Sunday Brunch Bunch

I lead off the pack of my friends who turn 50 this year. One of us has had a health scare within the last few weeks. Because of this we decided that we can't let big gaps of time fly by between get-togethers. We just never know....

I booked a reservation for 7 at the American Bar and Grill's Sunday Brunch. We got there at 11:15 and didn't leave until 3:30 - they had already broken down the brunch tables and were setting up for dinner. Lots of food and lots of laughter - I think that is just what the doctor ordered.

Several of us have known each other since kindergarten but we've all been friends since first grade.... friends forever......

More From The Archives

Between my husband and I, we have amassed a fair amount of old family photos. I spent hours upon hours scanning and editing his side's family photos so that I could put together a DVD as a Christmas gift for all of them this past Christmas.

My sister and I also have done some scanning work and touching up of old pictures. She's wonderful at fixing up photos that have a fair amount of damage to them.

The photos I have here are just a very few of the tons of pictures we have (both photograph and slide format) to hopefully get on a DVD one day. They feature the grandfather I never knew but I am sure I would have loved! One shows my dad with his mom back during WWII, and the other photo shows two soldiers my mom met during WWII at Fort Dix, New Jersey back when they had the weekend dances there and all of the young girls would get all dolled up for their night of dancing and fun. Maybe someone will stumble upon my blog entry and recognize those two men. I'd love to know who they were and what became of them.

My First Meme - EVER!

My friend Angie posted this ABC meme on her blog. She borrowed it from Carrie who had it on her blog!

I'm a meme virgin, so to speak, but lots of days am at a loss for ideas for my post so I just don't post. I guess I can search around other blogs for memes on those days....or I can just skip posting those days. We'll see


Anyways, here is my ABC meme!

A - Age: I posted about this two weeks ago....Uggg I cannot believe I have to say I just turned five - oh!


B - Bed Size: King - came in very handy during thunderstorms years ago when we had "company" join us in the middle of the night - back then the four of us fit pretty well - as they grew, not so well.


C - Chore You Hate: I detest PLANNING meals. I'm actually okay once I know what we are having but if we don't, like Angie, I'd rather go clean my toilet, or anybody elses toilet for that matter!


D - Dad's Name: Robert


E - Essential Start Your Day Item: A cup of hot tea or coffee - if it is delayed, I get a terrible headache - I am caffeine dependent.


F - Favorite TV Show: What Not To Where on TLC on Friday night. It's the only show I watch regularly.


G - Gold or Silver: Used to be gold but now I'm starting to really like silver. In fact, I bought a silver chain a year ago and have had it around my neck ever since.


H - Height: Like Angie, I too am 5'2" with a 6'2" husband. As I am sure she can attest, getting nice photos of the two of us are rare since there is a foot difference in where our faces appear in the photo frame!


I - Instruments You Play(ed): Organ when I was little, viola freshman year of high school, and flute and piano as an adult. When I broke my wrist, I stopped the flute and haven't gone back to it, although one day I hope to.


J - Job Title: Wife, mom, and medical transcriptionist.


K - Kid(s): Two kids, one dog and a puppy arriving in May.


L - Living Arrangement: Sixty year old Cape Cod style home in suburban Pennsylvania.


M - Mom's Name: Dorothy.


N - Nicknames: Dot, Dots, Dottie, and my brothers tortured me by calling me Parfait Apple Crisp as a child. I have no clue why that name but it made me cry so they kept calling me it!


O - Overnight Hospital Stays Other Than Birth: Too many to enumerate - many knee surgeries back in the day when they actually allowed you to sleep in a hospital overnight the day of surgery.


P - Pet Peeve: Ignorant people/kids... and word verification is right up there, Angie!


Q - Quotes You Like: If there are no dogs in heaven, then I want to go where they go!


R - Right or Left-Handed: Right.


S - Siblings: One sister and two brothers. Love them dearly....


T - Time You Wake Up: 6:05 a.m. - when hubby pulls the cover off and says "time to git up"!


U - Ultimate Dessert: Warm apple anything with vanilla ice cream and pecans on top!!!!!! Yummmmmmmm.


V - Vegetable You Dislike: This is hard. I love just about everything but somewhat dislike brussel sprouts but would eat them if they were served.


W - Ways You Run Late: I am usually prompt for everything. Not late for much.


X - X-rays You've Had: Spine, knees, back (arthritis), and CT,MRI,MRA of my brain a couple of years ago because my left pupil decided to get sluggish and my eyelid started to droop. RESULT - sluggish pupil and drooping eyelid, no cause found!


Y - Yummy Food You Make: Mom's Famous Scrambled Eggs - at least that is what the kids call them.


Z - Zoo Animal: Lemurs and Orangutans


How'd I do??

I Heart Faces, Flashless

This week's theme was photos taken without a flash. I absolutely hate using my flash and will try manipulating the settings on my camera when I am in low light situations to get at least one photo to my liking. However, many a time in a panic I resort to the flash because I just cannot get a clear picture!



My adult entry was taken back in 2007 when I first purchased the camera and was just in the infant stages of knowing my camera and I took this photo outside on a covered porch.



My kid entry was taken about two weeks ago with the daylight from the west shining in our family room door. I love how the light hit is face.

Be sure to visit I Heart Faces to see how a lot of other people tackled the without-flash task.

Forgetting Troubles, If Only For A Few Hours

Word has it that our St. Patrick's Party was a smashing success! I guess I could tell it was when we had to push the last guests out the door at 2:05 AM - and some of them continued dancing to Sugarland (on a car radio of course) in our driveway before they drove off. I wonder what my neighbors thought? However, many of them were at the party earlier and had the sense to get home and in bed at a more reasonable hour. All of the guests live within a few block radius so it makes for a close and convenient night of entertainment for them.

If you look at the faces in these few photos, you see many smiles - smiles hiding lost jobs, failing health of elderly parents, and a child who is terminally ill with cancer. We all had a blast, we ate, we danced, and we played "name that tune and artist", which is always a hit! Everyone had an evening to enjoy and forget their troubles, even if only for a few hours.

Although I dragged my feet in agreeing to this party (my husband loves to celebrate this holiday), I'm glad I did - I think it gave many people a break from reality for a little while.

Sunday was spent recuperating from the party. Someone tell me how I could wake up with a pounding headache when I didn't even drink!! So not fair. I had hoped to maybe get out and take some photos but that didn't happen.

Puppies, etc.

One of these little furry faces will be finding her home with us in a few short weeks. At this point, I don't know which one it will be but I am beyond excitement.

How is one to choose when they are all so adorable???

It Doesn't Get Greener Than St. Pat!

This is my adult entry. I took this with my zoom lens at the parade this weekend. I never expected St. Patrick himself to show up! Head over to I Heart Faces for some really wonderful pictures in all shades of green!

I Heart Faces, It's A Green Theme!

In keeping with this theme, I am posting a photo of my son, whose eyes change color with whatever color dominates his immediate environment, and in this case it was green!

Speaking of green, be sure to check out I Heart Faces for lots of green entries this week!

More Than Halfway Through Life

I celebrated my 50th birthday this week. My hubby did it up big and made the day a wonderful one for me. I had to work but he took the day off and orchestrated some special moments for me. Here are some photos from the day showing the cake he baked, the special order M&Ms he got, the 50 roses he presented to me first thing in the morning along with a cup of my favorite coffee, the fifty wooden fish he had hammered into our front lawn to commemorate the day, and the Kuerig coffee maker he he gave me. It was a wonderful, wonderful day and the best present is yet to come. I won't be able to post a photo of my "big" present for about another month. Please stay tuned, though.

Skywatch Friday, Study In Clouds

All of these photos were taken last month on a car ride to visit my mother-in-law. Be sure to go and visit SkyWatch Friday and see all of the terrific photos of the skies from all around the globe.

Oh, and if you click on the top photo, you will see an airplane that had just taken off - I didn't notice this until I downloaded the photo to my computer!

Just For Fun

A friend shared this YouTube video. It is very upbeat and if it brightens just one person's day (like it did mine) it was worth posting it here! Enjoy. I'll be posting my stuff later.

I Heart Faces, The Creative Crop

This week's them is cropping, creatively. I hope my entry lives up to this task! Be sure to go and visit I Heart Faces to see how everybody tackled this theme - there are some really, really great entries!

The first photo is my SOOC shot and the second is after I ran the sepia action and increased the saturation and then ran three framing actions, using the color selector tool for the inner border of the frame to match the main color in the photo. These two cuties are brothers that live next door to us.

Interesting Hair-Do/First Vlog

Back in the summer of 2007, we spent a week in Colonial Williamsburg/Busch Gardens/Water Country USA!It was one of the best vacations ever - we truly had a blast.

One of the highlights was our visit with these colorful laurokeets. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed it...until it got a tad out of hand. It's reminiscent of a scene from that old Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds!

She was perfectly fine - just a bit stunned for a minute or two. They became transfixed on the rubber band in her hair and her ponytail!!

It was a wonderful time and she actually got another cup of nectar to feed some more of them.

Below is my first attempt at video blogging and my first use of You Tube. I look like a dork but here goes anyway...

"

Wordless Wednesday

Unless anybody wants to hear about my boring life the last couple of days, I think I'll just keep today's post to scenes from our winter wonderland. I took these on Monday as each member of my family performed the necessary chores that day..... even down to the dog.

I Heart Faces - Messy Monday

The theme this week is "Messy". I dug back into my pre-digital archives and came up with Mr. Icee Face - he loved his blue slushees back then! He still does but he is a far neater slushy slurper nowadays.

Be sure to go to I Heart Faces to see all of this week's wonderfully messy mugs!