Sunday Serenity: Unfurling a...

...new family member,

One we already adore...

We are SO lucky!

~~~

xoabb

expecting guesses as to who the new family member is!
and no, I'm not preggers...56 here....GAH...
:)

I am loved

On the back of a birthday card envelope.

Makes me feel just wonderful!

xoxoxoxooxauntiemxoxoxooxxoxo

Second Street Sunset

Photo: Taken 11/07/2010

~~~

xoabb

Sky Watch Friday
do join us!

~~~


as a well-loved aside:

Hey there, my most favorite brother, the very happiest of birthdays to you!
You are by far the very BEST brother ever a sister could have!
Thank you for that.
And here's to many many more!
Birthdays, that is...
Love you!

xoxooabbxoxoxoxo

Best Present EVER!

Photo courtesy of Roger's mom's iPhone via iPhoto via Flickr...thus the fuzziness.
7/29/10

For his birthday today, my Nature Boy nephew/godson, Dodgie (or Roger) had the good fortune - well, at least to him - to catch a snake at his other godmother's (yes, he has two godmothers and nary a godfather) NJ home! He told his mom that along with the toad and frogs he caught at my house in CT, his snake was the best birthday present ever!

Happy Birthday to the best boy ever!
So glad I got to spend part of it with you!
So glad I missed the snake part...tho I woulda touched it...really!
O, and in case you forgot, your Auntie Nanas adores you, Dodgie!

~~~

xoabb
birthday wishes comin' your way all day, Dodgie!

The High Line (SWF) Birthday Edition

Instead of simply tearing it down, New York City has taken what was a very ugly - and long in length - eye sore and turned it into a spectacular park-in-the-sky. The High Line starts in lower Manhatten's Meat Packing District and will eventually stop at 34th street. Right now it's open to 20th Street. Such a fabulous place! (See here for a wonderful seasonal slide show of The High Line.)

As some of you know, my birthday was last Friday, the 4th and my seeeester came from DC to help me celebrate! I always appreciate help when it comes to celebrating (just about everything). Jules and I met her in lower Manhattan as our agenda for the day included seeing the wonderful ~Claude Monet: Late Work~ show at the Gagosian Gallery on 21st Street and walking The High Line. Talk about beautiful! What a splendid job NYC has done. The meandering path is flanked on both sides with gorgeous plantings that, I understand, are seasonal. There are wonderful benches to sit on and soon there will be a water feature. If you haven't been there, do go!

After we were through walking The High Line, we happened upon The Chealsea Market, another wonderful place! It is full of shops and restaurants - and a grocery store where we discovered the veggies were a lot cheaper than anything we find out here in the sticks of CT.

Then we walked a loooooooong way to The Garage (112 W. 25th St. between 6th & 7th Ave.), a huge flea market selling just about anything you can think of. It would have been a lot more fun if the temperature had been about 20 degrees cooler. Needless to say, we didn't last long there.

After all this activity the three of us were getting hungry so we cabbed it up to the West Side and met Daryl for a loverly lunch. Let me just say that a birthday margarita is about the most perfect thing one can possibly have!

A day of perfection!

~~~

xoabb

i have the best family & friends!

Sky Watch Friday

Do join us!

~~~~

P. S. A most wonderful birthday to the most wonderful dad in the whole wide world!

Happy birthday, Daddy!

xoxannlie

Today is the first day of the second half of my life.

Just thought you should know that.

~~~

xoabb

See you at my 110th birthday party!

Happy Birthday...

To me!

~~~

xoabb

DANG! I'm gettin' old!

My Baby Girl

Our baby turns 25 today! No, I can't believe it either! Where o where did the years go?

Brynnlee, the happiest of days and year to you my most beloved girl! You are adored by your dad and me more than you can ever realize.

See those lilies? You and your sibs gave those to me my last birthday. They didn't do spit that year. Look how beautiful they are this year!

Bloom, my girl, you are just a beautiful human being!

And we love you forever and ever!

Happy Birthday!

xomom&dadxo

O Dear GOD!

I am old...very very very old. That's a fact. And that fact was brought home quite resoundingly last Tuesday night. As you might know, it was our Remy's 30th birthday that day. She requested an early dinner here, and then she and her all legal friends would be going to SONO (yup, Norwalk, CT's equivalent of NYC's SOHO - and Columbia, MO's equivalent of COMO, but that's another tale) to really celebrate.
Fast forward to 12 midnight. Everyone was still here. Celebrating in 30 year oldish style. Unfortunately I was celebrating right along with them. (So was GB.) 30 year oldish style means that those young whipper-snappers can handle the lack of sleep along with a bit too much partying and having to go to work the next morning quite well. We old folks? Not so much. (sigh)

(BTW - I went to bed at midnight...those young whipper-snappers? MUCH much later!)
(Did I tell you my youngest, Brynnly's birthday is the 26th? I'm in trouble...again!)

~~~

xoabb

:)

P.S. Photo was taken in Missouri this past April. It has nothing to do with this post. (Really??)

Happy Happy Happy!

A girl's gotta kiss a lot of frogs...

The happiest of birthdays to you, our dear Remy. 30...wow! Can you believe you've left your 20's behind? I certainly can't! The years have flown! Dad and I just want to thank you for all the happiness and joy you've brought to us and our family. Such a treasure you are!

May this day be wonderful and this new decade full of only good things for you.

xoxoxo
Mom & Dad

~~~

My Friend...O Dear...She's 50 Today!

A best friend...50!

Running a marathon, in

Honor of her mom.

Miss LaLa is running in her mom's honor

Want to donate in her mom's honor?

Here's the link:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ct/cmc10/lwardt

~~~

xoabb

expect good things!

It Was So Very Good!

After it's over....it's over.

But...It Was So Very Good!

Auntie Care & the Con-man who is inquiring if possibly it's time for

Auntie Care to retire from her birthday activities.

That Con-man...such a thoughtful young gentleman!

What a wonderful birthday weekend we had!

Auntie Care, the Con-Man & the Con-Man's mom, Jules

Of course, we were surrounded by the best of family and friends, and all was augmented by the very best eating and cocktailing experience any of us have had in a long while. Just perfection!

Our first night, we gathered at Taverna Cretekou, a traditional Greek restaurant in Alexandria, VA's Old Town. Atmosphere, service, & food were all simply fantastic. 18 of us were there, we all had different entrees, and it was just wonderful! I was going to have lemon/oregano chicken until my ~diplomatic~ - and I do use that term loosely - hubby announced to the entire table that if I had chicken instead of lamb at a Greek restaurant he was going to go screaming out into the night (actually he just threatened to never go to another restaurant with me ever again - almost as bad) because when in a Greek restaurant, you have what they do best - and especially if you love it...and I do...love lamb. I had the lamb. It was sublime. It was wonderful. It was one of the very best lamb dishes I've ever had! Seriously.

The next day all of us savvy world travelers - and again a term used loosely - decided to be the ultimate tourists and do the double decker circle line tour. It was just wonderful! Mr. Bob (as we named him) narrated us through all the major Washington DC highlights - we all learned more about this wonderful national capitol than any of us ever knew. Just before the end of the tour, we jumped off to go to the National Portrait Gallery - however decided en masse we needed lunch first. The birthday girl suggested an Irish pub she knew about. Hellllooo Fado! What a great place! Had the best Reuben there I've had in a long long time! Atmosphere was perfection, too. Go there! You won't regret it!

After our lovely lunch, off we all went to the National Portrait Gallery. Such a marvelous place to spend one's time touristing in DC - the portraits and associated biographies are simply phenomenal.

Later that night, we all traveled to Falls Church to Duangrat's Thai Restaurant, my sister's and brother-in-law's favorite, for her 50th birthday bash. I have to admit I've been to a not that good Thai restaurant once in my life, and my hubby never ever at all.

We both totally and completely fell in love with Duangrat's. Completely. And totally. No doubt about it. The spring rolls! The pork & asparagus! The Coconut Chicken Curry! That Beef thing! The...well, all the rest...I'm sure you get the picture. The food was simply sublime. Anytime you're in the DC area, do yourself a favor and visit this fine establishment. My sis was worried Duangrat's might not be "fancy" enough for a gathering. HA! It was simply perfection!

To top it all off, the weather for this first March weekend - a winter weekend, by the way - was just perfection. 70º weather, no rain and an overcast day. A taste of Spring. Sightseeing and walking perfection.

All I can say is this must mean my sis is a very good girl who was and will be blessed with good fortune on her 50th and for ever more. A perfect 50th birthday day - and a perfect life for her to come!

Happiness always, little sis, happiness always!

~~~

xoabb

baby seeester's are the BEST!

My World Tuesday was DC & VA this week!

Do join us!

I'm Exhausticated...

What a weekend we had! Never stopped for a minute and we all had a blast! We birthday feted sister Care, we ate, we toasted the birthday girl many many times, we played long and hard, we reconnected with cousins not seen in a long long time, we did the tourist thing, we just did it all! 

And I'm exhausticated...I can actually hear my bed calling to me.

We're on the top of the double decker tour bus that's reflected in the window behind that really big, really neat spider sculpture.

Connor, Dodgie, Jules, Chrissy and Bill doin' the tourist thing.

An embarrassing collection (according to my sis, the birthday girl) of her earlier years. There were several photos she tried to turn over. Being the good relatives we are, we didn't let her. 

More tomorrow - must go horizontal....now!

~~~

xoabb

expect zzzzzz's!

Another Good Day Rolls Around...

Well, at least for all of us who love our GB...

A most Happy Birthday to my hubby and most dear GB...

You're in Chi-town for this birthday - but back when...

Remember that birthday when you discovered 

the ultimate sunbathing location?

What a good birthday that one was! (sigh)

Love love from all of us, be we wife, chillun, cuz's, fambly, friends -

You are the very best! (We took a vote and all are in agreement!)

xoallofusxo

told you to expect anything!

U is for...

UndercoverDo animals see in full color as we do,

or predominately in black and white?

Whatever, Mama Mallard's nest is well UNDERCOVER!

~~~~

Unabating...

Ahem, Mother Nature....
High temperature on June 10th is...101?????
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
All I can say is UGH!!!


~~~

xoabb

P. S. Happy happy birthday to my most wonderful dad. 85 years today...and doesn't look or act a day over 60! Love love love you! You are the very best!

P. P. S. Happy happy birthday to my dear cousin Heather! You share a birthdate with another wonderful human being and I love love love you both!!

A Day for Pondering

Day before my birthday.
How am I living my life?
Grandly...or just good enough?

Guess it's time to ponder me.
O what a joy that should be!
How do I view my reality?
(sigh)

I'll clue you in if there are
Any AHA! EUREKA! moments.
Try not to get too excited about that.*

~~~

xoabb

P. S. I have many many blessings in my life and I love every single one of them! It's good to be alive - and each day I get to live this life of mine is a treasured day. But it really is good to ponder at least one day a year, and the day before your birthday seems a good time to do that. Must go ponder now!

*Thanks to CG for most of that last line.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging......

To Bring you Springtime in Roselle, Illinois...

(above is Mimi's beloved home on 3/21/08)

Most of those who know me know I've been in Chicago since March 21 to be with GB's mom, Mimi. She fell and broke her arm on March 4th. To add insult quite literally to injury, on March 6th, she had the most pitiful 90th birthday anyone on the face of this earth has probably ever had. And things have not been great for her since - but - hope certainly springs eternal! Hopefully she'll be able to go to rehab in the next few days.

Happy 90th, Mimi!

(It wasn't March 6th, but celebrate we did!)
Mimi, the birthday girl with her favorite boy, GB
~~~

As you can tell, my blogging world has been pretty darn pitiful for me since I've been here. While there are 6 wireless connections my computer finds while at her home, every last one of them is password-protected. The nerve of her neighbors! Don't they realize I have important matters to blog about?? I do get complimentary wireless here at Alexian, but only spend time on my computer when Mimi is involved in her various "ablutions" (that's a Mental P. Mama word) she needs to have every day.

~~~
xoabb

It's Been a Rough Weekend...Naps Are Needed!

Son Bly thinks Stella is his dog. He is sadly mistaken. Stella is my dog. She just pretends to like him every once and a while.

~~~

xoabb

P. S. - Happy actual Birthday, Mrs. Lauren!!
And, yes, according to the news,
(and David Letterman)
it is the most depressing day of the year.
I beg to differ as it is your birthday
and that is never depressing,
well, at least to me, your older friend!

A KICKIN' Birthday Celebration!

It's Lauren's Birthday
We've Gathered Lots of Her Friends
WE. ARE. HAVING. FUN!!

That's our gang with the birthday girl in the middle...what a GREAT time was had by all! I, unfortunately, had to go to work and couldn't share in all the frivolity and fun - DARN! (Check out the birthday girl's blog tomorrow - she's posting all the sordid details, along with incriminating pictures.) Mrs. Lauren told me that at one point they decided they were all going to come en mass to my store. As she said to me today: "Thank GOD we didn't! Something FOR SURE would have been broken!"

;-)

~~~

xoabb

The Kitchen Chronicles

Got home from work yesterday and knew there was a LOT to get done. Now that I'm working full time I find I have no time to really clean the house. I cannot begin to tell you how happy this has made me! It has never been something I enjoy doing in the least as it's such a thankless task because no matter what you do, short of wrapping everything in plastic, it always gets dirty again. Not only that, there never seems to be anyone around to help do it. Here with me a second ago, now mysteriously gone! Imagine that! You would think I live in this house all by myself! Oops.......that's another story..........got sidetracked there......let's start over.

Got home from work yesterday and knew there was a LOT to get done. Now that I'm working full time I find I have no time to really clean the house. I had a new cleaning service coming over (today) and, of course, needed to clean the house before they cleaned the house. Got that done, well, except the master suite, which if you refer back to my New Year's Resolutions, you will discover that my husband accused me of using the floor as a third closet. Sadly, this is true. I knew that task was going to take a lot time, so I thought the best plan of attack was to put it off until after dinner, at the least.

The phone rings around 4:30. It's our good friend, Kim Fiori, inviting us to a restaurant at 5:30ish for toasts in honor of her hubby's birthday. I called GB to let him know, and decided I wasn't going because I just wasn't. GB came home and promptly left with another friend to meet the birthday boy.

Fast forward 2 hours later. My phone rings. It's GB. "Hi Annie.", he says. (I'm in trouble when he calls me ~Annie~. Usually means he has something up his sleeve that he's not sure how I'm going to react to.) "It's me. I coming home and bringing a few people with me for dinner." In the background I hear Kimmie disagreeing vehemently: "NONONO!, you twit! You're supposed to be asking her to join us at the restaurant!!" I then said, "That's fine GB, just go with them to the restaurant - I'll see you when you get home." Out of my husband's mouth then comes: "Great, Annie, we'll be at the house in 20 minutes or so." I asked him to repeat that. "Oh you want 30 minutes? OK, ok, that's fine!!" When I could speak again, I told him to get wine and beer and that he was doing ALL THE DISHES (which he got out of as Kim followed me around the kitchen washing everything I got even slightly dirty - what a wonderful way to cook!), and picking up the bedroom, too. That didn't happen either. Imagine that!

When you have 9 or so people over unexpectedly, the menu tends to be strange. Last night was no exception:  Tacos, macaroni and cheese, left-over spaghetti w/sauce, green beans. Let's see, we covered Mexican, American and Italian all in one evening! Guess it must have been good because there wasn't much left and all came back for seconds at the least. Comfort food....nuthin' better!

Had to make my own refried, and I use that term loosely, beans. Used half ground beef and half ground turkey for the tacos, had to mix a bunch of different cheeses together for the taco topping, and I only happened to have 24 taco shells because it was buy one 12-count package, get one free. BUT did we ever have a good birthday party! It's easy to have fun when you're with good buds.  And that's easy to imagine.

~~~

xoabb

~~~