LA LA Land

In my excitement over being gainfully employed, I've completely missed blogging about our awesome trip to Los Angeles to visit my beffy, Joy. I always use Travelocity when I want a last minute package deal. They are not even paying me to say that. But we got airfare, hotel, and car rental 48 hours before our trip for a screaming deal. I think our amazing hotel was only $70 per night too!

Day 1: We got off the plane, got our car, and headed out to Santa Monica Pier. The ferris wheel on the Pier is the opening shot for a lot of tv shows and movies including Private Practice and the Lost Boys.

We parked the car and saw this fun little view that David couldn't resist. I just love this photo.


When near the ocean, it is necessary to dip your toes in. Hadley clung to me like a monkey unsure of the cold waves.


Maybe she's only a fan of the Atlantic Ocean. Who knew?


I love this picture of Joy because it embodies her personality. It is "classic Joy". And she looks so effortless caring Aidrick around. Look, here I am, beautiful and natural, just lightly toting my baby around with me.


Who is missing from this photo? Da Da?



Day 2: We headed down to the Hollywood strip to see the stars and the Chinese theater. Naive tourists that we are, we got conned into having our picture taken with Tigger here. I'm not going to tell you how he sounded like he had gotten out of prison the day before and was looking to make some extra cash. Needless to say, there are a lot of fun characters out there, but watch out, they don't work for free.


We had 3 minor star sightings during our week-end which is alway fun. Mostly it was, "oh that person looks so familiar, do we know them?". Followed, hours later by us screaming out characters they had played until we figured out their names.

A good time was had by all.

Welcome to Hollywood

A lack of words from me usually means I am so busy that I don't even have time for simple grooming. Like plucking my eyebrows. We are still trodding into our new routine of me working outside the home. While you wait for my next post on our trip to Los Angeles, here is a pic of me and the DG with the Hollywood sign behind us.

Budding Musician

When my parents came to visit, Papa brought Hadley a new fun toy. It has taken a few weeks, but she has finally figured out how to blow in it. In case you missed this on 5280 Dad, here is Hadley learning how to play her harmonica. And here is where I would put in a really clever and witty harmonica pun right now, but I'm just plum dry of wit these days.

May is the Season to Plant

Traditionally, every May, we plant our flower pots. Here are a series of pictures from the last three years. One thing that remains consistent is that you can be sure my hair is in a pony tail and I've got my bra hanging out.



2007: In this 1st picture, I am 3 1/2 months pregnant. Gibson and Tica were my helpers.



2008: We had just gotten out of the hospital and I was cherishing my first mother's day and looking forward to beginning traditions.



2009: I have a helping hand. Hadley loved playing with the dirt, putting flowers in pots, and transferring soil from one pot to another.


Her interest in helping me was so precious. She loved all the tools.

My Parents

It was the summer of 1971 and my mother, at the tender age of 19 turning 20 was married and about 6-7 months pregnant with me. My father, owning a camera, and always documenting everything for archival purposes, took them out into the lush green woods of New Hampshire to take some photos.

Here he told my mother not to smile so that it would be artsy and cool. And that is his HOT ROD car that he bought before he left Vietnam. Apparently, my pregnant mother would drive this car daily to drop him off at work, and then upon request peel out of the parking lot leaving dust and tire marks to the hoots of my Dad's coworkers.



It's hard to believe that I am in the belly of this beautiful young girl.



And much to his chagrin, I'm posting this one picture of my Dad. Because he's all 70's and bad ass!

And to run a bit down memory lane, here are some old posts of my Dad making my Halloween Costume in 1974, my parent's going to prom and mom Mom making us matching dresses.

What Will I Wear?

In trying to get my family ready for me to head back to work, I've been terribly neglectful of this here little old blog. One of my top priorities has been finding clothes to wear since I have not worked in an office since 2005!


These are are few of the options for my first day of work, courtesy of Ann Taylor. It's like they used a mold of my body to create their petite line.


Here's me, busting inn guns blaring ready for my first day.

I've mentioned before the propensity to which I sweat. HUGE drippy gobs of wet. Whenever I purchase new tops, I have to stand in the dressing room, look at myself in the mirror, and wonder how my shirt will look with huge dinner plate sized sweat stains. Not pretty or delicate at all. Normally I opt for all black or white. Here I am branching out. We'll see how these lovely delicate silk tops fare.

School's Out Forever

There are few people that could get me to dust off my guitar and amp and sing in front of people again. But when Lora told me that she wanted someone to play Alice Cooper's "School's Out" for her husband Bert's graduation party, I was sure we could make that happen. You long time reader's may remember Bert here.



Not bad for one practice huh? David, the total metal head learned all the guitar parts and taught me the rhythm guitar as he wailed away on lead. Sharing the spotlight on lead is Lora's 15 year old nephew James. Can you say rocker? He's amazing. You know, just picked it up on his own and wailed the solo. Then on drums, that is Holly's husband Bruce. Normally he's a guitar player, but he borrowed a set and learned this song. That's what you call a true musician.

But enough about rocking, let's talk about who really rocks. Bert. Three years ago, Bert realized he was not passionate about his job. So with the support of his wife, he went back to school to get his 3-Year Masters of Science Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Cheers to Bert and his new career.