Friday, December 12, 2008

Okay Aunt Debbie, Here You Go...

You thought I had time to decorate for Christmas.
You wanted to see my decorations. ("No pressure" - yeah, right)
You asked me to take pictures of my Christmas decorations.
So.... Tada!
My one and only piece of Christmas flair....
I know star toppers are out (way out - you can't even find them in most stores) but the silver curly-cues go great with this tree....

Extreme close-up just to show off the sexiness of the white plastic Christmas tree. They really are all the rage. Now that you know that they are all the rage you will start noticing them everywhere. I promise.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wicked Smart Nephew & Niece

The Mister and I got such a chuckle out of these letters to Santa.
It will be interesting to see what direction Santa sends Ethan in - Newbery Winners or Punk Rock Guitar. Any bets?
Karina is on the right track. Anything with the word fancy in it would be great!


Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

My Heart Was Broken Today

That Dang Vampire Woman, Stephanie Meyers....
I am sooooo sad today. Not one for books of fiction, I have steered clear of the Twilight Series that swept the nation this last summer. So imagine my surprise today when I found out that one of the characters had the name of my yet-to-be-born (and yet-to-be planned for) daughter - Esme! I came across this name in a book of non-teeny-bop, non-fiction a while ago and decided then that I had to use this name for one of my own children. I loved that it was not common, but now I can just see the surge of baby Esme's. Oh, help my hurting heart!

Thanks & Giving

Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!
Count them - 1, 2, 3....
4, 5 Sleepy Adults.


And 7 not-at-all sleepy kids!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

This One's for Sister H

See, if you beg - I will blog. It's not that I don't want to keep my peeps in the loop of my day-to-day or that nothing is going on. It's just that I can't stop getting on planes and flying myself dizzy.

Last night, I got back from Reno. Every time I say the word "Reno" the Mister shouts out "The biggest little city in the world!" Yes, I know - Pittsburgh, Reno? My well-intentioned client is trying to shed some tourism light on these neglected cities.
Oh, maybe I forgot to tell you about Pittsburgh! How long has it been my friend? Well, let me tell you.... In Pittsburgh they have Super Fans. Not to be mistaken with the fans of the regular variety. These fans dress up in Steelers (or Penguins or whatever else) uniforms and parade in the streets for hours prior to a game. If you are in the city on business, like me, and you are trying to find a parking spot, like me, and your hotel is across from the stadium, like mine, then you are out of luck. If you finally valet your rental for a million bucks and decide to order room service to avoid the fans (which fill up every restaurant in town) you will be surprised to learn that because of the game room service will take two hours. I kid you not, work shuts down for "THE GAME". I was told by the labor union that we can order labor during game hours, but no one will show up. Seriously? No one will show up for a paycheck in these economic times if there happens to be a game? Now picture Jim Carrey when I say this, "COME ON!!!"



So the good news about Pittsburgh is that everyone is super friendly. Like, go-to-the-ends-of-the-earth-for-a-total-stranger-who-needs-her-signs-reproduced-last-minute-before-the-client-freaks type of friendly. I can't count the number of times people acted as though my problem was their problem until it was fixed. How refreshing!

The other cool thing about Pittsburgh is that everyone there looks like they are from Pittsburgh. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is, but when you see some Pittsburghians (?) you will see what I mean. Maybe there literally is a salt of the earth that makes you look this way.

Here's some pics from the show... This particular venue was "green". This means that instead of fluorescent lighting there was a canvas ceiling that allowed the natural light through. So cool. Usually I get fluorescenditis from being cooped up inside for days on end. The food is composted by yucky worms. All the paper is meticulously gathered and recycled. So I guess this green thing really is catching on. I can't figure out who exactly is pushing us in this direction, but I like it. Mister, we're buying a Prius!



Okay, I admit these aren't the most fascinating examples of my creative genius. In fact there is little of my flair represented here (it did exist in this show, just not in these pictures). But, HOLY MOLY it is so much easier to produce a "pipe and drape" show than worry about pantones matching. With the economy and the resulting hiring freeze I will be taking on more and more of these type of shows. Yipee!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

To Sum Up....

Their parents went to bed early so we stayed up late watching movies with The Three Musketeers...
Sometimes the lines are too long to stay standing upright the whole time!

Which of these boys is controlling the Speeder Bike?

Los Dos Muchachos.....

All together, all sitting down - for two seconds at least.....

Two of my most favorite people in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!

Proof that the Mister can hold S without a complete meltdown from either one.

I LOVE THESE KIDS-

In training?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Happiest Place on Earth!

There is literally dancing in the streets...

Say Hello To My Little Friend...



Lunch at the Whispering Canyon

S decided on crayons for lunch...


Apparently, if you finish your coke before your meal comes the waitress will think that you are REALLY thirsty and bring you a gallon of coke.



But don't ask for "a little water" or you will get this...



J asked for a fork - and got one!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Greetings From the Magic Kingdom!

After six flights in four days I am finally kissing land. The first morning in Orlando brings us the happy "H" kids, giggles and all. The Mister told them that there was a gator outside our window and the three-kids-in-one-room noise immediately stopped as they intensely looked out the window for the gator. They all sat at the window long enough for me to dig out the trusty camera for this shot....

The Swiss Family Treehouse lives on in Florida!


The Jungle Cruise (it's really great with a funny skipper, which we had.)


Totally content on the train.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

My Dogs Are Barking

Thanks, Alyssa - I now know the term for my condition tonight.


This is what I wore...

to the fancy dinner in Pittsburgh tonight that was 5 blocks away from our hotel with sidewalks like this...

P.S. I still miss my Mister, who just works so hard - at least we're both out of town at the same time this go 'round.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Thanks Global Warming!

This is what we woke up to in our neck of the woods...

We shouldn't be seeing snow in the trees until they have shed their leaves. So much for getting the deck painted before winter.