Good Luck, Kids

A hearty congratulations to the handsome couple, Kate and William who announced their engagement today.

He offered his mother's engagement ring for her hand in marriage, a beautiful token of remembrance. I am a sucker for romance. And for boys honoring their moms.

Not a bad starter home.

Fare thee well, young royals. Diana is looking down with a beautiful smile, no doubt.

Girl's Weekend - N.H. - 2010

Mostly these weekends consist of laughter. We shop in between cracking each other up. We eat and laugh and eat some more. Dolly's eggplant, Kathy's grilled vegetable antipasto, red wine, bread, pasta. We didn't have dessert until 10 pm because we could! Tiramasu, chocolate mousse cake, strawberry cheesecake, that's right - it's Girl's Weekend!

This was the cutest little breakfast place. It took a little coaxing for the waiter to take the photo, but he came around ; ) Bring on the pancakes, eggs and home fries.

We shopped for boots and tops and jewelry and sweaters and candy and jeans and jewelry. Candles and perfume and I even fit in a manicure.

Always sad to leave our lakeside retreat. But happy at all of the great bargains we get. Load up the trunk, girls!

We stayed up late and played Left, Right, Center. I won two games! But no fun to keep, it all went back into the pot for brunch the next day.

Cozy, in our lake house, lazy Sunday morning, coffee and pink socks.

Dolly, Patti, Linda, Kathy, Diana, and Martha in the "front yard" of Linda's house on Lake Winnepesauke. What a view. Most of us were in the same graduating class in the same high school! I am not sure how many years Linda has hosted us but we have so much fun every time we get together for our Christmas shopping weekend in November.

a pretty combo

I am trying to shake things loose around here, cleaning-wise. The current game plan of having 3 kids in school and each kid having 3 activities, well - unless we go back to the entire extended families living together where the grandmother cooks and cleans (that might actually just be something you see on tv because my mother would rather move to Alaska than participate in anything like that) - there is barely enough time for a decent meal, never mind a decent meal, rides, laundry and cleaning the house.

As I cleaned some piles yesterday that had not seen the light of day for a year and was putting my vast jewelry collection (note to robbers - it's mostly costume) into piles, I just put this turquoise necklace on top of this beautiful coral cashmere scarf that my father-in-law picked out for me some years ago and thought, that looks great together!

So mix it up, gals, mix it up!

the finished product

after 6 weeks of working on the same "master" project in my watercolor class, finally, the finished product. It was good that it took a long time because all these things teach you patience, not my best virtue, and the teacher was so good at helping us understand how to "layer" the colors.

When we all reached the "muddy middle" around week 4, she would tell us it was typical, push on through, step away from it when you need to. She reassured that in the end none of them would look alike. Although the assignment was floral and leaves, indeed no painting resembled another by the time we were done. I will miss my Thursday night escapes, which included a Starbucks vanilla latte for the ride to Newburyport ; )

crafty afternoon

I volunteered to donate a gift basket for a raffle this evening. But I couldn't find the proper concept for a gift basket. Nothing specific was coming to me. Usually a trip to A.C. Moore directs me somehow and today it did not disappoint. These pretty grapevine trees were a mere $16.00 and everything else was on sale.

Tah Dah! Here's my girly, pink and purpley, ribbony version of a tabletop Christmas tree. Now let's hope it makes some money!

look what I found

in the garden today. A heart shaped rock. Now who planted that?

What a Crazy Thrill

We hosted the N.E.S.B.A (New England Scholastic Band Association) Finals at our high school. It's nothing but a crazy thrill as a band parent and I hope as a band student to be part of such an event.

The buses rolled in all day as we hosted 24 schools. This was an outdoor event and quite chilly in the evening, but the food booth kept everyone warm with chicken pot pie, hot cocoa, hot dogs and nachos.

I personally scooped apple crisp for 5 hours!

While the judges tabulated the scores, we were treated to an exibition by the University of Lowell and the University of Connecticut marching bands. I had never seen a band perform live as big as UConn, with 300+ members strong.