Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that it is going to be 2010 in a matter of hours! Happy New Year to all my blogging friends and to all the people who have shaped my life thus far with their love and encouragement.

I've never been one to make a big deal over New Year's Eve. I've always felt like it was safer to remain off the roads, when all the bars close down, on one of the biggest drinking nights of the year. Call me boring, if you must! I felt this way even when I was young. It's not that I'm opposed to a little bubbly, I just always been the more cautious sort. I'll have my champagne at home, thank you very much. I've had dreams of being more daring, but I'm just not.

I do remember one very memorable New Year's Eve, when I was newly married and in my twenties. My husband and I were living with my brother in-law and his wife temporarily. We had gone to bed about 11:30, (not even Dick Clark could hold my attention until midnight), when my brother in-law started beating on his drums in the room next to the one we were sleeping in. That's about as much excitement as this girl could take! L.O.L. It was memorable, you just had to be there.

As many of you know, in December I started on a healthy living kick and was being very conscientious about my diet and exercise routines. Well, I did okay for about three and half weeks and then I fell off the wagon, so to speak. That's okay, because, it's a new year starting tomorrow and I will be back at it.

I will be starting a new position on Monday for Pottery Barn. I will start training to be one of those people you call and complain to. You know, customer service. The way I figure, I'd better get in good shape to be able to handle any extra job stress. I'm excited to challenge myself to learn more and take on more responsibility. Being compensated pay wise will be a nice benefit!

I had a lot of company over Christmas and while they were all here, my sister in-law, introduced me to a new exercise DVD. It was a salsa aerobic workout. Mostly I sat on the sofa and watched, but I plan on ordering it, because of how much fun it was.



My sister in-law is the one in red leading us all and hamming it up for the camera.
The one in blue is my middle daughter who had to give us all shiatsu massage therapy after our workout.



The one nearest the Christmas stocking is my niece and she rocked it out!



You go girls! I'm totally inspired.





My biggest goal this year is to move more and eat less and to have more fun!

Holiday Fun

About a week ago the hubs and I took a trip to San Francisco to see our daughter's dance performance, Nocturnal Butterflies. The weekend began with lunch at the La Boulange. What a charming little cafe!

I think I had the best open faced tuna melt I've had in years. It warms me up just thinking about it.

Food wise, I really let myself go. The pastries were as delightful as the lunch...

We shared a few delights...

I enjoyed a wonderful latte. It was raining outside the cafe, which increased my enjoyment...

Of course our daughter's performance was superb, but in our rush to get to the theater I left my camera at the hotel.

The weekend went by much too quickly!

Another delight was driving home in the rain and being gifted a rainbow in the clean, blue, sky!

When we got back it was time to think about baking for Christmas....

My eldest and her sons who live right next door came by for a game of scrabble and to bake our traditional gigerbread house.

The finished product put smiles on all of our faces!

Nocturnal Butterflies

Tomorrow Mr. Honey and I will leave for San Francisco to visit our youngest daughter and see her in a performance called Nocturnal Butterflies.

She is a beautiful dancer and I always look forward to seeing her perform. If you ask me she lights up the stage!

This performance is dedicated to the legendary dancer and choreographer of the early 20Th century, Vaslav Nijinsky. The performance has been directed and choreographed by Erika Tsimbrovsky. With dancers Andrew Ward, Kegan Marling, Suzanne Lappas, Christine Saulut-Bonansea, Lindsay Gauthier (that would be my daughter, imagine me beaming with pride), and Rosemary Hannon, visual artist Vadim Puyandaev, London-based musicians Grundik Kasyansky and Ute Kanngiesser, video artist Ruslan Belorusets, lighting designer Kedar Lawrence and concept monger Laura Maguire.

In A Dream

Last night I had one of those powerful dreams that you cannot shake out of you. It wasn't a nightmare, it was one of those soulful dreams...one of those dreams you wake up from and say, "That meant something, I must remember that."

I had a dream about a friend that I haven't spent all that much time with over the years, but one of those people that impact your life by the way they live... one of those people whom you are always pleased to see when you run into them when you're out and about. We may not understand why we don't spend more time getting to know each other, but we do understand that they have a significant impact on our lives.

We all have impressions of people that we've either just met or even known a long time. They may or may not be correct impressions, but in some way these impressions color the way we feel about the person or the way we feel about ourselves. Does this make sense??

Anyway, I had a dream that I was baring my soul to this friend and I was making myself extremely vunerable in doing so.

I have always been an emotional person, my feelings always just underneath the surface. I cry easily and am always embarrassed by this. I seem to attract more stoic types into my life. My dream was about a friend that I have always thought to be a brave soul...I don't think I've ever seen her cry, one of my more stoic friends, who exudes strength whereever she goes.

In my dream I was explaining to this friend how much I admired her, and she was listening to me as if there was no one else in the room. However, in the dream I was at what must have been a political function and there were lots of people in the room and people were eating and celebrating, she was listening to me intently. There are just some people who know how to really focus, I'm not one of them, but I do attract such types.

I was crying in my dream and my friend was unfazed, she just kept listening. I felt safe and amazingly unashamed of my tears. I told her that all anyone really needs is to be afffirmed and to know why they are here and what their purpose is. It is so simple, but to me, this dream was sending me a message to my soul.

Preparing for Christmas

The nativity scene is in it's special place...

The stockings are hung...

I have a beautiful poinsetta...

The cloche has been properly dressed for winter...

There's a mini tree in the family room...

And...I managed to buy one of the last sleigh bell pillows at Pottery Barn for my livingroom sofa.

I spent the day cleaning and decorating and the evening playing monopoly with Mr. Honey and our grandsons.

It's been a lovely day!

Blind Side

Today I was up a 5a.m. getting ready for work. I went in at 6a.m. today because they needed more coverage on the early shift.

Surprisingly, I have had a lot of energy lately and I don't seem to need as much sleep. I ate cheerios for breakfast...the breakfast of champions, right? Oh no, I guess that would be Wheaties. Ooops!

I had my Lean Cuisine much earlier than usual at work due to the early shift. I've also been enjoying a lot of fresh pears lately and a few cashews.

Since I went in to work early, I got off early. It was the perfect opportunity for Mr. Honey and I to head out to the movie theater and see Blind Side. Fabulous movie. I highly recommend it. I love true stories and this one was both inspiring, thought provoking and entertaining.

After the show and eating a bag full of popcorn and a hot dog for dinner, I came home and worked out. Aren't you proud of me? I haven't given up. I'm still at it. Somebody at work today said they thought I was losing weight. It made me smile. My body has not yet been on a scale.
I don't want to jinx myself. I'm in it for the long haul.

Below is a photo of Quinton Aaron in Blind Side. Who ever cast this young actor was spot on! He did a great job and I think this was my favorite Sandra Bullock movie thus far. If you get a chance go and see it, you'll be glad you did!

Timeless Fashion

My daughter is modeling the dress that her grandmother wore when her grandmother became an American citizen. It is a very special dress. My mother married an American soldier in the late forties and moved to America when the war ended. She then became an American citizen in the fifties. This wonderful dress is still as beautiful today as it was in the sixties. If my mother were alive today I know she would love seeing her granddaughter fitting so beautifully into her dress.

When my daughter's friend had an opportunity to take pictures of the lovely, red, vintage airplane that you see in the background he asked my daughter to model for him. She was delighted to do it and thought it was the perfect opportunity to wear her grandmother's fabulous ice blue dress.

The funny thing is my daughter is 6ft. tall and my mother was only 5' 4". My mother had a fabulous figure. My daughter does too, only much, much, taller than her grandmother.

There was a time when I could have worn this dress myself and before I die I would love to fit into it again. Good motivation for me to stay on my diet, don't ya think?