.

The Robie House Day Spa

Then we went HERE for facials. I'm so glad Katie liked this idea for her birthday! We had a great day!

I liked the steam the best! Steam aimed at my face and the hot steaming towels :)

Nail Spa Treatment

The Nail Spa was Heaven! We relaxed in massage chairs while getting a pedicure.

This is the nicest nail salon I've ever been to. Great service. I think I'll be back!

Girl Day

Katie getting a manicure

Uh-oh. I think I've created a spa monster.

Sleepover

I needed that relaxing time for this...5 of her friends over to spend the night! Actually they weren't as noisy as I thought they'd be.

After our BBQ dinner and the usual gifts & cake, they hung out downstairs watching movies and singing Kareoke.
I even caught my new favorite show with my husband. Nice!

Dust

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To fish, paint a picture or write a letter,
Bake a cake or plant a seed,
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim and Mountains to climb,
Music to hear and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go -- and go you must –
You, yourself will make more dust!

author unknown

Dreams

Hold fast your dreams!

Within your heart

Keep one still, secret spot

Where dreams may go

And, sheltered so,

May thrive and grow.

Louise Driscoll

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

This is my daughter, Katie. She turns 12 Today.

Katie and I are very alike. That's why we fight so much. Lately it's been so nice. We are beginning to understand each other. We are friends. I love her unconditionally. The only way I can understand a parent loving a child.

She is 12 today, and comprehends more than I give her credit for. She's a great kid. Does her homework without being told to, LOVES soccer and is good at it, sticks up for her little sis at school, teases the boys, treats her friends with respect and warms my heart with her soft sweet smile.

She gives me hugs and tells me she loves me. Katie- I love you too. Happy Birthday love.

Wicker Park

Last night we rented a movie. "Wicker Park". What a good flick. A little sad- but a good ending. I often wonder how many times it happens in our lives that we miss out on something because of timing...

The part where he misses her phone call because he was in the shower.
Or when he doesn't see her at the airport because he was stretching his fingers through a drain trying to retrieve the key to her apartment.

How easily one person can twist a situation to ruin lives.
When you just can't do what you know you should do, because of a "feeling".
Fate? Intuition? Sixth Sense?
He couldn't go to China. He couldn't get married. He had to find her. He had a feeling she had been there, in that place. He could smell her.

Forshadowing. I love when a movie starts out forshadowing.
The first scene, he is trying to pick out a ring.

Jeweler..."that one is beautiful"
Matthew... "so are the others"
Jeweler..."and yet you can not choose with your eyes"

All throughout the movie, Matthew is trying to find his lost love, Lisa, that seemingly walks out of his life. For two years he trys to move on. He even gets engaged. But when he is supposed to get on a plane and go to China for a business meeting, he lies to his fiance and stays in town with a friend. Why? Because of a nagging incident where he thinks he spots Lisa in a restaurant.
He finds and follows the clues.

***WARNING, THIS IS THE ENDING***
At the end, in the airport, he finally finds her. He starts shifting his body through the crowd when his fiance steps in his path. He has to make a decision. He trys not to take his eyes off Lisa, but has to. (see the forshadowing?)
He breaks up with his fiance (as nice as he could). He looks once again for his love. At first he can't locate her, but then...there she is, bending down, on the phone learning of all that has happened and why. She turns around and there he is waiting for her. Now she has found him.

Everybody... OOhhh

I'm such a romantic.

CONCERT!!

Drive me down Nostalgia Road!!

I'm going to a concert! One of my favorite bands from my high school days have recently reunited and put out an AWESOME new album and I'm going to FINALLY see them in concert!

Oh yeah- DURAN DURAN!!

Are you jealous?

Well don't be. It's not nice.

Anyway- even if you hate this band, be happy for me. The last concert I went to was the Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith concert...country. It was nice. I like Rascal Flatts, but I've not been this excited to see a concert since....since....well- Sarah McLachlan. I've been listening to her since she put out "Touch". She also played at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium. Very nice place. Every seat is worth the money. Good thing to because the tickets are almost sold out already!

I called my mother-in-law today to ask if she would babysit and instead she asked if we could sneak her in! My husband has the coolest mother. When my parents wouldn't even let me dream of going to a concert, his mother stood in line for hours to get him front row seats! Flock of Seagulls and Thompson Twins. He was 14!! Damn.

MARCH 1st....8pm!! I'LL BE THERE!

RIO---SEVEN AND THE RAGGED TIGER---ARENA---NOTORIOUS---BIG THING---

and the latest...ASTRONAUT

I didn't get to see them when they were at the top. Thank God for second chances!!

Lunch Time

Megan, Sarah & Katie

I must say....I was so impressed with how well these girls did with skiing! This was the second time my girls have skied and the first time for Sarah.
Sarah hit a tree at the start, but then picked up the necessary skills to avoid that!
Megan finally learned to snow plow without falling and Katie can turn instead of barreling down the mountain at full speed!
I'm so proud!

Nice Day to Ski

Family Fun

From left to right:
Sarah (my daughter's friend we brought along) Katie, Michael, me and Megan.

Bear Valley Ski Resort

BEAR VALLEY

Friday night my husband asked me if I still wanted to go on our planned ski trip. I wiped my face and said "Of course. The kids are really excited."

We have a small cabin about 15 miles from here. We used to ski a lot, but found it exspensive and hard to manage once we started a family. Now that the girls are older (and we have more money) ski trips are a rediscovered treasure box of fun.
However, just like when I was 16 years old, I'm to scared to ski the BIG slopes, so you'll have to see the world through my fearless eyes on the bunny hill.

Life Happens

Sorry it's been a while since I've been here. I'm going through something right now that is hard. Very hard, but part of life. Those of you who know the Lord, pray for me. I need it, thank you.

I'm going away for the weekend. I'll try to write on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday to Don!

This just in....

My friend, Don is having another birthday today. I just found out and of course I want to tell the world. Yesterday we were sitting at my kitchen table talking about birthdays (I had to show off my early present), and he didn't even mention that his was tomorrow! Why do people do that? Is there some unwritten law that says once you reach a certain age (or maturity) that we can't blurt it out in conversation... "Hey, it's my birthday tomorrow!" I would think it would be okay if you are already discussing birthdays! As a person who really loves my friends, I am hurt that he didn't say anything.
Believe me, YOU will know when my birthday is coming. You already know it's coming. But just in case you don't know- Mine is Feb. 22nd.

So back to Don...
He has 2 daughters. They are both friends with my 2 daughters. Don and his wife, Laurie live on Westville Trail. I run by there house sometimes. They are very nice people. Honest. I kid you not, they have the NICEST and most POLITE girls I have ever met. They are a joy to have at my house. Don has 6 kids altogether. That's right- 6. Four grown boys from a previous marriage. He's had quite a life so far and is very interesting to talk to. There are 2 main hobbies Don enjoys. Golfing and Cooking.

Currently I am helping Don with his daughter's Egypt project. I made a better costume for her yesterday.

I'd post a picture of him for you, but I don't have one....Hmmm I think I have one of his car. Okay I'll post that. :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON!!

Here's the birthday boy in his blue PT Cruiser.

ibook

Happy (early) Birthday to Me!

If you think I'm spoiled, then you'd be right. I get almost everything I want. It's just a matter of time. Sorry, but true. At least I'm honest and admitting it keeps me thankful for what I have. I don't know what I did to deserve such a great life. Maybe I haven't done it yet?? Maybe my world is just about to fall apart? Now, that's just pessimistic thinking. I'm not a negative person. Let's move on...
This is the Apple ibook. I bought the 12 inch because it's only one thousand dollars. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS! Actually with tax added it's another $82.00. Of course you need a good carrying case... $50.00 and a pad to protect the LCD screen... $10.00. So I mangaged to spend a total of $1,146.96. OUCH! I'm not rich ya know. I don't even have a job. Thank goodness my hubby is such a great guy. He doesn't care about this stuff one bit, but knows I want it and works a ton of overtime so I can have it. Sometimes I think about getting a job to help out. I didn't used to be so materialistic. I know I don't really need this computer, it's like the difference between getting a car and getting a sports car. Both can get you there. But one goes faster.

There is a passion inside me that I can't ignore. Now I can write wherever I want. I've been given freedom. Though there'll be no blogging on this one. When I sit my butt down to write....I'M GOING TO WRITE!!

Carl

Another Good Friend of Mine. This is Carl. He was my daughter's fourth grade teacher. His talents are many...an awesome teacher (now VP), extensive musical abilities and a dirt track thrill seeker, but I would say his area of expertise falls into the world of computers. I'm dying to buy an apple ibook or powerbook, so I'm hoping he can help me with that. I think my writing will really take off once I get mobile. Coffeeshops in bookstores, that's the best place to write. Carl got me into this blogging thing (and everything high tech...) Thanks Carl.

I have the BEST friends.

And here's one of them. What a lady! World, This is my friend, Denise.

Her daughter is Emma (seen in Nutcracker photos with my dearest Megan). We always have a great time together. Probably because we are so much alike. In this picture, Denise is trying on a $200.00 pair of sunglasses. We were out Christmas shopping that day. I spent close to an hour trying to decide on the perfect pair of glasses for my husband. I settled on a polarized pair of Raybans. He loves them! I also scored a gift for Katie (my 11 yr old daughter) 2 Steven Kings books, Carrie and The Dead Zone. She loves scary books.

Today I spent the morning/afternoon at Denise's house. We cropped til we dropped. Scrapbooking. It's fun to share pictures and creative ideas with a friend while listening to Tony Bennett and sipping my favorite flavored coffee. I worked on my wedding album. I made the huge mistake of putting all my wedding photos in one of those old fashioned, glued up, acid trap sandwich photo albums. It took me some delicate maneuvering to get them off without ripping them to shreds.
I now have them in a beautiful white Creative Memories Album where I know they'll last at least as long as I will. After that, not to many people will care. I'll let the girls fight over who gets mom & dad's wedding album...
Will they ever learn to take turns??? Compromise is not a word in their vocabulary.

I was planning to run this afternoon, but I have a slight headache. It only gets worse if I run, so
hopefully I will get a run in tomorrow. Here's hoping (fingers crossed). Although I might end up going shopping with another friend tomorrow because he is major stressed out about his daughters' egypt project that is due next week. I said I would help. I've already spent a few hours yesterday sewing a costume for her. I don't mind though. She's a sweet girl.

Sometimes I feel like these posts are just me thinking outloud...

Meet the Fockers

Yes, I went to see another movie today.

My husband has a great job. He works 9 hour days which allow him to take a day off every other Monday. It's called his RDO (regular day off). Today was one of those days.

We dropped off the girls at school and headed into town for breakfast. We ate at "The Breakfast Club". They have very good food, plus we had a coupon. :)

After that we killed some time at Target and Ross. With about 30 minutes before the show we decided to check out "The Robie House Day Spa". My daughter is turning 12 this month and I want to do something special for her.
A day at the spa. That's my idea. She loved it.
You see, she's been feeling "ugly" lately. She thinks she's fat, hates her nose & wonders why her eyebrows are so bushy. I remember all the weird transformations girls go through. It's an awful feeling to look at yourself and think "why can't I look like...." (the name of the cutest girl in school). Self confidence is important. Not full of yourself confidence, but acceptance confidence. It took me YEARS to get it. If I can do anything to help my daughter get through this awkward stage, it will be to help her love herself and her appearance.
I'm not talking a nose job! It'll be a facial, a body massage, pedicure, manicure, brow shaping and perhaps some highlights in her hair. We're NOT doing make-up for a few more years.
I love her so much and want her to see how beautiful she really is.

After looking around and getting some prices, we headed off for the theater. "Meet the Fockers". We've been wanting to see it. I liked it. Funny. I like funny! I especially like how Mrs. Focker is so comfortable about the issue of sex. It's such a perfectly natural part of life. However, I think as far as talking about it, I fall somewhere in between Mrs. Focker and Mr. Burns. It used to make me so embarrassed as a kid, but now- I find it a VERY interesting and easy to discuss.

I guess I didn't really talk much about the flick, but this post is long enough already.

Ponder this...

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin