Lists

Lists. Let's face it, we've all made them, even if only in our heads. January seems to be the month to, at least, consider making a list. Some people have a knack for list making, others of us struggle.

I'm a fly by the seat of your pants kind of gal. Spontaneous to a fault, I've always struggled with goal setting, routines, grocery lists, etc., but I do always seem to have a list of desires floating around in my head. It's not that I'm so random that I don't get things done, it's just that this year I have been making a concerted effort to change my life for the better. I want more direction and purpose in my life,so that I can quantifiabley know what I've accomplished, a way of knowing myself better, a way of taking advantage of my strengths and minimizing my weaknesses.

My children are grown and have left the nest. My parents have passed on, plus I am no longer working full time outside the home. I have more time to reflect on what I want. For a lot of people that is a "no brainer", but I have spent so much of my life thinking about what other people need and want that I sort of forgot what it was that I really wanted.

I have spent the last year and a half reflecting on my life thus far. I've sat staring blankly out the window just reflecting. I've had to put aside the list in my head in order to ponder the meaning of my life. It's been a good life, the life I created. I have so much to be thankful for, a loving husband, a beautiful family, a home I'm proud of, good friendships, my health. These things were all on the list in my head when I was just a kid. Gee, I didn't realize, my list has been with me all along.

Here's my new list: more time to celebrate life with friends and family, more opportunities to travel, more focus to continue getting in the best shape of my life, more good books to read, more crafty projects that inspire me, more little things that make me want to get up in the morning and greet the day, a more intimate relationship with my God. That's not too much to ask, right?

A trip to Long Beach

This weekend my husband was going to be busy working on his jeep, with his buddies, in an effort to be ready for an off roading competition in February. It seemed to me the perfect opportunity to accept an invitation to the beach that my dear friend Lin and her husband Chuck extended to me.

The last couple of years has been a special time of reconnections to the dearest friends from my youth. Lin and I go way back. There is something comforting to have friends that share a part of your history, who knew you when you loved the Beach Boys and the Beatles, and loved you when you wore flowers in your hair and were skinny enough to wear string bikinis to the beach and shared a friendship with your sister, who is no longer with you in this life.

Lin found me through Classmates.com at about the same time that I was wondering where she was and wishing I hadn't lost touch. Ah, the beloved internet. Now Lin and I share a passion for Scrabble on Facebook and aren't too likely going to lose touch again.

The weekend went much too fast. We managed to take a trip to Huntington Beach, where we played a game a Scrabble, while overlooking the ocean, before having Mexican food at Chuck and Lin's favorite local Mexican restaurant. After lunch Lin and I went to the movies to see Slum Dog Millionaire. Then it was time to head home.

It was a real treat to have time together. Thanks again, Lin and Chuck.

A Sampler of Love

As a small child I learned to cross-stitch in grammar school. My first piece was crude, indeed. It was inspired by the movie The Parent Trap and it had the phrase Let's Get Together crossed stitched on it. It sat atop my mother's toaster for years.

Thirty five years ago I made the sampler that you see above. I was newly married and the quote on this cross-stitch was truly the way I felt. Thirty five years later it's sentiment is even more meaningful to me than it was then. When you've been married as long as I have, and been through the valleys as well as the bliss, this phrase has a real depth to it. Every stitch was lovingly sewn through the eyes of a newlywed.

This cross stitch hung on my bedroom wall in one of the first houses I lived in as a married lady. Unfortunately, the roof leaked and my handiwork hanging on the wall was stained with the dirty water that dripped down on it. Being young and not appreciating my own handiwork, I was ready to toss it in the trash. My wise mother rescued it from my ungrateful hands, having it cleaned and made into a beautiful pillow. It sat on her bed until she passed away last year, where I reclaimed it and took it home. Now it sits in my home as a reminder of my mother's wisdom. In a throw away world it's good to be reminded to appreciate the smallest of gifts, even if they're your own.

I seem to be reminded alot lately of my past and the way it has impacted not only my present, but my future as well.

Below you see my next project. I have never done counted cross-sticth before, but being inspired by my own crafty past, I am going to attempt to make this stitchery. I was at the craft store with my eldest daughter when I came across this kit. It has a Parisian influence and I think that is why I was drawn to it. Having spent a week in Paris in 2007, it will be fun to see if I can make this cross-stitch come to life and do it justice.

I Want My Mama!

Funny how many of my childhood memories revolve around food, but they do.

Today I was in bed all day with a chest and head cold. It's 5:30 p.m. and I just now took a shower. Maybe I would have gotten out of bed sooner if my mother were still here. She used to run to the Hamburger Hamlet on Rodeo Drive to get me some onion fondue soup when I got a cold as a kid. It was one of the best things about being sick. The Hamburger Hamlet closed it's doors in Beverly Hills several years ago, but you can still go to MiMi's and get a very close replica to the onion fondue at the H.H.

I can remember being really little and Nonie and I both getting colds and my mother would bring home a big bag of oranges and leave them by the bed and instruct us to eat as many as we could.
She was kind of a health fanatic, but she had a fun side too. Lots of times she would just bring us a giant Hershey's bar if we were sick. That was the best, maybe that's why I still crave chocolate today, I was raised to think chocolate had a medicinal value. Surly it does, don't you think?

Mom was nobody's fool though. If she had any inclination that we just wanted to play hookie so that we could stay home and watch our favorite soap opera she would disconnect the television cord and take itwith her to work. L.O.L. However, she still let us stay home just in case we weren't fooling.

Anyway, when I'm feeling under the weather, I just want my mommy!

The Holidays are Over

Today was a relatively quiet day with not much going on. Richard left Friday morning early for Johnson Valley on a jeep excursion, so I took advantage of the dark and rainy morning and slept extra late.

Amanda came over around 9:30 for coffee and we had a nice visit, both of us avoiding taking our Christmas trees down. It's always a little sad when Christmas is over and all the decorations get put away. The house feels blah and all the liveliness from the lights and company die down. It was Amanda's and my plan to get it done today. She followed through, but I didn't.

My friend Judy, from Tacoma, came to town because her mother took ill shortly before Christmas and isn't doing so well. Though the circumstances are difficult, it gave Judy and I time to catch up. It's funny how there are certain people in your life that no matter how long it's been since the last time you saw each other it feels like it was only yesterday that you were together. Judy is one of those people in my life. We met when I was away at college and she came into my dorm room to visit with my roommate. We struck up a conversation and became the best of friends, in what seemed to be an instant.

I was glad to leave the tree up for at least one more day to be able to spend time with my friend, so we went to a local coffee hangout and visited for a while,until we decided to go somewhere else and get a salad. Judy's brother joined us and we sat for a couple more hours talking about the dilemma of caring for a parent that doesn't really want you to care. Having a long time friend to talk things over with is at least a small comfort.

New Year's '09

Traditionally, Richard and I never do anything too exciting on New Year's Eve, so this was an exceptional year. Typically, Richard's dad comes up sometime after Christmas and the family gets together, but not usually on New Year's Eve. Avoiding holiday traffic has been the general rule. This New Year's, however, Richard's brother Dave, his wife Diane and two of their children, braved the snow storms in the Northwest and ventured south to pay the family a visit. It has been years since they have been here on the holidays, so it was a special occasion, indeed.

Below is a photo of my sister in-law, Diane, and her youngest daughter, Kenzie, at a local Starbucks in Valencia. Diane, Kenzie and I decided to take a trip to Valencia to do a little shopping. We all wanted out of the Bakersfield fog, even if only for a few hours, and a trip to Valencia did the trick. As soon as we got above the Grapevine we were out of the fog.


Diane and I became instant friends 35 years ago when we got engaged to our husbands. All those years ago, people thought that Diane and I looked more like sisters than our husbands looked like brothers. At any rate, I think it's true and at the very least we are kindred spirits.

We never spoke of New Year's resolutions the entire time we were together, but we were definitely in sync with our goals, because every day Diane would say, "Kathy lets do your exercise video together." She had brought a yoga video with her too and I made a valiant effort to do yoga with her, if I do say so myself. Over the years we have both put on a little weight and it's so wonderful to know she hasn't given up the fight either. Diane's recent weight loss has given me renewed hope to keep working on it. I am so sad that we don't live closer.

It's a real privilege to be together with family. Sometimes I long for the quiet holidays of my youth when it was just my mother, my sister and myself. It's not that I don't like being a part of a larger family, it's just that it's different, that's all. My grandson's couldn't get enough of the family being together. They were perpetually excited and filled with joy. That kind of joy really is contagious.

The picture below is of Richard's dad and his wife of forty eight years. They had just celebrated their anniversay a couple of days before New Year's. Also, in the photo, is Richard's sister Sherree, who was already busy in the kitchen when Diane and Kenzie and I returned for our trip to Valencia.

This year Richard's mother got all the cousins together at Marie Callendar's for a currently traditional luncheon and then a couple of days later the parents were treated to a dinner out at Urrichio's. This shift in celebrating a few days after Christmas meant that I got to enjoy a relaxed Christmas with my own children, without needing to entertain the entire clan. I must say it was one of the most enjoyable Christmas's ever. Noone was in the hospital, everyone was healthy and it was, for all intense purposes, as stress free as they come.

What a joy it is to have my eldest daughter living right next door. Amanda has been such a joy through the holidays, in so many ways, especially because she loves to share her culinary skills with the family. Being a mother herself has given her an appreciation for what it takes to entertain a family as big as ours and she does it so graciously.

Every one New Year's Eve looked happy to be together, sharing good food, conversation and memories from Christmas's past.

In the photo above cousins, Kenzie, Morgan and Spencer smile for the camera. In the photo below, Richard's brother Dave, looks up from the computer.

Cousin David looks a little sleepy in the photo below. Not too many of our clan made it all the way to midnight to ring in the New Year.

Christmas Outings

I love the time right before Christmas when you have just about everything done and you can relax because you're not feeling stressed. It's the time when almost every gift is wrapped and under the tree and most of your baking is done and holiday parties are on the horizon.

It was a time like this that my daughter and I were able to get out of the house on a beautiful day and take the boys to Johnny Rockets for a burger and fries. I treasure those moments with my grandsons because I know they will grow up faster than I care to think and making memories with them is the best.

Children bring a sense of wonder and delight to the holidays. They restore your faith in dreams and they bring joy to the simplest of pleasures.