here's some pics from our Friday martini party...good times were definitely had by all. We each made two kinds of martinis (at least that was the plan...we never made it to my 2nd)...but Judy & Kristi had a lemon drop contest....girlies, both were delish!!!! Here's our awesome neighbors!!!

Here's me and my sweety...loving my hair, by the way, and loving my sweety!!!

And, of course, here's a pic of both of my babies!!!

And while you're out here in blogland, pop on over to Robin Sparrows One Lap for Life blog and read about his fun driving adventure. You'll find him here at http://onelapforlife.blogspot.com/

and check out the other Robin's blog at www.mymelange.net. Her travel tip Tuesdays are awesome, as well as her beautiful pictures and vivid memories. I wish I could pack her in my bag and take her to Italy with me!!! And last, but not least, don't forget to check out our Italy trip blog at www.8initaly.blogspot.com.

Italy Blog 2008

2008-05-07T13:11:00.002-06:00

Click on the title above and check out our 2008 Italy Trip blog. Dick and I, along with 6 good friends are spending two weeks in a villa in Tuscany. Be sure to check this out because we will all be posting so there will be tons of fun information and pictures!!!

Have you missed me?

2008-04-30T12:51:00.006-06:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been so I posted. The big, big news is that I've gone back to work full time. It was completely unexpected...I wasn't planning on going back to work until at least September but a friend called about an opportunity that was just too good to pass up. I'm not going to talk about the company but it's a start up in a technology based company. I am the Executive Assistant to the CEO (who is an awesome guy) and the EVP of Marketing (who is another awesome guy!). These two incredible men definitely swayed my decision to go back to work full time and after only two weeks have made it worthwhile! If you get a chance, check out our company website at http://www.atrato-inc.com/. Exciting company!!!

So, that's part of my delay in blogging. Here's a current pic of the big girl. She's about 50 pounds now and is in a really mischievous stage. Some of her antics include: swallowing and throwing up a sock she found in the park (gross!); dragging toilet paper around the house (now she can even swing the bathroom door open if there's a crack); mangling my cheap, but cute reading glasses; swallowing a pair of my undies which luckily I was able to pull out of her throat; dragging various pieces of clothing out into the backyard where she either tries to bury it or swallow it. But when she lies down in bed at night and when she wakes up in the morning feeling all snuggly, it makes it all worth it. She also just got spayed and had her tummy tacked to prevent stomach twisting during bloat so she's on "low level" activity. Have you ever tried to keep a 5 month puppy on low leve activity? Impossible!!!! I don't know what was in the birdbath but she was very interested!!!

More big news, May 28, we're hoping that Angus' puppies will be born. The mom's pregnancy is confirmed, we just have to wait and see if there are any boys. Whew, at least that gives me three more months of working with Kimi before bringing another pup in the house!!!

Cut my hair again...hated the thick bangs and even from the beginning, I felt like it was too long. This isn't a great pic but you get the idea. This is the day I got it cut and I actually style it a little differently. I'm getting it trimmed before Italy and may even go a tad shorter!!!

Looking for some more fun blog stuff??? You should check out Robin at my favorite blog!!! She's doing some really fun stuff over there....and I know that all of you who read my blog are travel fans and should go over there and participate in her Travel Tip Tuesdays or Travel Photo Fridays!!!!

http://www.mymelange.net/mymelange/2008/04/something-new-a.html

And last but not least, Italy is only 20 days away!!!! I can't wait...not that I need a vacation...I just can't wait to be in Italy again. Here's a little Rome treat for you!! I loved these Frutta Fresca (fresh fruit) stands. That's coconut under the plastic....fresh coconut...and they are being misted to keep them cool & fresh?? I didn't have any, but we saw them all over Italy...doesn't it just scream summer ??

Kimi and Waiting for Italy

2008-04-15T14:06:00.006-06:00

There's not much going on around our hood these days. I am glad to be home from North Carolina. I have loved working markets with Sally, but they are exhausting weeks and I can hardly keep up. I needed a whole weekend just to catch up on my sleep. We are having beautiful weather today in Colorado...80 degrees!!! Kimi is growing like a weed. She and I went to a dog show in Brighton on Sunday to see Angus...the papa of our new puppy....well, there isn't a confirmed doggy pregnancy yet but we are hopeful. Angus is a beautiful Berner boy and we are hoping to get Kimi a brother this summer. Keep your fingers crossed!!

This is him at the show on Sunday...he is a big boy!!!

Here's an updated shot of our little girl, playing with her best neighborhood friend, Tia. It won't be much longer that she'll be able to fit under that stool!!!

And last, but definitely not least, a teaser from our previous Italy trip. We are very excited and May 23 can't come soon enough!!! Aren't these yummy looking treats??? I'm always amazed at how beautiful the food in both Italy and France look. I'm not much of a "foodie" but I adore looking at beautiful food.

Greetings from High Point, NC

2008-04-09T09:52:00.001-06:00

Just a fun pic we took on the way into the showroom this morning. This building cracks me up every time we drive by!!!

Celebrity Spotting in High Point

2008-04-08T12:21:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post to keep you updated on what's going on with me. I am in High Point, NC, working the furniture market with my dear friend, Sally. It's a busy, busy week...12 hour days then dinner and drinks after work...I am always exhausted when I get home. Anyway, to make a long story short....a little visit from Ty Pennington made yesterday a bit more enjoyable!!! He's not George Clooney but he's a cutie. I didn't get to talk to him but he seemed like a nice guys while he was walking around our showroom!!! He's young, tan and scruffy looking....

A Ski Day

2008-04-01T16:06:00.002-06:00

Sorry but no pics today. Just a quick update to the blog. I have a new look so let me know how you like it. We finally got to ski this weekend...how exciting!!! We spent the weekend up at Vail with our friends Dan & Tina and their awesome kids, Rachel & Trevor. We had a great time. On Saturday, we did a little shopping and a little sipping...I had a fun, tasty drink at Sweet Basil called "A Polar Bear Carrying a Mango Wearing Rollerblades"...it was a martini like cocktail made with rum, mango and some lime...that's all I remember. I just ordered it because I liked the name...tee hee. And it was tasty but a little sweet for my palate so I switched to a nice, crisp Sauvignon Blanc. Sunday it was a warm day up on the mountain and we had a couple of inches of fresh snow so we couldn't have asked for better skiing. I'm so disappointed to say that this was our only day of skiing this year...pitiful!!! We have lots of things going on right now. We are looking at getting Kimi a brother this summer. We're hoping our breeder will have news of a litter soon! I'm leaving for High Point, NC to work with Sally at the furniture market next week. It's always a fun, but exhausting week. Lots of other fun stuff going on but you'll have to wait for another post for that!!! Hope everyone is having a great April Fool's Day!!!

Happy Monday

2008-03-24T09:46:00.008-06:00

Well, I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. Mine was fairly quiet. I did go to an Easter party in the afternoon but the morning was spent making this video for Dick who is on the road right now and I know misses us terribly. I thought he'd enjoy the Kimi video. Here's my first attempt at making homemade lemon bars. I'm about as good of a baker as I am a gardener but they were very tasty - the lemon part was nice and tart and the crust was a shortbread crust...yummy!

Here's Kimi's best friend, Sofia, dressed up in her Easter finest.

And here's her brother, Nicholas. He's constantly in motion so I'm lucky I got this one!

And here's me with their awesome mom, Kristi. Kristi's mom is the one who had the Easter party. She's great too...and always includes us in their holiday plans. We are so lucky to have such terrific friends and neighbors!

And finally, the Kimi video.

Spring has sprung

2008-03-21T11:33:00.006-06:00

I'm not a great photographer but I couldn't help but include this little gem. These are crocuses that I planted with my own two hands about two years ago. Since I practically kill every single plant I've ever tried to grow, it always amazes me when these pop up out of the ground! It's also a sure sign that spring has sprung here in Colorado.

And remember this "little" girl?

Look how big she's getting...especially her legs which just seem to be growing longer every day! Her fuzzy puppy coat is also starting to change into a longer, wavy coat. I know that she's going to be an awesome dog so somedays I can't wait for puppyhood to be over, but there's nothing sweeter than puppies so I also know that I will look back on these days and miss them terribly.

Two Posts in One Day

2008-03-16T12:18:00.003-06:00

This one is quick and fun. I got this cute little email from girlfriend...one of those answer personal question things but instead of info about me...I had to come up with answers about her! Then send it along to my friends. I've had a fun time going over the answers since some of you have known me forever while others are relatively new to my life. Here's some interesting tidbits for you:

So far, only one person has gotten my correct eye color.
Only one person knew my middle name - and spelled it correctly which was even odder.
No one, as of yet, knows what kind of music I listen to.
And these are things you thought I would bring with me if I were stranded on a desert island:

A book
A picture of George Clooney
Red, Red Wine
My dog
Haircolor - blonde, of course

I'm Back

2008-03-16T11:26:00.010-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted but with my sister here, it's been impossible to take time out to blog. It was a fabulous week and we had some great fun. We were not nearly as active as we have been on past visits, but we had more time this week and we had lots of sister bonding time. She and I are very close and it's so hard living so far away from her. My time spent alone with her is precious! Thanks sister for spending the week with me. Love you!!!!

Two sisters, a mountain and a mountain dawg. Here we are in Boulder the day Donna came in. We took Kimi with us and spent the afternoon just hanging out in downtown Boulder.

On Sunday, we went back into Boulder to meet our friends, the Proppers, who were visiting from Florida. Their daughter, Liz (pictured below with her mom) lives in Denver so they were out for a long weekend to see her (and us!). We had lunch at our favorite restuarant, Brasserie 1010 then spent another afternoon hanging out in downtown Boulder. A nice, warm chai was enjoyed by us here at the Dushanbe Tea House (donated to the city of Boulder by our sister city, Dushanbe). As you can see, we had beautiful blue skies and it was perfect the entire week. In fact, it got so warm that Donna wasn't even able to wear her winter clothes!

This is our sister self-portrait taken on the 16th Street Mall in Denver. We spent Monday in downtown Denver. We ate, drank and shopped along Larimer and 16th Street. Doesn't she have awesome hair? She has this great new haircut and since she has tons of body it always looks great!!!!

In order to balance our shopping and eating days, we did tour the Capitol while in Denver. A beautiful building inside and out...here's Donna on the gorgeous staircase. The building is filled with Colorado pink onyx, granite, brass and wood.

Here she is again in the dome of the Capitol. If you get a chance to visit, definitely take the free tour up to the dome...there are spectacular views of the City/County building, as well as all of Denver and the mountains.

In the middle of all this, there was a birthday...yes, mine. Instead of going out for dinner we decided to stay in and invite some friends over. We had wine, pomegranate martinis, yummy chinese food, Tiramisu cake from Whole Foods and played Mexican Train, a fun dominoes game. Thanks to my sweet girlfriends and sister for sharing my special day with me!!!!

One of the highlights of her trip was going up to Ft. Collins to the New Belgium Brewery. A fun, fun tour with incredibly fun, interesting and smart employees. If you go and end up on the guided tour, try to get Erin...she was a sweet, sweet girl from Tennessee and had us cracking up the entire tour. Neither one of us are beer drinkers but we had a great time tasting and even came home with bottles of beer!!! Her fave - Sunshine Wheat. My fave - their new organic Mothership Wit...another awesome wheat beer.

Hey, and if you're going to travel up to Ft. Collins from here, you might us well expand your trip into the great state of Wyoming. We headed up to Cheyenne where we visited their Capitol. Our dad was in politics and we are both interested in politics and government so Capitols are a must!!! Here's Donna in front of the calf statue at the Capitol...this was taken specifically for a friend of our mom's that's in the cattle industry.

Friday came way too quickly and I always start to get sad when she has to leave. We spent a relaxing day down in Boulder again, finishing up some shopping and looking for cool scenery. This is the scenic overlook off of Highway 36 in Louisville. One of the very best views of Boulder and the mountains.

One sister and a dawg. Can you believe how big Kimi is getting? This is also at the scenic overlook. The rest of the day was spent getting manicures and pedicures then we spent the evening watching No Country for Old Men. We both liked the movie but it was dark, dark, dark...

So, here it is Sunday and I am lonely and alone. Dick is on his way home from the racetrack in Pueblo where he's been with his car all weekend. Donna left yesterday...after a tearful goodbye...as it always is. But leave it up to Kimi to make me smile. I have a stuffed berner on my bedside table and this morning, I heard it run into the living room. Well, when I hear her run, she normally has something she shouldn't. Sure enough, she had gone into the bedroom and taken the stuffed berner off my nightstand - without disturbing anything else or knocking anything off. It was too cute!!!! So here she is, playing with it...it is now safely up on my dresser where - for now- she can't reach it!!!

New Haircut

2008-03-05T16:04:00.007-07:00

Was I the only person in Colorado surprised by the weather today? I thought it was going to get cold, but I woke up to snow on the ground...surprise!!! Of all mornings! I had to be in downtown Boulder to get my hair cut & colored this morning so it was a rushed morning. Kimi is doing well, adjusting to her crate so it's easy for me to leave for 3-3.5 hours now. What a relief. Anyway, I've been struggling with my hair for the last few months so today was a big day. I didn't really like it as long as it was...we had tried to cut in layers and some long bangs but that didn't work for me either. I liked it long as long as I could wear a hat, but since I don't wear a hat 24 hours a day, that doesn't work. So, after much deliberation, I cut about 3 inches off and I cut full bangs. I'm still not sure about the bangs but I do love the cut. And it's just hair....the bangs can always grow back. I'd been looking at lots of pics of Katie Holmes' new bob and I loved it but wasn't quite ready to go that short...so here's my version. Obviously, if I had on fabulous designer sunglasses, it would make a difference (and maybe some make up would help!). Let me know what you think!

The inspiration:

The reality:

Here's a better view of the angle from front to back.

Crazy Weather and Random Thoughts

2008-03-03T20:58:00.010-07:00

This is my favorite time of year in Colorado. It's winter but it's almost spring. Saturday, it was 75 degrees, beautifully sunny....a day you just can't help but be outside. But...how quickly Mother Nature reminds us who is in charge. I woke up Sunday morning at 4:30 a.m. and it sounded like a hurricane outside...I actually went out outside to make sure that my patio furniture wasn't flying around. It was fine but I woke up again at 6:30 a.m. and there was snow on the ground. The weather stayed yucky (that's a technical weather term) for the rest of the day so Kimi and I stayed in. Sad to say but I never got out of my jammies. I read part of the book that should have been Book #2 for February (okay, I'm 3 days behind...but I did read 3 books in January so I'm even for the yar) and I watched almost every single episode of Dexter, a new Showtime series.

Sunday morning snow:

Monday morning sunshine

I'm finding it tough to blog every day....I started this blog as a fun way to share current stuff with friends and family who aren't near us. It's turned into a journal of sorts and I find it hard sometimes to find stuff to write about. One of my major blog goals was that I only wanted my blog to reflect positive things. I don't want it to be annoyed or angry or irritated...I want it to reflect the positive things that are happening in our life. Some days I'm just not "feeling" it. This has been a tough two weeks. D has been gone over a week now and over the weekend...it always is hard when he's gone that long. I get very lonely and very sad. But...this blog isn't about lonely and sad...it's about the good things that go on in our lives....because I do believe that if you focus on the positive, the negative works itself out. So...with that said. I've been struggling for a couple of weeks now with the work thing...do I want to go back to work full time??? Am I bored? What do I want to be when I grow up? Well...you know what?? I don't need to know today what I want to be...what I do know for certain is that it's been a long winter...the lack of skiing has been disappointing but on the positive side...we had an awesome two weeks in Paris, we had a week in Mexico, we're about to spend two weeks in Tuscany and a week in Key West......so who can complain. Dick has been gone alot but on the positive side...I've had Kimi to keep me company and keep me on my toes...she is such a sweet puppy and makes me laugh every single day!!! And I have great friends and neighbors who keep me company and keep me laughing. One of the things I am especially thankful for is my group of friends..they are a crazy, diverse group of women...some neighbors, some running partners, some old friends who keep me sane!

And now spring is right around the corner and you know what (1) so what if we don't ski this year...we live here, we can ski next year (2) so what if I don't know what I want to do when I grown up...I'm not that old...there's always tomorrow.

One of my very best friends from high school (KK) has a daughter that's getting married this weekend...ugh...I can still remember KK's wedding like it was yesterday. She was madly in love and still is...and I only hope that her daughter is as wonderfully, passionately in love as her mom and dad are!!!

Ooh, on to much lighter things!! Sister is coming in this weekend...woohooo.....can't wait. There will be lots of pictures to share...I promise!! I'm still not sure what we're gonna be doing but whatever it is...we'll be together AND we'll be having loads of fun.

On the Kimi note, I swear she grows every day...here's a couple of new pics. Can you believe how big she is??? This is her cute little puppy tummy...she really loves her bed although it's only a napping "bed" since she has a nice king sized bed to curl up into at night.

2007 In Review Confusion

2008-02-26T17:02:00.003-07:00

Well, for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to write an entry in the blog AND add the video so there are two posts for one day. I was up at 3:30 a.m. to take D to the airport, then a quick mini-workout with Sally and some yummy Starbucks. I was home by 7:30 a.m. and already needing a nap...which I didn't take until noon. Kimi and I had a good hour to sleep. Unfortunately, I am still exhausted and have had not inclination to do anything productive. I did, however, find this cool video/photo remix software on Photobucket and thought I'd play around with it. I think for my first one, it came out kind of cool!

2007 In Review

2008-02-26T17:02:00.001-07:00

15 Years

2008-02-25T08:33:00.003-07:00

Today is our 15th Anniversary. It's amazing to think it's been that long and even more amazing to look back on our incredible journey. We have lived in Louisville, Colorado; Thousand Oaks, California; Erie, Colorado; Burke, Virginia; Carencro, Louisiana; Arlington, Virginia and now for what will hopefully be the last time: Erie, Colorado. We haven't loved all of these places but they all have one special thing in common: we made amazing friends along the way. As much as I loved moving around, it was always hard to pick up and leave new friends. Sometimes it was a mixed blessing because we were going back to old friends but still...it was hard.

We had a wonderful morning, my DH is amazing and is so sentimental. He had made a playlist on his Ipod and brought it in with speakers this morning to play when I woke up. Included were:

There is Love - Peter, Paul & Mary. This song was played at our wedding. We even had a pirated version of it on a cassette tape because the album was no longer printed. Thanks to Itunes we have a new copy.

Okay, don't laugh at this one: Bohemian Rhapsody - yes, the Queen song from Wayne's World. It's one of Dick's fave songs and one he made me dance to our wedding!!! It cracks me up just to listen to it.

Have I Told You Lately - Rod Stewart - this became our song as soon as he released it. Through the years, any time it comes on the radio, I try to call D wherever he is and it always makes me tear up.

Come What May - Nicole Kidman And Ewan McGregor from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack - this is one of our fave movies and this song is beautiful. He was so sweet to include it this morning.

Needless to say, I cried all morning...that's big ole sentimental me!!!

Here's a pic of pic from February 25, 1993. We got married in our house in Louisville, Colorado with 9 of our closest friends "witnessing". We had just moved to Colorado and really didn't know that many people here. The interesting thing is that no one who attended our wedding that night still lives here in Colorado. Anyway, this is us with my mom and dad. Another interesting point, mom and I were both redheads at the time...now we are both blondes again...like mother, like daughter..tee hee.

Kimi and New Clothes

2008-02-24T12:20:00.004-07:00

No, Kimi didn't get new clothes but I did. We took her to 29th Street mall in Boulder yesterday for some socialization. Everyone loves her and she loves everyone! She is still very cuddly like a stuffed toy but she is really growing taller and has beautiful long legs. She's 14 weeks old this weekend and for her "birthday" we decided she's old enough to sleep in the "big bed" which isn't so big when you have two people and a dog. There's something very comforting about having her in bed. Here's her lastest pic taken today at our park. It is beautiful weather here today and will probably hit 60 degrees.

Oh, but back to my clothes. Dick "forced" me to go to Lucy so of course, I had to pick up a few things. I wanted some skorts for Italy. Makes it easy to hop on a bike and still be able to do things when you get to your destination, instead of wearing ugly biking shorts. These are actually tennis skirts but they are even more perfect because they have a pocket on the side that zips close. And if you're going to buy bottoms then you need tops to match!!

I bought this in both purple and pink....cute cute cute!

the skort in both brown and black.

and a really cute light jacket that will be perfect for travelling. After a little shopping, a little food is necessary. We went out to dinner with our neighbors, K & A, to a great restaurant in Longmont called the Martini Bistro. The food was good as well as the martinis. After dinner we tried a new "lounge" in Prospect called The Tusk Bar...another hit!! Fun atmosphere and more martinis to top off the evening. A fun Saturday!!!

Kimi Update and Missing Paris

2008-02-21T15:42:00.006-07:00

Giovedì felice! Or Happy Thursday...tonight's my 3rd Italian class and we're all the way up to numbers. Thanks to Starbucks, I know how to pronounce "Venti" really well (the number 20 in Italian). The previous 19 I'm till working on. Life here in Colorado just keeps chugging along. I can't believe it's already mid-February and we haven't been skiing yet...in this of all years when we're getting record mountain snowfall!!! The weather down here is turning slightly warmer these days so it's much more comfortable to be outside so Kimi and I are spending lots of time in the park. I have been working on my cardmaking and am feeling my creative juices starting to flow again. Kimi is well on her way to being well trained so my schedule is opening up some. She gets her last round of shots on Monday which means she can start going to doggy daycare. Woo hoo!!! I still haven't started on Bel Canto but I may start tomorrow. I'm doing well on my reading resolution but not so well on my wine drinking....ugh!

Here's some new pics of the Kimi....she's growing into a beautiful dog and has a really sweet personality...when she's sleeping!! She's still a handful of energy and I think she wants to be a world famous Beagle...she has a tendency to howl...especially at the camera when I'm trying to take her picture. When she's not howling she's chewing on...

hair (yes, that's my hair she has in her mouth)

shirts

and sometimes her toys (rare!!)

Can you tell how big she's getting??? Soon, I won't be able to pick her up and put her on our bed!!! She's still sleeping in her crate but joins us in the bed around 5:30 or 6...that's when she's at her cutest and snuggliest!

While getting pics of Kimi, I ran across my Paris pictures. It seems like it was so long ago that we were there. This picture made me very nostalgic. It's the Nesle Bar!!

When Dogs Fly

2008-02-14T16:06:00.004-07:00

This picture cracks me up. This is a trampoline-like apparatus that we are using in our puppy obedience class. It's to teach her to go to a "place"...when told to. Supposedly very useful when you need puppy to stay in one place i.e. during dinner, when the doorbell rings or just when you need her to settle down in general. At the beginning of the training, she caught onto it very quickly...every time she'd get on it, she'd get a treat. It didn't take long before getting on and off it was a game. Anyway, I was trying to take pictures today because I can't believe how fast she's growing. I wanted her to sit on the "place"....hmmmm, I could get her to go there, but the minute my camera started to click, she'd jump off and bark....her ears are still just a tad big for her body so when she's leaping through the air, her ears look like wings. Am I the only one who things that's adorable???

It makes me a little sad that this puppy stage will be over soon. They can be so rambunctious but also so sweet and innocent. She is so much fun to watch explore everything. I brought her to Sally's today to meet her cat, Lulu. Lulu wouldn't have anything to do with Kimi, but Kimi was very interested in everything in Sally's house....from Lulu's toys to Sally's plants. It was like going to puppy Disney.

Today wasn't just filled with puppy stuff. I actually made it to the gym to do some cardio and weights. Tonight Sally and I have the 2nd of our Beginning Italian class. Maybe by May we'll know 10 words!!! Ciao.

Another Week of Nothing

2008-02-13T09:18:00.005-07:00

Well, it's already Wednesday and I don't feel like I'm being very productive. I worked for half a day on Monday but the rest of the week I've just been hanging out. Yesterday, I did manage to whip up this:

Okay, so I didn't really make it. It was a frozen pie I bought from one of the kids in my hood...selling for their school. But it was yummy all the same!! My friend Cherie came over for tea and peach pie...it was a fun morning catching up with her.

Kimi is growing every day and now has a comfy, new bed to hang out on. She doesn't sleep here at night because she's crated for a while then she goes up into the big bed. That system is working out well. Without D here, she will sleep for a whole 6 hours before having to go out...we are definitely making progress. We are also going to a puppy obedience class and of course, she's the cutest and the smartest...okay, maybe not the smartest but she's definitely the cutest!!!

I'm hoping to catch up on some reading tonight. It's supposed to snow here...maybe 6 inches (ugh!)...I was really enjoying the warm weather but it is February in Colorado. I just finished The Memory Maker's Daughter so I'm on schedule with my 2 books per month goal. It was a good book...not great but it entertained me. I'm getting ready to start on Bel Canto which I hear is an excellent read. Also hoping to get to the gym tonight....sigh. My friend, Maggie, is visiting from Texas. Maggie and I have been neighbors and friends for over 15 years now. She moved to Texas two years ago and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her. She is gorgeous and funny, and she has the most optimistic outlook of anyone I have ever known. She is such a joy to be around...all the time. I only get to see her for lunch today since she's here visiting other friends in Denver, but at least that's something!!!

Another Saturday in the Hood

2008-02-09T18:03:00.001-07:00

I just love Saturdays, don't you? The weather has finally turned a little warmer - for now. It was 50 today and sunny. A little windy but at least it wasn't frigid. I've been doing a Pilates class on Saturday mornings and it really helps my weekend get off right. Also, D is home on weekends and it's a much nicer place to be when he's home. Today was a typical day for us...I did Pilates, he had a massage then we packed Kimi up and headed into Boulder for a little socialization. We ate at CPK...our favorite place down on 29th Street, while she slept in the truck. Then we took her out and walked around for a hour or so. Needless to say, she was the hit of the mall!!! Everyone stopped to pet and say hello....she's quite the charmer. Then it was back home to (me) work on taxes and (D) work in his car trailer.

On another note, only 28 days before my Lil Sis comes to visit....I'm very excited. She definitely needs a vacation and I am in need of company!! Here's a pic from her visit last year. She was only here for 4 days but we spent three of those up in Vail.

Here's some new pics of Kimi with her friends in the hood. I've also nicknamed her "K" Rad (for Kimi Radawicz, of course)...that's her "hood" name...LOL.

"K" Rad and Luke

"K" Rad and Sofia

Vegas Baby

2008-02-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been away for so long. I spent the past 8 days in Vegas working the World Furniture Market with my dear friend, Sally. This is my 2nd trip to Vegas for market and luckily, this time I came home with no injuries. It was a succesful trip professionally. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up and I am enjoying the work I do for her. My being gone also meant that Kimi was alone with D for a whole week...I'm sure he spoiled her rotten but didn't seem to ruin any of my training. Here's some fun pics from the week:

Here's us girls out enjoying dinner and martinis at the new Palazzo. Beautiful hotel and they make a martini called an Asian Lemon Drop (Sake, Absolut Citreon and Lemon Juice in a sugar rimmed glass...YUMMY!!!)

Lots of fun stuff goes on at market in the late afternoon, happy hour...here are some fun characters walking around the building:

This is one of the characters from Cirque de Soleil's Mystere

Mini Marilyn & Elvis (where do they find these people?)

Sally and I with another rep on Fremont Street, the old historical part of Vegas. This was the night we won $35!!! The following night, Sally rolled forever and we hit it big.

D came to meet me on Friday for the weekend. We stayed at the fabulous, fabulous Bellagio and ironically, this was the view from our room. It was so much fun to come back to the room when the fountains were going off at night. We had two delicious dinners...one at Daniel Boulod in the Wynn, the other at Olives in the Bellagio. We also got in some shopping....a new tie for Dick, a new purse, jewelry and scarf for me.

And I will leave you with one last picture of Vegas...this was the night Dick came in...that desert sky can just be breathtaking!

One Lap for Life

2008-01-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Check out my friend Robin's new blog. Robin and his wife Suze, are our bestest friends who have not only travelled the world with us (they were there when we discovered Mojitos at the Nesle Bar in Paris) but were also brave enough to share a house with us!

This year, Robin is participating in the One Lap of America (a 4,000 mile cross country event) and for the 2nd year in a row is raising money for the National Prostate Cancer Coalition. Last year he helped raise $126,000 for the NPCC. Check out their site http://www.onelapforlife.com/ and his new blog!

A Whole Lotta Nothing

2008-01-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I have been completely involved with the new puppy, Kimi. I finally feel like we are making progress and she does not have to be watched 24/7 so today seems to be a good day to blog!

First, it's so sad about Heath Ledger....so young.

Thanks sis for the inspirational words this morning and woohoo....can't wait till you come out in March...here's a sneak peak!!!

Inspirational words from my sister:

Tips for an Exceptional, Superb & Powerful Life!
1.) Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate antidepressant.
2.) Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
3.) Buy a Tivo (DVR), tape your late night shows and get more sleep.
4.) When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, "My purpose is to________ today."
5.) Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6.) Watch more movies, play more games and read more books than you did last year.
7.) Always pray and make time to exercise.
8.) Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
9.) Dream more while you are awake.
10.) Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less foods that are manufactured in plants.
11.) Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli , almonds & walnuts.
12.) Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13.) Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
14.) Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15.) Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class... but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
16.) Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17.) Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.
18.) Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
19.) Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20.) Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21.) You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22.) Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
23.) Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
24.) Ladies - Go on and burn those special scented candles, use the 600 thread count sheets, the good china and wear our fancy lingerie now. Stop waiting for a special occasion. Everyday is special.
25.) No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26.) Frame every so-called disaster with these words, "In five years, will this matter?"
27.) Forgive everyone for everything.
28.) What other people think of you is none of your business.
29.) Time heals almost everything. Give time, time!
30.) However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31.) Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch with them.
32.) Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
33.) Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. God provides, remember?
34.) The best is yet to come. (in Heaven)
35.) No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
36.) Do the right thing!
37.) Call your family often.
38.) Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements, "I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________."
39.) Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
40.) Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH. LIFE'S A GIFT ... UNWRAP IT!

This is definitely helping with #17...I laugh out loud at her at least 10 times a day.

Happy Sunday

2008-01-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi and sorry I've been gone for a few days. Kimi is keeping me on my toes. Today she actually stayed in her crate for an hour and a half and let me clean house. Here's a hint at who's in charge here at our house:

Hubby is home this weekend which has been a real break for me. He's been getting up in the middle of the night so I've had two whole nights of great sleep. We brought home our scooter yesterday. As soon as the weather warms up, I'll have D take a picture of me fully equiped with my helmet!!! It's really cute! It's also a little scary since I've never ridden anything like this. I'll keep you posted....let's hope there are no injuries to report.

Kimi got a fun gift from Aunt S & Uncle R...isn't this fun? The Dangerous Book for Dogs...by Rex & Sparky. Merci beaucoup!

I also got through my two books for this month. Granted. neither were hard reads but both entertaining.

In the Company of Newfies: A Shared Life by Rhoda Lerman. A great read for anyone who loves dogs and

It's All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life by Denise Jackson with Ellen Vaughn. This is about Denise's spiritual journal during tough times in her life and marriage. I don't normally read "celebrity" books but I heard her interviewed on our local country station, KYGO and she was so funny and so honest that I went out and bought the book.

So, now I'm off to the new recreation center here for some time on the bike or treadmill...maybe some weights then back here for the Packers/Giants game. Happy Sunday!!!