As promised, some pictures!

So here are some pictures of the beautiful couple! See how many you can recognize!

Waiting for pictures

Oh my, Matthew aka Matt is married! I am so excited I can't stand it! And, in case that isn't enough, they're pregnant! Wow, I'm going to be a grandma! What fun. Will post more with pictures as soon as I get them!

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

I have been talking about how bad our cell service is at our house for years! Of course, no one in the neighborhood can complain too much since we were one of the first groups to vote down a tower! Who knew that cell phones would be the wave of the future and we had shot ourselves in the foot! Today I went to Costco to find out what kind of special deals they could provide for one of their most loyal members. Well, it seems that you can get a free car charger and headset from them...not bad. Now the big issue, which provider to use. More and more people I know are using Verizon, they seem to be very satisfied, unless you count the ones that say it used to be good but the service is not good anymore...they need more towers, especially in north Stamford! (Yes, that's where we live!) We currently have ATT and that is better than Cingular was, but we don't have to worry about Cingular anymore, ATT gobbled them up! I decided I would try Verizon, I have 30 days to change my mind with no obligation. But what if an upgraded phone on ATT gets better service...and ATT has a pink phone, however, the Verizon phone has a larger key pad! What to do! The only decision I could come up with was to try both and see which works best most of the time! So, that's what I have done; can't tell which is better yet, will make a decision by Sunday!

And the Winner is...

Noah Stewart! Today we went to Little Italy in Manhattan to witness the Mario Lanza vocal competition. It was wonderful. There were 8 tenors competing and some of them were so very talented! The music was great, the day was beautiful and a good time was had by all! We were standing in the front with our friends so there was lots of opportunity to make eye contact with the performers! The host was someone named Dominick who also did some performing...Very fun! We had lunch before hand at one of the many yummy restaurants and after the competition who could walk away without a gelato! The flavors were outstanding, so very creamy and delicious!

A Little Knowledge is Dangerous

I have to admit, I am just about convinced that Mac is the way to go! The fact that there is no ready help available from Microsoft other than that damn dancing paper clip, makes me think there must be a better/easier way! I cannot believe that I have spent hours as well as at least 50 pages of labels trying to print out the labels for Matt and Rachel's celebration here in Stamford! I used the program for the Save The Date cards...no problem. This time it was an utter nightmare! First I spent time with Amy with her walking me through the process only to find out that the program was reprinting some labels and not including others! My friend Hillary came over after Mah Jongg today to walk me trough it. Would you believe it took both of us and another 6 or so wasted pages of labels to get it to happen! So, maybe having someone do calligraphy might have been an answer! Considering the money I spent on wasted labels I would have been able to afford at least 10 hand done labels! So, the lesson to be learned here...don't think because you have done something once on the computer it will be easy the second time. What I better do is put an announcement on a local Yahoo site telling of my talent before I forget how to do it again!

Strong Women

I'm sitting here thinking about the women I know and their strength of character. What brought this to mind was reading Amy's blog and reading her thoughts about Christina Applegate. At first I thought, yes, Christina is strong because she's an actress; perhaps she is just acting. Then I started to think of the conversations I have had over the past few weeks with people, women, who are going through extraordinary experiences. Barbara, a long lost friend from growing up, lost her husband a few weeks ago; he wasn't in great health but he certainly wasn't sick enough to suspect that he would die. Then there is Linda, her daughter was a dog walker, 33 years old, lived in San Francisco. Robyn took some dogs for a walk, fell down/passed out, several hours later, dead. Robyn practiced yoga, ate healthy, who would think this would happen. Linda is picking up the pieces, going back to her yoga and living her life. Marcia, has nursed her husband through cancer for the past year. Jeffrey had just retired and their plan was to do some traveling; within months he was diagnosed with cancer. Marcia is a community activist, she is picking up the pieces and continuing her life. How do these people do it? When I spoke to Barbara today she summed it all up..."Life is not easy; this is what its about, now I have to go through this alone and come out the other side. I know it will be tough but I have to do it myself, you can't help me." Wow, talk about strong! In my heart of hearts I pray I will never have to go through these things but who am I kidding...this IS life and you've got to suck it up and go on with it or you can spend the rest of your life in your bed with the covers over your head!

Interesting Summer Salads

Well, its that time of year when the produce is so succulent you don't know what to eat first! I have been doing some different additions to the dinner salads that have been wonderful. First, fresh figs seem to be in season. I have added them with goat cheese to the salad along with fresh herbs: basil, tarragon, thyme and drizzled with a bit of raspberry vinegar! Very yummy! Then I remembered last year I made a salad of watermellon, goat cheese and fresh basil with a little balsamic vinegar delicious! Have also been into summer squash. I have been sauteing onions in a little olive oil adding the squash, cookling until tender. Than add fresh basil or thyme. To die for! Anyway, those are the food thoughts of the day! More to come!