This'll be a quick post. Wanna see our new kitchen improvement?
Before: Our old faucet leaked, so after going a couple months without being able to use the sprayer, we opted for a whole new unit.
After: This one is great! The water pressure in both the faucet and sprayer is much better now. The new faucet makes our old one look really miniature.
Rafi did a really great job installing it. Thank you!! :-)
So I just finished reading a book called Pretty Little Dirty by Amanda Boyden and felt the need to write something about it. This is the type of coming-of-age story that haunts the reader for a while. It changed my mood and my day. It's a great story but not a "sweet" story. This novel deals with insecurities, crazy-normal thoughts (what's really normal, right?), and experimentation/addictions to drugs and sex. And this is all before the age of 21. I would like to give more details, but every little detail in this book (and there are many) is like a scrumptious morsel of a "book-meal", written to be tasted, savored, and ingested. Anyhow, I recommend this book if you want a fast, but long, addictive read that while not brightening your day, will certainly turn on your thinker for a while and make you grateful for the choices that you did (or maybe did not?) take. 4 out of 5 stars.
Rafi had his big 3-2 birthday last weekend. Not sure if his celebration was what he had expected, but we (and friends) met at The County Line, and then met up for an evening of bowling. We all know who got highest score that night (ME!), and who acted like it was our birthdays with excessive poorly-made bowling alley drinks (Tina and ME!), but maybe not everyone knew until that night that Douglas really can do the splits! Too bad the picture didn't come out. :( Afterwards we hung out at the house and played Guitar Hero and Pictionary. As is usual, we girls kicked some arse on the last game. Anyway, this year the celebration was small, but we all had a really great time. :) Happy Birthday, Rafi!
All last week I chopped away at our yard after school... or work - I never know whether to call it school or work! Anyhow, everyday something else got mowed, trimmed, sheared, chopped, uprooted, planted, raked, hoed, or moved. Rafi's birthday birdbath is now in the front flowerbed. Next up is ripping out some old flowers to put in some new stuff.
We also have a new guard dog around this place. He keeps watch at our front door. His name is "Antonio Banderas," but we call him "Tony" after our good dog friend in Florida. :)
Do you have: (1) your own cell phone ( ) a television in your bedroom (2) an MP3 player ( ) a photo printer ( ) your own phone line (3) TiVo or a generic digital video recorder (4) high-speed internet access (i.e., not dialup) ( ) a surround sound system in bedroom ( ) DVD player in bedroom ( ) at least a hundred DVDs ( ) a childfree bathroom **No rugrats** (5) your own in-house office ( ) a pool ( ) a guest house (6) a game room **Game room with no games!** (7) a queen-size bed or larger (8) a stocked bar (9) a working dishwasher (10) an icemaker (11) a working washer and dryer (12) more than 20 pairs of shoes ( ) at least ten things from a designer store ( ) expensive sunglasses **I'm forbidden from expensive sunglasses - I break them.** (13) framed original art (not lithographs or prints) ( ) Egyptian cotton sheets or towels (14) a multi-speed bike (15) a gym membership (16) large exercise equipment at home (17) your own set of golf clubs **Used once!** ( ) a pool table ( ) a tennis court (18) local access to a lake, large pond, or the sea ( ) your own pair of skis ( ) enough camping gear for a weekend trip in an isolated area ( ) a boat ( ) a jet ski (19) a neighborhood committee membership ( ) a beach house or a vacation house/cabin **Maybe soon!** ( ) wealthy family members (20) two or more family cars (21) a yard (22 ) a hammock ( ) a personal trainer (23) expensive jewelry ( ) a designer bag that required being on a waiting list to get (24) at least $100 cash in your possession right now (25) more than two credit cards bearing your name (26) a stock portfolio (27) a passport ( ) a horse ( ) a trust fund (either for you or created by you) ( ) private medical insurance (28) a college degree
Do you: (29) shop for non-needed items for yourself (like clothes, jewelry, electronics) at least once a week ( ) do your regular grocery shopping at high-end or specialty stores ( ) pay someone else to clean your house, do dishes, or launder your clothes (not counting dry-cleaning) (30) go on weekend mini-vacations ( ) send dinners back with every flaw (31) wear perfume or cologne (not body spray) ( ) regularly get your hair styled or nails done in a salon **I do, but not on a scheduled basis** (32) have a job but don't need the money **We'd survive, but I want my own money.** ( ) stay at home with little financial sacrifice ( ) pay someone else to cook your meals ( ) pay someone else to watch your children or walk your dogs ( ) regularly pay someone else to drive your taxis ( ) expect a gift after you fight with your partner
Are you: ( ) an only child ( ) married/partnered to a wealthy person ( ) baffled/surprised when you don't get your way
Have you: (33) been on a cruise (34) traveled out of the country (356) met a celebrity (36) been to the Caribbean ( ) been to Europe (37) been to Hawaii ( ) been to New York **Hopefully this summer!** ( ) eaten at the space needle in Seattle ( ) been to the Mall of America ( ) been on the Eiffel tower in Paris ( ) been on the Statue of Liberty in New York ( ) moved more than three times because you wanted to ( ) dined with local political figures (38) been to both the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast
Did you: (39) go to another country for your honeymoon **4 of them!** (40) hire a professional photographer for your wedding or party (41) take riding or swimming lessons as a child swimming lessons ( ) attend private school ( ) have a Sweet 16 birthday party thrown for you
I know this is WAY late, but wanted to drop a bit for my gal pals with whom I danced into the wee hours of the night a couple weeks ago. Thanks, gyrls!! I had a total blast - much needed!
Recipe for Crazy Gyrls' Night in 10 Easy Steps:
1) Get dressed, do makeup, giggle, take silly pictures, more giggles, wait for a cab, wait for a cab, wait for a cab, and leave! 2) Eat at Habana (Cuban fare), walk downtown, see nothing good, walk to 4th street, go to Vicci's. 3) "Accidently" get issued VIP wristbands at Vicci's, party in the exclusive top floor, view (like the queens you are) the common folk below. 4) Boner Dude and Mr. Bulgaria. Inside jokes for years to come! 5) Is that girl seriously taking her arms out the neck hole of her sweater?! 6) 2:15am - Leave Vicci, look for cab, meet "Drunk Girl" in the street - "I cann belieff I lost my gold necklace! Butsss okay. I only paid $14 for it at Agacci TWO!" (holding up two fingers in Tina's face). "Bummer," Tina says. 7) Overwhelm the Taxi driver on ride home with Tina Turner song attempts. (Don't forget to be the first to call dibs on her legs.) 8) Tina and Jodi go to bed in time to sleep for two hours before they have to go the airport for their ski trip. 9) Discover later that Deanna and Dani stayed up an equal amount of time across the street! 10) Delete selected photos!
The end. So when do the guys go out of town again? :-D
An apt title for a piece about skiing, don't you think? :) So, we're back from our annual ski vacation (this time at Breckenridge ) , and yes, I'm just now getting to write about it. Busy, busy! So this year we had a total of 17 (I think) people in on AMAZING cabin. No seriously, this cabin rocked! With a total of 10 full and 1 king sized beds, 4 bathrooms, hot tub, sauna, two game rooms, wet bar, and every other room being ginormous, this cabin will be tough to beat in the years to come. Kudos to my husband for making it happen!! :) This was a great skiing year because this was the first time a more advanced skiier than me was present to give me tips and push my abilities (thanks, Greg!). I practically had no fear on this trip - I was doing black runs, moguls, and even the jumps and halfpipe in the terrain park! Yeah, so I earned a few bruises in the process, but it was so cool to actually get air. Rafi took it a bit easier on this trip - enjoying the scenery, avoiding little kiddos, enjoying bouts of sickness. But on the last afternoon he scored major points on the jumps and half-pipe in the terrain park.
Aside from sore muscles and bruises (and one bad case of wind/sunburn on my forehead), no one was really hurt with the lone exception of my brother who didn't quite hit the rail right with his snowboard. The only other battle waged was on some altitude sickness by a few of the guys. At the tops of some lifts I, too, had a problem with altitude, for I was seeing black spots, but as I skiied down the mountain they would go away. We also had a couple beginner skiiers/snowboarders this trip. Ismael did a really great job with his second snowboard (he broke the first one - oops!), and Tina was superb with her "pizza and french fries" - mastering a blue-green on her second day. Slow and in control does it! And poor Ed - not a beginner - had yet another year of ankle/boot problems. :(
Oh yeah... and I ate chili cheese fries EVERY day. Now THAT is what I call a good vacation! (Full photos HERE.)
Before:
Before:
