Fall and New Stuff :)

The new school year has begun and it is bringing lots of interesting experiences with it.
My son is entering his senior year of undergrad work, yes graduation in June 2014. He has maintained his 3.8 GPA and has studied all summer for the LSAT. That was a challenge  initially, the  research attempt to weed through all of the prep courses available. Once he made a decision, based upon his sister's high school friend who practices Law in northern California, he was on his way.

I have to say that dedication to study while working an intern position can be a daunting task,but he never wavered. He has  devoted himself to goal setting and this past Saturday he took the LSAT along with other students from UC Santa Barbra. After 6.5 hours it was martini celebration time :)

With that behind him, he is making time to help me put up Fall decorations. It just doesn't seem like the cool weather is approaching without the garland of fall leaves and amber lights
on the columns and family hutch. Our hardwood floors should be installed by next week so it should look especially pretty this year.

 

 

 

The History Bug Hits Again

After a few years of leaving my love of visiting American Colonial History colonies behind for antiquity period travels my voice was finally heard. This year we traveled to North Carolina where we managed to stretch our curiosity all the way to the low country of Savannah, Georgia. Along the way we managed to spend a few fabulous days in Charleston, South Carolina, and visit the Boone Plantation. Home to the three quarter mile Avenue of Oaks dripping with the beautiful Spanish moss.

 

 

The Boone Plantation is still a working plantation and is frequently visited by Hollywood film makers for backdrop. Some of the films and mini series that have been filmed here were, The Patriot, The Notebook, and North and South. After our visit me managed to make our way to our hotel, Charleston Place, right in the center of the historic district of Charleston. It was delightful to be able to walk out the front,back or side doors and be in the middle of history, much of the architecture is still intact.

We indulged in the traditional Midnight Haunted Tour, and found the small town completely mystifying. Beautiful Antebellum homes line the streets and the waterfront is the same offering views of Fort Sumter, and the waterfront park offering cannons from the Civil War period.

We made our way down to Savannah before returning to Charleston and taking our cruise to the Bahamas, I would have rather stayed on land and explored more. We encountered thunder storms which were utterly delightful and the best food I have ever eaten. Lady and Sons was on the list and it did not disappoint, all before the news broke. I must say, all employees had nothing but praise for their boss. I loved it our waiter said she "had a little fire in her like any good southern woman, but she was well respected by all", I'll leave it there.

Our trip was memorable, filled with lots of walking, laughter and great food! Have luggage and we shall travel. I hope to make it across the pond next time in celebration of yet another graduation.

It just doesn't get better than this!

Spring Is In the Air

Spring is in the air and activity is buzzing all around the house with bathroom renovations going on on the inside and pool remodeling on the outside. What a mess! We are moving towards the homestretch  with the bathroom, so many changes and new ideas have come into play. It has been fun, exasperating, and to my surprise so much easier that I thought it would be ( right..*not*). When one considers a household using one bathroom... arm yourself with a sense of humor, patience and lots of closed eyeballs, especially when the project goes 4 weeks over the projected time frame :(

We had a serious mold problem that took a week to to deal with that was interesting. After we had sealed everything off and the "skull and cross bones "were placed at points of entry it was one full week of gutting, testing and purifying. Our bathroom was down to the bare bones of studs and black paper where our tiled tub and shower once existed. We were shocked about the extensiveness of the mold, and how large the space felt without partial walls and glass enclosures.

SO, a new design was created which has included a deep soaking tub and shower combo with travertine block and gorgeous espresso/greens/blues/cream glass tile. My girls are back to create their magic on the cabinets and walls ( pastel sage green and black). The room is already so open  now that the old has been removed and the new tub has been installed. The entire house will find itself clothed in new hardware, out with the brass and in with oiled bronze hinges, door nobs, cabinet hardware and faucets. Look'n good!!

The Loss of Susan

My high school girlfriends and I have gathered each month, sometimes more, to have dinner and laugh for 3 years now. It has been so much fun, and the relationships are warm,caring and full of eyes that have traveled different roads. We easily recapture our youth and laugh at how wise we thought we were and how in retrospect how little we actually knew; how eager we are now to learn and experience more. It has been so much fun. At the center of it all, was Susan  with her special brand of humor and a laugh that would bring us all into girlish stages of giggles.

Every gathering she would have another question during the middle of the evening, you know after you have warmed up and opened up a bit. Questions like, "ok ladies, where do you really buy your jeans, you know the kind that don't make us look frumpy?" We would look at one another, stand up and check out our bums and say, "gee, does mine look frumpy?" and the giggles would start again. Girl stuff, older woman stuff, great stuff,stupid stuff....just stuff. I can hear her now , "and what do you use on your face? Because, this lady tried to sell me product and you should have seen the horror on her face when she asked me what I used, and I said, ( only as dry and confident as Susan is capable of delivering the line), well, I use Dove. The woman looked at me in sheer horror!" and the giggles would burst out again, and another glass of wine would be poured. We soon discovered that everytime we got together if one of us was missing we felt the disruption of the rythmn, we missed the comic relief, the sober one, the realist, the zany one, the traditionalist, and the "mom". We all bring something to the table and we get one another and love each other as sisters.

Susan was the mom, the comedy relief and could be quite somber too. She questioned us and pushed us to get our annual mamagrams because of her own battle, what a nag :) What she didn't do was tell us that she had had a reoccurrance, she kept it quite and began to slowly withdraw, but then began to call us individually.

Susan lost her third battle with cancer, 2 weeks ago. The girlfriends gathered at Shelley's house and drove together to the services, passed tissue, giggled as stories were told and cried as her daughters stood and told their stories about their mom. Emily had a laundry list of the things she would miss ad things she would never forget:

Home room Mom , yep, every year
sugar cookies
talking on the phone and realizing 3 hours had passed and all was right in my world again
laughing
singing out loud our favorite songs while we drove
shopping
coffee breaks
presents, for no real reason

There wasn't a dry eye, Susan was courageous, beautiful, intelligent, and she loved God. I met her the first time when I was 11 years old in Sunday School, as a new member, and reconnected in 8th grade as the new kid in school, and we walked home together in high school. She was smart about her time, she chose carefully how and with whom she would spend it. She loved her children, one boy and 2 girls. I remember when I was expecting my second daughter that I had taken my 3 year old on a walk through the our Mall to look at the gold fish and window shop. I bumped into Susan that day in June and we were laughing at the fact that we were both pregnant and expecting in September. We sat on the benches near center court and she asked what names I had thought of and I told her I was having a redheaded little girl, ( mom's instincts) and was going to name her Megan. She loved the name immediately, and in September we both got our Megan.

On our last dinner together,before she had disclosed her recurrence, she proudly presented each of us with a coffee mug and a Starbucks card. We laughed we hugged and we said our usual good-byes and made plans soon, but not with Susan. I use my coffee mug every morning and I think of her. We miss her....alot.