My Last Vacation Day!

I'm feeling VERY accomplished today. Today was my last vacation day and I managed to get a lot of things done. I had to take a picture of my garland that I FINALLY got up without it coming down! And.....what a really cool picture!

I just need one more item for the left side of the door to hide the cords. The one last big thing to do is the Christmas Tree!!! AUGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!

Happy Holidays my friends!

Packed Like Sardines!!!

So, we conquered "BLACK FRIDAY" with time to kill!!!!!!!!!! Here I am packed nice and tight around all the shopping packages the six of us got this year!

There was just enough room for my butt! I will thank all of my hard work that it's as small as it is because it was TIGHT quarters!

So this year we decided it would be nice to all travel together in a van for the "Black Friday" shopping trip extravaganza! We got VERY creative on how to pack our purchases in the "trunk" of the mini-van! Let's just say, there really was no trunk....WE were the trunk! It was fun...all the remarks made and the glances at each other when we saw someone with a really big item! The common response was, "I reeaaaallllllyyyyy need to get this now because I won't get back....AND it's a reallllllllyyyyy good deal". Some were even willing to hold their big purchases in their laps. At one point, Patti's barrel of pirates (which was in a life size barrel) was handed to Julee (the driver of the mini-van) so that she could take a picture of us in the back....So picture, the barrel in Julee's lap, rolled onto the steering wheel, that made the horn toot, that had another driver look at us in confusion! We were all laughing at the sight we were!

Everyone was having fun with it all! We had a great time! My feet are KILLING me & my shopping is still not finished!!! Imagine that!

Leslie, you were greatly missed! We even had a conversation that HAD you been with us, the position you would have ridden home in would have been quite challenging...even for a gymnist like you!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Here's my little love bug! She told me MANY times that she loves me today!

Thanksgiving was quiet this year. It was just my parents, my sister, Kari and Gerry & I. My sister and her husband showed up later in the day with Little Miss "G". We celebrated my sister's 30th Birthday party! My parents are very forutnate to be in their early 50's with their children all grown up and even sporting a GRANDCHILD! :-)

The food was FANTASTIC as always! Thanks Mom & Dad for all your hard work....and Kari for the support you gave them in accomplishing such a wonderful dinner!

Tomorrow, I'm off doing the "traditional" shopping! Should be a good time as always!

Peace & love to all!

Starting the Holiday with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra!!!

Last night Gerry and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra! His sister Kathleen surprised us with Tickets this year for our Christmas present (THANKS KATHLEEN!) We had floor tickets, 4 rows back from the stage and I was BLOWN AWAY! I can only say that anyone that has never been....YOU NEED TO GO!!!!!!!!!! They are the most talented group I have ever seen. The light show is better than any Pink Floyd concert. What a way to start the holiday season. Gerry decided that we need to go every year. He loved it too!!!!!!!!!!

We decided to get down there a little early and go to dinner! It's been almost ten years since I've lived in Portland. I know that I use to dine at Back Bay Grill so that's where we went! It's expensive but the food is out of this world. It would appear to be a hole in the wall but it is exquisite!

We ended our evening at a local Irish Pub and then made our way back home! It was a wonderful evening and I just can't thank Kathleen enough for introducing us to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra! ICREDIBLE! Just incredible!

THANKS SWEETIE!

WREATH PARTY!!!

My friend, Susan, throws her famous Wreath Party every year! She's quite the woman! She will go out days before the big party and tip trees in her yard. I never have to worry (EVER) that there will be a limited supply of wire or wreath wires! I'm always the one that shows up with warm clothes and a plate of food. I ALWAYS rely on Susan to supply me with a wreath wire and wire! She even goes around and gets red berries and pine cones for us to use!

As talented as I'd like to think I am, after SIX YEARS of being a part of the wreath making festivities, I always have to have Susan help me finish the wreath. She's mastered it. She's another Martha Stewart in disquise! (THANKS SWEETIE!)

Here it is! All done and ready to hang! I always make my wreath two sided, so that the metal wreath wire doesn't scratch what I hang it on. It ends up weighing 30lbs! It is really beautiful this year. I only need to make a bow and add it to the finished product!

Thanks woman! For such a fun time and fabulous food! It was sad to have Leslie & Co. missing this year! I had a GREAT time and look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!

Celebrating Life at Both Ends....

YEAHHHHHHH Forrest & Justine!!!!!
This little guy came into the world weighing 9lbs, 1oz. and measuring 22 inches long!

This is one of my FAVORITE pictures of little "John Daly Jr." He, he, he! Forrest is a big fan of John Daly....he even went and bought this little guy his first set of golf clubs....John Daly's old set! Imagine that!




Yesterday was such a beautiful day! Being a part of Forrest & Justine's excitement! It is just an absolute miracle! Of course, there was nothing private about "John Daly Jr." coming into the world. Deidra and I were taking pictures like the paparatzi! We didn't miss a click until "Bertha" the head nurse put her foot down! :-)

As much as I didn't want to leave, I had to leave for a family funeral. Justine was just getting released to her room when I had to go! (Boo hoo)

I don't know how I got to the funeral home with time to spare. It took all of my being to leave the hospital and go to Zeze's funeral. Now, this is how it goes....Zeze was my father's father's brother's wife! How was that? Took me a minute to get it myself. :-) She was the last of that generation....the Italian matriarch! I remember growing up and listening to her and Nana compete with each other on the phone of who had the worst ailments! My Nana always seemed to hang up the phone, all upset over the competition and that SHE was the one with the worst ailments. I laugh, thinking about how that was a big part of Nana and Zeze's conversations! I also remember as a little girl, getting my cheeks pinched and her saying, "Ohhhh, Toniooch, just look at how you've grown"! I remembered the discomfort after my cheeks being pinched! I got smart and use to cover them when I walked into her house. Ha, ha, ha! I told my 3 year old niece about it on the way to the "Funeral Reception". I said, "Gabby, whatever you do, cover your cheeks. We're going to be with all the Italians today and they are going to want to grab your cheek and say, 'Oh, Gabriella'." She laughed and asked me to show her what they would do. I did and she thought it was fun and kept asking me to do it again!

Anyway, what a day! It really was a day celebrating life at both ends. Seeing Forrest and Justine's little guy come in to the world and then saying Goodbye to Zeze!

Adventures at Barnes & Noble...

So last night after meeting my mother and her group for dinner, I thought I would spend the evening looking at books at Barnes & Noble. My friend Pam (A.K.A. "Spammie"), turned me on to an astrology book. As I'm reaching for the astrology book, this guy looks at me and says, "You believe in that stuff"? I said, "Why, what do you believe in"? He seemed taken back by it. I laughed and thought of my friend Justine who teases me about my curiosity of astrology and how it relates to our core ways of being.

Anyway, this guy starts telling me his life story and in the middle of it all, my cell phone rings and it's JUSTINE! I panicked. I thought, "Oh, this is the call, she's going to have the baby". It ended up being Forrest who said, "I created the possibility of getting a deer today". I laughed at him. He and Justine both know I'm down in Boston visiting while my mother is doing the Landmark Forum. One of the things you get out of the Forum is "creating the possibility".....of something. So, to be a "f....ker, he calls up to tell me that he created that possibility instead of sitting on his ass all day. I laughed and told him he was a shit. The ENTIRE time I'm talking to him and Justine, the guy that I was talking to is standing there listening. I get off the phone and continue my conversation with him. He then remarked about me living in Maine and who was Justine....(RED FLAG'S COMING UP). He asked how old I was, continued to go on about all the money he has etc.

To try to make a really LONG story short, Matt said something about women not being stronger then men and that sometimes it gets them in precarious situations. I told him that I was not concerned, that I thought with the defense training I had done, that I could take him down. That's when he challenged me by telling me his role in the navy and how he went up behind another female friend of his that tried to challenge his strength and he grabbed her from behind and said, "Now what are you going to do". He tried to laugh about it....that he was "playing" with her. It didn't sit well with me. The red flags were already on high alert for me and that just sent me into "fight or flight". I explained that I was intentional about finding information and that he needed to be on his way. When he left the isle, I pretended to sit on the floor like I was searching for a book. I grabbed the books I had and ducked through a few more isles and hid. I was hoping by the time I got done looking through one book, he would be gone. WRONG! I saw him back at the same isle I was in. So I ducked down and made it to the back of the book store.

At closing time, I made my purchase and then waited by the door for someone who was heading to their car so that I would not be in the parking lot alone!! I made it to my car and I looked around the parking lot like a paranoid woman being stalked. I decided that if he was in the parking lot watching me from his car, I had better not head back to my hotel room. So I got on the highway and headed to the center to pick up my mother....knowing I would be early. Anything was better than being stalked!

The funny thing about my whole story that I got....is that it's just a story. I have no idea if that man was just lonely, if he was trying to come on to me, if he was a serial killer. He could be all three of those things and I will never know. Everything else, is completely made up in my mind....that when I'm in the city...."ALL MEN ARE DANGEROUS"! So, I listened to him through that "filter"...."he's dangerous". Listening to him that way, I gathered lots of "evidence" that he was dangerous. I laughed this morning as I looked back and realized that I was in that book store for TWO HOURS waiting to get out and not be seen by him.

The one thing I DO know, is that I'm glad to be breating air today and enjoying life! :-)

A Dream Come True!!!

For THREE YEARS I have been "trying" to get my mother to do the Landmark Forum! So, two weeks ago, she called me all upset about my grandmother and the fact that my grandmother wanted her dinning room table back that she had given my younger sister. My mother told me her story about inviting my grandmother over for coffee and that in the middle of the conversation my grandmother told my mother that she wanted her dinning room table back so that she could have a place to put her puzzle together. My mother explained that she didn't CARE that my grandmother wanted her dinning room table back...that she gifted to my younger sister. What got her all upset was that she knew my younger sister had put hot potatoes on a paper plate that took the finish off my grandmothers Ethan Allen dinning room table. So somewhere in the conversation, my mother was saying that now my Aunt was upset, that gram was mad and she didn't have anything to do with it. I started laughing.
Mom said, "What's so funny"?
ME: "It's funny to listen to you tell this story because it's the same one over and over again, only different circumstances".
MOM: "Well I don't think it's funny. All I did was invite your grandmother over for coffee and all of a sudden, I'm the bag".

Two hours later and a lot of coaching (for free...he, he, he), I said to my mother, "You know, anything you want for yourself and your life you can get out of your participation in the Landmark Forum".
MOM: "Oh hunny, why bother when I can just get it from you".
ME: "Well, here it is (keep in mind she's a very talented quilter), You can admire someone's quilting, you can read about quilting or you can quilt. There is nothing wrong with any three of those things EXCEPT your experience of it. So, yes, you can call and get what you get out my sharing but it's not going to be the same as if you did it yourself. Getting it from me is like admiring someone's quilting".

My mother responded, "That's it, I'm going to do it"! In complete shock, I said, "What was it that I said this time that was different from any other THOUSANDS of times that I have asked"? She said it was all about the "quilting example".

THE FIRST DAY:
Yesterday morning when I went to the center to show her where to go, I became so emotional. I cried and cried and cried. We hugged and I continued to cry. It really hit me at that moment that I was being given the best gift in all my life....that my mother was choosing to make a difference in her life. I left her there, driving down the road crying, knowing that she was going to come out transforming her life and the lives of others around her.

So, she called me on one of her breaks saying that she wasn't getting something about "inauthentic" and "authentic" ways of being. I explained what is was for me. I got a little nervous thinking, "Oh, I hope she doesn't change her mind about doing this". Last night at 10:30 when I went to pick her up, she was elated! She said, "This is what I have got, I know that your father and I chose to build your grandmother's house next to ours so that she will be safe and that we are next to her in case of an emergency. I have also been running a racket that I am responsible for her happiness. What I know is that I'm not. When she complains about the house and how small it is and that she hates living there, I know that is her stuff, and I'm not taking it on. I am creating the possibility of peace and harmony in my life and a relationship with my mother where I am left with no guilt". I got all teary. I am finally starting to see transformation in my mother....only after ONE DAY! She went from complaining, whining, feeling sorry for herself to taking control of her life. I cannot wait to see the ripple effect of her way of being and the impact that it has on the family.

On another note, I have been able to spend most of my weekend here doing a little exploring and shopping. I had one coaching call on Friday and have been a free bird ever since. Most of you that know me will NOT be surprised when I tell you I made a friend at TJ Maxx last night. I was in the fitting room reading a text message when I heard this voice say, "I could really use your help. I've been looking at this sweater on me for ten minutes trying to decide what size looks best. Do you mind helping me"? I was all over it. After chatting with her, she told me that she always goes shopping with her mother and now that her mother lives in CT, it doesn't happen that way often. She said that she loved it because her mom is a fashion guru. She then proceeded to tell me that her mother retired from ELLE Magazine! I was floored! AND, her father lives in MAINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He lives 1/2 hour from me! I gave her my business card and invited her to call or email me. Tamara was a woman right up my alley! :-) She also helped me with a question on a business bag that I was having trouble deciding on! FUNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!