Thank You

How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough, is forever enough? -Lullaby

Mama Lori sent me new pictures today. No words can describe how full my heart feels being able to see a glimpse of Landon's smiling face.

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I was so surprised when I walked out my front door at 8:30 this A.M. to be met with 'crispy' fall air; no muggy-ness to be found at all! So crazy to have a reality check that it is indeed officially fall. And then I treated myself with a pair of 'fallish' shoes to celebrate Lacey's 19th birthday today of course... Thanks babe, for the excuse to buy new shoes, ha. I have a thing for red shoes and have been looking everywhere for something along the lines of a Mary Jane shoe... So I found these BCBG's at Belk... on sale no less...and promptly fell in love! And Ash, I don't care what Pete's Mom says, I LOVE WEDGES!!!!=)

FOR THE LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE!!!

I have become seemingly obsessed with gaining as much knowledge as possible on anything and everything that intrigues me lately via books, 'books on tape,' movies and the internet.
I'm learning about 'Taosenos' (pronounced with an ~ over the "n") thru Tony Hillerman's, The Great Taos Bank Robbery: And Other True Stories of the Southwest on account of my brother and sister-in-laws, Dani & Jason relocating to Taos, NM this past summer. I am so intrigued by the town and wanted to learn more about it. I wonder if some of these quotes ring true for two new residents? Can't wait to visit someday!
"One of the few places where a man can still feel adequately dressed downtown in bib overalls."
"Taos is a tolerant village, well accustomed to whimsey."
"What seems outlandish in Columbus, Ohio seems fairly normal in Taos."
"A certain amount of eccentricity is required for conformity."
"A place of confusion concerning gender."
"Taos is a small community, and it's street are few, narrow, crooked and short. It is a completely innappropriate setting for a high speed automobile chase."

Next I watched two Globe Trekker presentations on Chile & Easter Island and Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands. I have a very strong desire to spend an extended amount of time in South America someday in hopes of strengthening my grasp on the Spanish language, and also being culturized. I have a strange draw toward Ecuador, having sparked my interest thru a report I completed on the country in middle school, knowing a family friend who came from there, and having a cousin who visited a couple years ago. I became especially intrigued with the Galapagos Islands tho after this particular presentation. I didn't ever know that these islands had contributed to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. There are a vast number of endemic spieces, meaning they aren't found naturally anywhere else in the world (because yes, I had to look up the word 'endemic')... and the speices found on these 40 islands have no natural predators so they fear no man so you can swim freely with the sea lions and other wildlife... it looks absolutely amazing! Plus the number of tour boats allowed to visit at one time is limited and the national dish of Ecaudor is ceviche! What's not to be excited about?!
And a word on Chile... known as the Valley of the Moon, with one of the largest observatories in the world. And it's home to the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert. I still don't feel like I know enough about this country...
I also watched a documentary on lightning this past week. Since we reside in the lightning capitol of the world I figured I could afford to gain some knowledge on this frequent act of nature. It was very interesting to be informed that lightning actually strikes upward but our eyes register too slowly to see this. Also come to find out, the saying, "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is a myth. The Empire State Building is struck on average 100 times a year. And get this, a lightning bolt is 5x hotter than the sun. Wowee. I learned some more cool stuff but can't seem to recall all the details... I should start taking notes!
My next quest is the electric car...

And Ashley, don't you dare tell me i'm turning into Zane and Pete! I'm not glued to the history channel or the military weapons channel or getting daily historical tidbits on my IPOD ok! Gimme some credit! Hahaha

OPA!!!!

We made a fun discovery and found out that monday night at Rossi's is 'Greek Night' with an authentic Greek chef even, so Zoe and I decided to make an evening of it together! Actually the whole day ended up revolving around hanging out with Zoe, and I loved it! She just ditched me to move to Texas with her hubby (how dare she) so I had to steal her for some serious catch up time this week while she is visiting Florida! We spent two-hours chatting over coffee at Starbucks yesterday morning, and then two-hours over dinner doing much of the same! Good memories!

Our BOUDOIR...

I got an urge to do some rearranging in our bedroom and came up with this. It's bringing me ridiculous satisfaction... weird how a little "refreshing" can totally reenergize a space... and the best part is that it was FREE! And Laura, I invite you to overanalyze this photo and see what you find that may be of some interest to you...something very special to me that I happened to find in Washington when I went home...

Car Rider #273

Picking Evan up from school is always quite a trip... we have to wait in a very long line of cars and it usually takes about a half an hour so Aidan usually runs totally wild inside my car during this time...pushing as many buttons as humanely possible, preferably all at the same time...and then on the occasional peaceful afternoon, he'll sit and watch his Elmo DVD while eating pretzels and sipping on his 'zuss' a.k.a. 'juice.'

Girly Moments

I love my little "Evie"

What A Funny Little Man...

I turned around, and was completely surprised and amused to find Aidan had stuffed himself into Evan's dolly stroller. He was just as surprised and amused as I was I think.
Until this moment... maybe we shouldn't try this again...

Late Summer Days...

Enjoying a lazy afternoon at our favorite local restaurant, Rossi's at the Beach, just 10 blocks from our house. The sky was so gorgeous this night, like it was on fire.
Couples night! Zane's co-worker, John and his wife invited us to Finn's, also a local favorite to enjoy this GREAT band covering all the classic rock hits. They had this really talented electric cello player which was really really awesome. And a fun fact that keeps me eternally intrigued is that John use to work as a secret service agent at the White House under the Clinton administration.
Finn's
The picture quality is really poor because of the lighting, but I found it so fascinating to stumble across this tree FULL of these big white birds.

These are just a few images that capture our life these past couple weeks...

Introducing...BEN & EMMA!

It's time I share about two special little people that are an important part of my weekends: my two little English kids, Benjamin and Emma whom I babysit when 'Mum and Dad' want to go on a date night! They come almost every saturday morning to La Piazza (where I waitress) to eat breakfast, and then on some saturday or sunday afternoons I come play with them. They are very sweet, very smart, very proper "quintessential" English children whom I enjoy very much!

Rescue 911

A happy ending has come about for the beloved 'Mr. Snuggles.' I received a phone call on my cell phone around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. It was the fitting room ladies!!! Bless their hearts for caring for my crisis!!! They had found Aidan's teddy bear!!! We picked him up after we picked big sister Evan up from school, and there was a very happy reunion for Aidan and 'Mr. Snuggles,' and also for my heart.

I Can't Help But Feel That Life Is So Good

I picked up the 'little man' a.k.a 'boo-boo' a.k.a Aidan early this morning, and took him back to our place so his Mama could work on homework at home... during my commute, aproximately 50-minutes in all of driving, I was able to finish my audio book, EAT.PRAY.LOVE. which was bittersweet. I didn't want it to end but then I was thrilled to come to find out at the end that there is a continuation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir coming in 2009 called Weddings & Evictions. This tiny fact brings me heaps of joy! And relief i'm realizing. I found myself craving more, more & more from this book. Then Zane and I had some errands to run so we got some breakfast, went to Target to return some things, went to City Hall to pay our water bill and finally ended our long morning by strolling around the local Farmer's Market. We found a new booth selling Kenyan coffee and come to find out the man came from a village near Nairobi that Zane had been to a few years ago while visiting Jason! Anyway we left with 4 cucumbers, 2 tomatos, a 1/2 pound of walnuts and almonds, 3 pounds of apples and a big fat watermelon. Not a bad way to spend $20, especially to support our local farmers. Then we took the back roads toward home and discovered this tucked away little jogging trail that follows the intracoastal canal, and it's like 3-blocks from our house! Anyway Aidan is now sleeping soundly in his bed and i've just been meandering around the library looking for a new audio book to keep me company in the car. I also squeezed in a nice long chat with my Mom on one of the benches outside the library enjoying the sunshine and breezes. And I can't help but feel that life is so good.

I've Always Found my Way Somehow... by Taking the Long Way Around...

I am just enjoying that line from a song today in regards to my enthusiasm for the workshop i'll be starting next tuesday evening thru Daytona State College. It's called W.A.N.D. (Women Acheiving New Directions), and it's a fresh start program designed to empower you to discover your educational and career goals among other things. I feel anxious, yet happy and prepared to begin this 4-week journey. I am curious to see what kinds of things I can learn about myself to benefit my future.

Happy Campers

On the flip side... we're totally psyched for our upcoming mini-adventure! We have officially purchased our first set of camping accessories! We've got a tent for two, sleeping bags, an LED lantern and AA batteries, a mildew/moisture protectant and bright yellow rust proof stakes. I swore I could never go camping in Florida with all the bugs, spiders, lizards, snakes, alligators and torrential downpours but I have decided that it'll be okay to ease into it at a place like convention, comforted with the thought of other nearby campers, ha. And to make my good news even sweeter, i've received official word today that I can have all of friday off from my job (also Zane's 21st birthday!) so we'll get 3 whole days of togetherness, sharing a long, spiritually blissful weekend!

R.I.P 'Mr. Snuggles'

So Aidan and I were running errands together, one of them being a trip to Wal-mart to pick out some camping gear for convention. Everything was 'hunky-dory' until somewhere along the line Aidan let go of his beloved 'Mr. Snuggles,' (a pale blue medium sized stuffed teddy if anyone has seen it!) over the side of his stroller. It has officially been swallowed up by the Palm Coast Supercenter Wal-mart!!! You have to understand how much 'Mr. Snuggles' means to Aidan. I went into total panic mode, practically in tears running around like a mad person trying to retrace my steps, and stopping every single Wal-mart employee along the way, getting some sympathy from the ladies in the fitting room, some eye-rolls by others, and even completely ignored by one. But still no 'Mr. Snuggles.' I even had to leave a tearful message on Aidan's Mom's cell phone explaining the whole situation. So may the teddy bear rest in peace, and by some miracle be found...be assured, customer service has my cell phone number! And i've concluded that one of the worst feelings in the world is 'losing' something; it's making my heart hurt.

"Give Peace a Chance."

"Peace is not the absence of conflict; it's the absence of inner conflict." -- Unknown

I am thankful that when I awoke this morning, I was filled with this intense desire to do whatever I needed to do to keep the peace in my heart.

"America's 25 Favorite Cities 2008"

Terry Donnelly/Getty Images

Ok, so it's no secret what my favorite city in the whole world is, but it's nice to see Seattle getting some muchly deserved recognition thanks to Travel + Leisure's latest survey! Here's a clip from the article:

"The city is best in the country for cafés and coffee bars, farmers' markets, and intelligent people. Environmental awareness (No. 2) and public parks and access to the outdoors (No. 4) also scored well. Just be sure to pack an umbrella for that rainy weather (No. 23)."

simple.pleasures.

I had this revelation last night while I was home alone lost in my own thoughts. I had this urge to make myself a cup of hot tea, my choice du jour being organic chamomile, and so I was just thinking about the event that enjoying a cup of hot tea is. Have I ever sipped tea and not enjoyed it?! I can't think of a single time where this event has ever had anything but a calming effect on me whether it was enjoyed alone in silence or shared among friends and good conversation or when snuggling with my husband. It's like the eye of the hurricane, my bit of peace in the middle of the 'storm' of life.

Remembering.

Today was Patriotic Day at Evan's school so the kids were told to wear red, white and blue. It was beautiful to see other people remembering and honoring those who died seven years ago today as well.

Ahhh... Florida

I just have to share this email that was forwarded to me by my aunt Jane just because... it's certainly amusing as newish residents of Florida during the height of the hurricane season! It can be exhausting if you pay attention to the dramatic news updates... so we choose not to but still we enjoy the humor and and semi-truth in these comics! Thanks Jane!

99326

*Sigh* What can we say? It was wonderful to be back. It's bittersweet knowing tho that the next time we come back neither one of our grandparents will call this place home either...

Remembering the Smell of Fresh Paint, Homemade Turkey Soup & Hot Chocolate...

Of course we had to go back and visit our first place as a married twosome in Pasco! Ron & JoAnn fixed it up so cute and cozy, and they even added ponies and calves to the acre! So good to see all the changes, and during the summer months too... the last time we were here it was covered in snow...

Our old bedroom, and they even kept the carpet that Zane help put down with Gary!

JoAnn left our laundry sign up!




What a sexy man!

THE TRI-CITIES: Where 2 Became 1 (The Beginning)

Grampa Wayne and Zane Pretending to be high-rollers driving Mama Cindy's Mercedes and splurging on the Hilton one night...
Where else would you see potatoes all over the road?
In Ellensburg on our way to Mattawa...
My crazy adorable husband

Taco trucks!
We miss this sky.
Table for 2 at PF Changs