Luckiest Woman in the World

I am the luckiest woman in the world.  I sit in my Paris hotel room, about to take my siesta and cannot stop thinking this phrase, "I am the luckiest woman in the world!"

Today is our first full day in France.  Yesterday we flew into Amsterdam and arrived around 9AM.  We then flew to Paris and arrived around Noon.  We checked into our hotel - which I have decided is the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in - around 2PM.

Mike and I took a walk at the park which is right across the street - The Tulleries.  It is an amazing park that has carnival rides, but also wonderful walking/running trails throughout it.  At one end of the park there is the Place de la Concord and at the other end is the Louvre.  We walked across the Seine over to the Musse D'Orsay.  Which was good because I found out they are not open on Monday, so that has me going back for my visit there first thing on Tuesday morning. 

We stopped in the bar at our hotel on our way back from this little adventure and had a cocktail or rather a champagne cocktail. 


Yes Aunt Diana, the one on the right is mine.  It was my first Champagne in France (at least this time). 

We then met our other traveling companions, Dan, Jane and John, for dinner.  We went to a cafe up the street and it was so wonderful!  I ordered Beef Tartare, which arrived and was the size of a tea saucer and about 3 inches tall.  So much food, but you can bet I ate pretty much every bite.  And then came the creme brulee and raspberries and cream.  Both desserts were wonderful, but I have to say the creme brulee was possibly the best I have had.  Yes Mom, I think it beat out Number One Market in San Francisco. 

We ended the night by walking down through the park again and Mike captured this great shot with his phone:


Then Dan, Jane and John rode some carnival rides and then it was time to head back to our hotel rooms.  I took a bath in our extremely large Parisian bathtub.  And when I was done with that, fell promptly to sleep in our huge fluffy bed.

It was an outstanding 1/2 day yesterday and I can't wait to tell you all about today!  More later...

Cheers to being the luckiest woman in the world!

My Happy Place - Black Butte Ranch

As I step out of the car for the first time, each trip to Black Butte Ranch, I feel the same way...why has it been so long and how do I figure out a way to make it over here more often.  The smell, the sun, the trees, the animals and most of all the family is all what drives my desire to just BE at Black Butte.
My love affair with Black Butte Ranch began when I was just a babe.  My parents built our first house here in 1976 (yes the same year I was born) with Bill and Barb Crothers our dear family friends.  This was a nice three bedroom, two bathroom house with a giant rock fireplace (at least 8-10ft tall) in the center of the family room.  One of the best memories I have of the little house was when our parents were out for the NYE party at the lodge and they had left us in the care of my dear Grandma Margaret.  Of course she had gone to bed, so we built a huge pit of pillows below the large fireplace and then jumped over the stairs on top of the fireplace and jumped into the pit of pillows.  It was fantastic as a child -  now as an adult if my children were partaking in this activity, I would be a little less enthusiastic.  I learned to ride my bike at Black Butte, ski the massive slopes of Bachelor and be happy reading a book out on the deck.

Then in 1980 (the year my sister was born), my parents, Bill and Barb Crothers, my grandparents and another partner built "the big house."  The "big house" was a huge 3 master bedrooms (with their own bathrooms), bunk room with a bathroom next door, a huge kitchen, dining room and massive family room.  This was a great house.  It fit so many people and did so very comfortably.  So the original house that our parents built was relegated to "the little house."  Of course we all loved to stay in the "big house" but we also continued to stay in the "little house." 

We spent a ton of the summer in Black Butte which also featured the 4th of July parade.  I am very excited that my children now participate in this same parade. 

Decorating pre-parade!  They are very helpful with suggestions.

Family post-parade! Tommy zoomed and Morgan and Mom walked.

We also spent most of the winter weekends at Black Butte making the early morning trek to Mt. Bachelor to spend the day skiing.  I know I had a very rough childhood right? 

Then as all good things do, our Black Butte home ownership came to an end.  First with the "big house" and then in time with the "little house."  However, we have remained loyal Black Butte goers because our family, Doris and Bill Lovato, have generously allowed us to stay at their Black Butte house. 

However in 2008 the Lovatos upstairs water heater broke and flooded their house and the house had to be taken down to the studs.  So throughout the rebuilding of their house, the Lovatos have included us in their 4th of July celebrations in Sunriver and at a Black Butte rental house last year.  But this year we are back in their beautifully remodeled home.  We have had an outstanding time so far and the fun is still occurring.

So I just wanted you to all know that Black Butte is my happy place and if I had a choice, I would never leave.  Thank you to the Lovato family who have made it possible for me to have one of the best weeks I have had in a long time. 

Cheers to being in your happy place for 10 days!

My first full day of 35!

So as most of you know my birthday was yesterday!  I LOVE my birthday and yesterday was wonderful! 
I had a wonderful weekend of doing things that I wanted to do.  Saturday, I took Tommy on an early morning neighborhood adventure and then to karate class.  Then we went out to lunch at Best Baguette (YUMM!) and then we went to Cars 2 (minus Morgan who was napping and being babysat by Kendall).  Then we had dinner alfresco and it was really fun!  Sunday we all went to church (with not as much protest as normal).  Then I went to brunch with some friends who surprised me with some other friends :)  It was awesome.  I really like surprises, but they are hard to pull over on me as I really have to know what is going on at all times.

Monday (my actual birthday) I woke up and responded to lovely birthday wishes on FaceBook!  I really wanted to go to Stroller Strides, but I did not have time to get to the store to buy my birthday treats and go to the earlier class, so I went to Atfalati.  It was a great class taught by my lovely friend Rachel Heyer.  So we took cupcakes and juice boxes for after class.  Then I came home, took a shower and headed out to meet Lisa, Ari and Mckenna Mitchell for lunch at Pizzicato.  It was a great birthday lunch - Puttanesca and Caesar salad.  I LOVE puttanesca pizza!

Last night we went to the Thirsty Lion and had a small group of family and friends help me celebrate my entrance into my 35th year.  It was really fun and I think everyone had a good time.

All-in-all I am looking forward to this 35th year and can't wait to see what is going to happen during this year.

Cheers to one year older!

Turn my brain off...

I am wishing I could turn my brain off when my head hits the pillow...but of course as soon as my head hits the pillow, I start thinking about all the things I did not get done during the day or the things that I need to get done tomorrow.  It is ridiculous.  It has happened all this week.  I am so tired from about 4PM-8:30PM and then the kids go to bed and I am wired.  I guess it is because it is my only adult time to concentrate on what I need to do/get done. 

I have tried to write stuff down and then just let go, but then I just sit there obsessing about it all.

So I am hoping once on vacation in Black Butte for the 4th of July, my brain will turn off and I will be able to sleep once my head hits the pillow like normal people.

Cheers to sleeping like a normal person!

Stages in Life

Some of you may have heard, but I have decided to step-down from being a Stroller Strides instructor at the end of August.  It is not because I do not enjoy it.  Stroller Strides has been one of the most worthwhile organizations I have been a part of, but once Tommy starts going to school M-W-F in September, I want to have Tuesdays and Thursdays to do fun mom/kids activities in the mornings.  I am looking forward to using our memberships at the Zoo, the Childrens' Museum and OMSI! 

With this decision I find myself once again trying to figure out who I am.  For the last little bit (since April of 2007) I have been a Stroller Strides attendee and then late in 2008, I became an instructor.  I LOVE Stroller Strides and truly credit it and Rachel Heyer for saving my sanity when I first became a mommy.  I have met some of my best friends through Stroller Strides and I would not hesitate to ask any of the amazing women that are a part of this organization for help or advice on life or something one of my kids is doing.  But I just feel like it is time. 

When I first became a mom, I had the self-imposed problem of losing my job identity to "just become a mom."  It is so funny to me now, but that is how I felt.  I was depressed and lost.  All I had ever done, post-college, was work.  I was proud of my job and proud of what I had accomplished in those 9 years; similar to today, I am proud of what I have done and accomplished as "just a stay-at-home mom and Stroller Strides participant."  But I find myself again questioning, "Who am I without Stroller Strides?"  I am still not sure if I am giving up attending classes or not, I am just going to see how September goes, but the question still looms, "Who am I?"

I have thought about the following pathways:

• Nurse (but I would have needed better grades in college to get into nursing school)
• Lab technician (i.e the person who draws blood)
• High School Guidance Counselor
• Williams Sonoma employee
• Opening a bakery (which would require me to get a part-time job in a bakery first so I knew what I was doing)
• Opening a Mom Spa (which takes way too much capital that I do not have access to)
• Opening an outdoor neighborhood swimming pool with a summer league swim team (again takes too much capital that I do not have access to)

But in the end I do not know what I want to be when I grow up.  If anyone has input on any of this or can think of other things that I should be doing with my life, let me know. 

For now, I have decided for the next year, I am going to be satisfied to be a stay-at-home mom - that is if my mind will let me.  I am trying to be patient and know that a path will develop, but for right now I am back to feeling a bit lost.

I am also getting excited for Tommy to start public school.  We went and visited my mother-in-law in her 1st grade classroom.  She hatched baby chickens from eggs and so we went to visit the 13 baby chicks (she ended up with 14 chicks - one hatched after we left).  I think Tommy is going to have a great time in public school and I can't wait to be involved in both the classroom and making our school a better place.  So I do have that to look forward to.

I guess what I am saying is I know there are different stages in life and I think as I am moving out of the baby stage, I am struggling to find my place.  But I am sure it will happen and I just have to have faith in that. 

Cheers to different stages in life and being a bit lost.

Girls' Weekend in Seattle

We had a girls' weekend in Seattle this past weekend.  It was so much fun!  My mom, sister and me - three girls on the town.  We stayed at Diana and Tobais' house in Shoreline. 

Mom drove up to Tigard, picked me up and we headed north on Friday night.  We arrived around 9:00PM and had a glass of wine and chatted.  It was then time for bed.  I must have been tired and happy because I woke both my mom and me up laughing at 4AM.  We both went back to sleep but it was pretty funny.

We woke up, got dressed and headed out to downtown Seattle.  We were headed to Matt's in the Market.  I had heard about this place from my friend Jennifer.  She loves it, so Diana made a reservation.  We ate lunch there and it was phenomenal!  Here is what we had:

This was homemade salt and pepper potato chips with a warm bacon and caramelized onion dip.

This is Diana's catfish sandwich and simple green salad.

This is Mom's chicken sandwich with simple green salad.

This is my shrimp salad sandwich with potato leek soup.
And of course as you see in all the pictures, we had bloody mary's that also came along with a small glass of beer.

Our lunch was outstanding...and yes we did have 2 bloody mary's a piece, but seriously this is a great place! 

Then we went shopping at Nordstrom.  Nordstrom was busy and fun!  We walked around the shoe department and did not find anything fun, so then we went to the makeup department and found our dear old friend Laura Mercier.  Our new friend J.R. helped us at the Laura Mercier counter and we had so much fun.  Diana and Mom made me get blush because they said I needed the color not to look dead...I felt a bit like a clown.  But I was happy with all that we bought.  Then we went to the Accessories Department.  We tried on funky fun headbands, Diana bought a hat and I bought a scarf.  So all-in-all it was a very fun shopping excursion. 

We then headed back to Pike's Place Market.  There was a cheese festival going on so there were gobs and gobs of people.  I had seen a Henna Tattoo shop on the way up to Nordstrom and of course I wanted one.  So I headed into the shop and found a sun that looked good to me.  So here is my new Henna Tattoo:

 
Then we headed back to Diana's house to apply new makeup and get ready for dinner.  We wanted to meet our Aunts (Sarah and Suz) for drinks and dinner.  So we went to Kirkland and went to Brix Cafe.  We got there early and drinks/appetizers - even though we had been drinking and eating all day long.  Here is a pic of the three of us at that restaurant:

Then Sarah and Suz showed up and we had the best time!  We ate dinner, drank and had a blast!  Both Sarah and Diana said their cheeks hurt from smiling so much.  We decided we needed to do that more often and hopefully we will!

Suz and I were the designated drivers, so we all made it home safe. 

Sunday morning we slept in a bit and stayed in our sweats and headed to breakfast at the Honey Bear Bakery.  This was a fun bakery next/inside of a bookstore.  We had a great breakfast and then headed to the bookstore to find some letter tracing books for Tommy who is into writing his letters. 

Then back to Diana's house to change for a bridal shower for our cousin/nephew's fiance (Laura).  So not only did we get to see Sarah and Suz and dinner, we saw them at the shower too since it was for Sarah's future daughter-in-law.  It was very fun and cute to see all the fun presents that she received.  We are very excited for Nick and Laura's wedding in August. 

Then it was time for Mom and I to hit the road.  Sadly the weekend was over and while it went by very quickly, we had such a great time and can't wait to do it again.

Cheers to weekends with family!

Update on Jesse

As my Aunt Sarah pointed out this weekend, I have left you all hanging on Jesse's status. Jesse survived the surgery although there was worry there would not be enough skin to close the incision.  They made two incisions - one large and one smaller.  He spent the night at an animal hospital down in Tualatin the night after his surgery.  We took him down there, but our vet picked him up from the hospital and took him back to the vet office.  We picked him up that Saturday.  He was very drugged up and I rode in the back of the car with him.

We visited the vet about every other day to get the bandages changed and she let me know they had the results back on the type of cancer that the tumor was and while it is an aggressive cancer in that area, it will not metastasize (which means spread to any of the other organs in his body).  So he does have cancer and we do not know when it will come back or really any type of timeframe.  We are very happy he is home with us now!  I did ask the vet what I should be looking for as far as reoccurence/Jesse not doing well and she said he will just stop doing what he normally does, he will stop eating, etc.

With that being said, Jesse is recovering very well!  He had some major swelling the days after his surgery but the doctors were not worried about it and they were right it was just swelling from the surgery.  He had part of his stitches out two weeks ago and the other set out last week. 

Here is the healing area:

Jesse was not being a very good model, but here is a snapshot of him with his donut on and his side:

So our puppy is home.  He looks a bit like Frankenstein, but he actually likes the donut - he snores when he sleeps.

I want the incisions to heal a bit more before taking off the donut, but we are getting very close! 

So cheers to having our dog home and healing!