My sweet granddaughter

Shame on me for waiting so long to blog about becoming a grandmother! I'm getting old and tired, but also am not really committed to writing this blog, especially since probably only very few people read it, and most of them are my own family...so I figure I can just TALK to them instead of writing. Plus, it has been a really busy time.

Since my daughter described her birth story in great detail, I won't try to repeat that, but I will say that I was so proud of her strength and resilience in dealing with all the obstacles she had to overcome during her pregnancy and childbirth. She has also had a lot to deal with since the birth, but it looks to me that Tess's health problems seem to be stabilizing. She spent her first full day with me while her mommy went back to work for the first time since she was born about two months ago.

I am happy (and relieved) to say that Tess did great today - hardly cried, smiled, slept, ate, peed and pooped...all the things that babies her age do! We went on stroller rides, baby carrier rides, and she sat quite happily in the swing for short periods. She is so adorable, and I took a few pics so her mommy and daddy could see some of what her day was like. Her jovial Uncle K. (who was in town to visit family and friends and to see her) spent the morning with us, and he helped out a bit and got some big baby smiles.



Here she is being fascinated for a few moments with the swing mobile:



Being a baby is Sooooo tiring! Actually, today I am reminded of just how exhausting baby care is, and although I love my granddaughter to pieces, I'm ready to take a shower and veg on the couch : )

Busy winter/Baby shower

January and February have proven to be much busier for me this year than in years past. Not only has my workload at work increased a great deal, but I've bought a new Prius (and had to deal with the brake recall problem...but am really enjoying the car now - many thanks go to my daughter and son-in-law for helping me with everything car-related), planned a baby shower, and I've been on lots of outings with friends and family (most recently a Celtic Woman concert at the DPAC, which was my first time there). After all this excitement, I had the most restful nap/sleep this evening that I've had in a long time; that's why I'm able to be up so late tonight writing this.

Even though I was exhausted from it last weekend and am just recovering this week, I have to say that I had a lot of fun planning the baby shower. I made several trips to the Party Store and grocery store, and enjoyed shopping for invitations, decorations, party favors and baby gifts and also shopping online for a special gift for the Daddy-to-be. It's been so long since I've had a group of people over to the house, it seemed like quite an undertaking. I made long lists and went back and forth in my mind over the details, like what kind of food and drink to have and whether I would make it myself or order it from various places. I ended up doing a bit of both. There was a lot of food left over (especially the 7 layer salad from K&W and the hot cider in the crock pot, which I think were barely touched), but I'd rather have had too much to eat and drink than not enough. The punch had an unexpected brown muddy look which was not at all appetizing, but it had orange sherbet on top, and several people said it tasted really good. I think I need a lot more practice to pull off a "perfect party"!

Things became difficult to plan because the number of guests kept changing and we didn't know if there would be children attending or not. The shower location was also an issue, and when it was decided that it would be held here at home, I had a lot of cleaning and de-cluttering to do to make the house presentable...then after all that, we ended up outside on the back deck (which was lovely since it was fairly warm and sunny after being so cold lately) -- but also ironic in that it was about the only place I decided to leave messy, figuring that it would be cold, and we'd need to be inside! I was glad to have good neighbors and friends who swept up the leaves, contributed quiches and chairs to the event, and it was wonderful to see out-of-town guests make the trip.

All in all, though, I think everyone had a good time, even though the icing on my cake dripped, I didn't have time to make the cucumber sandwiches, and I spent a lot of time making an elaborate chicken salad (from a Barefoot Contessa recipe) that I ended up not liking at all because of the fresh tarragon that gave it a strange flavor (but some other people apparently liked it). I was also a bit groggy-headed from staying up late cooking and decorating the night before, and so after a couple of people had already left, a friend reminded me to hand out the goodie bags that I had spent so much time shopping for and filling up! Everyone was certainly extremely generous with baby gifts and good wishes which was all really heartwarming. It was also great that the "Mom-of-Honor" was well enough to attend - It would have been a big disappointment for all concerned if we would have had to cancel due to illness.

Baby K certainly has a lot of family and friends eagerly and happily awaiting her arrival, and the fact that I will soon be a grandmother to a sweet baby girl is finally sinking in. What a great adventure! : )

Overnight at the Ritz

Well, I have been strongly encouraged, errr, "ordered to?" blog by someone who shall remain nameless (she knows who she is!!!)...about my weekend, part of which was spent at The Franklin Hotel - see more pics at their website - http://franklinhotelnc-px.trvlclick.com/index.html

I won this overnight (in "faraway" Chapel Hill, ha ha) at a dinner raffle at a Get Real & Heel fundraiser. Mostly I'll just post a bunch of pictures, which are worth 1,000 words.


On this "exciting" weekend, we checked into the hotel, had a very nice dinner (of "falling off the bone" lamb shanks and risotto) with a couple we had not seen in a really long time, and enjoyed the fancy accommodations of this luxury hotel (where, of course, our room was painted a powdery Carolina blue color).


The furniture was expensive, the bed was comfy with silky sheets and a down comforter, and there were silver accents and containers everywhere (wastebaskets, bathroom cups and trays, etc.) and stemmed water goblets for drinking water or brushing your teeth.


The rooms on the 2nd to 5th floors had an atrium/sitting area in the middle. I meant to go back and take a picture of the high glass ceiling - you could see the moon, and it reminded me of a movie where the jewel thief hangs down on a wire to steal a precious gem : )



We had a room with a tiny balcony overlooking Franklin Street, but it was too cold to stay out there long....


Although the photo below of us is a bit blurry, it reflects the kind of surreal feeling it was to spend the night in such a hifalutin setting.



We ended our mini-vacation with a yummy free breakfast buffet this morning. It helped to make this otherwise wintry, blah, overcast January weekend a little more memorable than it would have been. I'm SO ready for some nicer weather!!!

Happy 2010

WOW...it's been a LOOOOONNNGG time since I've blogged. I was looking back at some of my older posts and I am SO glad that I'm healthy!!!

I am looking forward to the next big phase in my life - that of becoming a grandmother!!! How exciting, and how happy I am that I lived to see such a day. I am in the midst of trying to plan a baby shower, and I'm having fun. It's nice to have a "project" in the middle of winter...January is such a "blah" month, that planning a party makes it nicer.

I'm also thinking about what new or used car I should get and focusing on my old standy, the dependable Toyota Corolla Sport, or trying to decide whether to go beyond what I set as my "budget" and spring for a new Toyota Prius...at this moment in time, I'm leaning towards the Prius, as I think it's time to treat myself to something, as I am usually very thrifty; besides, my birthday is coming up soon, so I can rationalize that it's a potential birthday present to myself ;)

Well, I don't promise I'll be as "regular" a blogger as I used to be, but perhaps I'll write a few things this year, and of course, I'll probably have lots of baby pics to post! Yay!

Nocturnal Arachnophobia

I was about to open the front door to let out the cat tonight and lo and behold, this is what I saw...It looks even bigger than the photo when it's almost in your face. If you click on the pic and look at the close-up view, that's really what it looked like to me.
I don't usually think of myself as being scared of spiders --(big roaches freak me out a whole lot more)-- but this specimen was intimidating enough to make me think twice about getting too near, so I gingerly took my pic and closed the door for the night....I'll tackle it tomorrow, if giant spidey is still there in the daylight!

Beach week 2009

I'm back from a "ladies" week at Holden Beach but unfortunately, the only pics I took were with a disposable camera - I'm not sure why I didn't use my digital camera...I think I was afraid of getting it wet and sandy or of losing it altogether. Oh well, I guess my "witty repartee" will have to suffice (he he he).

The trip there started off with quite a bit of drama and frustration. Instead of 3 of us going this year, there were 4...but traveling in the same Toyota SUV. It had been a tight fit having to pack for three in previous years, but the fourth person told us that she was going to bring a container that would fit on top of the SUV for her additional bags. I envisioned this as a big sturdy (?fiberglass) thing. Lo and behold, it was a floppy leathery looking bag with a zipper!! Her son proceeded to take forever to attach this to the top of the SUV, and we found out later that he had put it on UPSIDE-DOWN!!!!

We had just reached the RTP exits when we heard suspicious noises on top of the car a few minutes before it flew off and landed in the edge of the right lane in an area between an on-ramp and an off-ramp. Miraculously, it did not land on someone's windshield or cause an accident. So we pulled off, backed up on the grass and dragged it to safety. Then we piled all the extra bags from it on top of ourselves and proceeded back home to lighten the load. I found it unbelievable that between us, there was no second car that was offered for use, and I certainly was not going to offer to drive down in the old Corolla. So we unpacked and lightened the load as much as possible, and were finally on our way again (squeezed in like sardines) around 1:30 in the afternoon (we had planned to leave around 10 am!!).

The rest of the week was less dramatic and I had a pretty good time. We had sunshine for the most part, unlike the weather back home, which I was told was fairly rainy. We took a trip on Wednesday to Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach. We had lunch in Southport, shopped at the Christmas shop (they have some really cute things there) and ate doughnuts at Britt's Donut shop - voted the 2nd best doughnuts in the nation. (They claim they should have won first prize since the shop that won used to be part of a chain, and the contest was for independent stores). http://www.carolinabeach.net/britts1.html

I was able to stay on my Weight Watchers diet most of the week, and I was especially proud of myself for stopping at eating just one doughnut....they were REALLY yummy, melt-in-your-mouth yeasty doughnuts. My home scales show that I didn't gain weight last week, but I'm pretty sure I haven't lost any weight either - but I think to maintain your weight while on vacation is pretty darn good, since we ate out several times, and I also resisted the home-made brownies that were made one day. I had my Weight Watchers fudge bars (quite yummy ice cream) as a substitute. My non-food splurge was to buy a couple of cute summer dresses, a new swimsuit, and really cute beach "cover-up". We also went to a used bookstore and got some beach reading.

One evening, the owner of the house (who is a friend of a friend) took us out on her little boat for a "Booze Cruise" (as she called it). There really wasn't much boozing (I think everyone had one beer), but the views and the sunset on the Intracoastal waterway were beautiful and relaxing.

We found out after we got back home that a woman had been bitten in the foot and ankle by a shark in a few feet of water at the same area we went to every day. I even recognized the woman who was interviewed in this news story -- she was sitting right next to us on the beach every day!!! :
http://www.news14.com/content/top_stories/612347/shark-bite-in-holden-beach-concerns-some-swimmers/Default.aspx

Luckily, this happened the day we DIDN'T go out to the beach and took the ferry instead, and I was so glad in retrospect that we weren't there, since I love going in the water, the "bitee" could very well have been ME instead!!!

I was ready to get back home by Friday -- It was getting really hot. I think I will probably use my vacation time next year for a family beach vacation during the cooler part of the year, and rent an oceanfront house instead of having to schlep chairs and umbrellas and coolers out to the beach every day.

California cruisin' + Graduation

It's been almost forever (mid-January to be more specific) since I've written anything on this blog, so there's probably no-one out there to read this, but a college graduation followed by a vacation cruise don't come along very often, and are deserving of documentation, if only with a few photos.

This is my son and me as he was standing in line just before his graduation from Pomona College in Claremont, CA. He majored in History but wants to see if he find a job in the entertainment industry.

After graduation, he was on his way to Hawaii to sing with his Glee Club - Lucky guy!!!! (He took Voice lessons in college, too)


So...the rest of the family went on a cruise to Catalina Island, California. We were supposed to go to Ensenada, Mexico, too, but couldn't because of the stupid Swine Flu outbreaks....possibly also due to the intelligent swine as well...he he he.

This is a photo of the cruise ship taken at the Long Beach port where we had to wait for a really long time to board....


I'm not sure whether I should post the best photo I have of Catalina Island. It's so beautiful that I'd like to enter it into some kind of Photography contest. At any rate, I hesitate to post it since I really don't know if copyright laws would protect it. From what I read online, it's probably OK, but I'll post alternate shots of some of the scenery on the island instead. This is a view from one of the streets near the dock:



There were ornate tiles and artwork on some of the buildings:


This is a view from our little tender boat near the Catalina dock taken before landing on the island:

We went kayaking near the shore and had a great time. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up due to my lack of upper body strength, but I did just fine, and didn't even get very sore afterwards. I'm guessing that was probably due to my hubby doing most of the heavy rowing : )



We were amazed when, during a "rest stop" a cute little baby sea lion hopped up onto the end of our tour guide's kayak for a few seconds -- he said that was the first time something like that had happened in all the years that he has been leading kayak excursions.

It was really hard to come home after being so pampered - being entertained, relaxing on the ocean in the sun, being served delicious meals and desserts day and night, and enjoying the company of all of my wonderful family for a whole week...and, of course, the piece de resitance -- having your bed made, turned down and decorated with chocolates and "towel" creatures every night:


AHH, that's the life!!!