tornado sunset

Tom is wondering how many sunsets I'm actually going to photograph.  Well they seem to be more amazing every night (and that is before the wine kicks in) and they change as they are happening, so I'm not sure I'm ever going to get over it.  These 2 photos were taken tonight, about 10 minutes apart with the same camera.

summer foodie

Drunken chicken with coconut almond green beans, Adriatic Fish Stew over Angel Hair Pasta, Swordfish with Mango Salsa, Louisiana Style Ribs with Baked Stuffed Potatoes.... these are just a few of the new dishes I've whipped up recently while enjoying the sunset view in my summer kitchen.  I'm inspired.  It's not that I have been afraid to try new dishes, it's really just about having the time to discover and decide what to try, and the time to gather the ingredients to have on hand, so I guess the little break from the normal non-stop full-time work flow has given me the chance to develop my culinary skills!  The joke of the house, as the kids know, is that I never really measure when I cook - which makes it hard for me to pass along any recipes and it's also an issue when I'm trying to re-create something I've cooked before, but it has always seemed too official and involved to actually measure and follow a recipe.  So when I want to try a new dish because I have to force myself to take out the kitchen 'measuring tools' and foray into a land of 'precise', at least for the first attempt.  But just as I do all my salad dressings 'by feel' with some of this and that, I will eventually do the same with my new menus items and I look forward to evolving them further! fun foodie times ahead right along with the most unusual, beautiful (and sometimes even phallic) sunsets...

eclc farewell

My 2 years as President of the PTO of ECLC is over.  Just like that.  Well I can say that now, but it was an action-packed gig and when I took it on, it's good that I didn't realize exactly what I was getting into otherwise I might have headed for the hills to never return.  It started off with revamping an organization that was run haphazardly by woman who, after she resigned and I stepped up to the challenge, decided that she wanted the position back and began to quietly torment me.  Anyway, my only regret is that I was not able to get involved with this school sooner because it was an amazing journey getting to know so many special people, from parents to teachers to the many awesome kids!  At the last student event, the Walk-A-Thon, I videotaped and decided to invest many hours (literally) in editing it so that I would have a video-memory of the place and people who occupied the past 11 years of Jonathan's life!  His graduation last week was incredible.  All the students made short speeches and when his turn came, he got so choked up he could not even speak, and there went the entire family (and probably most of the audience) in tears!  But he made it thru to the end where he then 'ad-libbed' his final words "I love you ECLC".  Enough said....  sniffle sniffle....

Walk-a-Thon Video  (password:  ECLC)

muther-trucker

You've seen the U-HAUL trucks on the road advertising $19.95 per day - an UNBELIEVABLE DEAL right???  Exactly.  We were able to pick up the truck in Chatham and drop it off down in Manahawkin so that we could bring some temporary furniture until our new furniture arrives, and we purchased a new grill that we needed to transport, so it seemed like a good idea.... until Tommy was not available to help us load it into the truck.  After picking up the beast myself in a pouring rainstorm, I spied 2 able-bodied college boys across the street about to head somewhere in a jeep and thankfully they were not in a mad rush and willing to lend a hand.  Will and Gio got the job done and I was so appreciative that I am putting it in writing - "I will help them both find jobs when they graduate!"  I should mention that thanks to our neighbor Brad, Tommy got a foot in the door for an interview and was just offered a job at Ernst & Young after spending exactly 2 years at Mack-Cali, so he is on his way into the big apple and the beginning of a new chapter!  ok, back to the U-Haul - we trucked on down to LBI and I was a slow-muther-trucker because it was like driving a house with everything bouncing around in it or so it seemed.  Jonathan rode in the truck with me, and Tom following with Juli.  Jonny was very amused and even pleasant, but of course halfway down announced his state of hunger so we found ourselves in the fast-food drive thru where I OF COURSE had to announce to the teenager on the microphone that I was a muther-trucker, the joke that keeps on joking... :) yes, I was beating it to death. When I told Juli I did that, she was very happy she was not driving with me.  Express lane to the end of the story - with the help of the plumber and our new neighbor, we unloaded the truck and spent our first weekend in our new home on the bay, and today, with her driver's license only 2 weeks old, the junior muther-trucker drove the big beast to drop it off!  (That's my girl)  Grand total for the U-Haul upon return - a mere $199.69. That's when I realized that the advertisement simply had the decimal point in the wrong place.  

 

baby on board...alone!

Almost a year ago, my first blog posting was inspired by my daughter getting her driver's permit.  Time flies.... today was the big day - her 17th birthday and road test!  Let's just say that Tom and I were prepared to head somewhere far away for the weekend if she didn't pass.  Her instructor arrived 10 minutes late for her refresher lesson this morning and she was in a spin, ready to blame his lateness if she didn't pass the test.  He was certainly a character - Coach Kennedy - a basketball coach from somewhere in Newark whose diction was worse than Tommy's.  But I guess he coached her well enough on the road because she passed the test and when I got the news, I realized that I may have been holding my breath.  She was bursting out of her own skin with excitement when she got home. Then came the moment when she drove out of the driveway on her own, of course with me there with my camera, and after the jeep headed down the road on this beautiful sunny day, I stood there and cried.  Happy for her and her new found freedom, but for me, it seemed like it was just a few months ago that I brought her home from the hospital and invited everyone including the mailman in to have a look at my perfect baby girl!  Lesson learned - don't blink!

say no to yo

I tried it at last.  After hearing all the buzz about 'hot yoga', and after several non-embracing tries at regular yoga, I thought the 'hot' version just might do the trick.  Adding in the sauna factor which I love, would create the sweating factor which is what my brain connects with working out, I would finally see what everyone is so jazzed up about.  So I picked today because it was supposed to be rainy so I thought it would be a good alternative to running or the gym.  I went to 'THEEE place' that is supposed to be all the rage for bikram yoga which was a solid 20 minute drive from home and when I pulled up to the fabulous white office building on what turned out to be a GORGEOUS sunny day, I thought "ok, this might be nice" since the building had lots of windows and looked pretty cheerful.  I soon realized the entrance was 'around back' and the studio was in the basement of the building.  That should have been the first sign for me to head back into the sun and get my butt outta there and onto my bike, but no, when I decide to do something, I have conviction.  So down to the dungeon I went, leaving the sunshine behind and walking into the windowless land of zen.  The 'aroma' should have been the next clue.  There is no describing it, but if you were to blend together the smell of burning incense with the smell of sweaty gym socks, you might get close and still I kept on going.  I felt less-than-welcome by the anorexic girl who arrived before me wearing tiny little shorts and a sports bra, and the 'hostess' greeted me with a mellow welcome.  The 'locker room' was about 5' X 5' and this included the 3 showers with yukky looking shower curtains - so my next thought was "I'm glad I brought the extra towel to sit my sweaty ass on for the car ride home", because there was NO WAY I was taking a shower at that place.  When I entered the dark studio, the smell got worse than ever due to the heat and it occurred to me that I might vomit (that would not help the smell in there), but I thought I would keep the focus and get through it because there must be "something special" about this whole thing.  I will cut to the chase.  I was not meant to fold myself in half, or twist myself into positions I cannot pronounce.  When I was a small and flexible little girl, I could not touch my toes, so I'm pretty sure there is no way I'm getting close to them half a century later no matter how many classes I take.  I know that the point was to focus on the breathing and the poses and to be in the moment, but it was so terrible that I could not keep my mind on it for more than 5 seconds at a time and I stuck with it for 90 minutes!  The fact that there was no clock in the room was like further torture because I had no grasp on when it would end.  oh dear.  I am not going to say that yoga is not great for those who love it, and it certainly is not an easy workout, so I give you all credit for being strong, limber and incredible - it was truly impressive to watch the expert yogis in that room.  But for me, complete and intense focus comes when I'm moving in a different way - running or biking or doing any class or boot camp.  That is when I am solidly on the task at hand, loving it and yes, loving the pain of it.  But I will never love the pain of yoga and as much as I read about it and try to embrace it, I have to face the simple fact that at this point in my life, it's a no-go for yoga.

feelin' lucky

Sometimes things just fall into place and it's like instant stress relief.  After closing on the new bay house 2 weeks ago and closing on the sale of the surf city house today, we could never have planned the timing better and it's an emotional 'happy sad happy sad' thing.  It was so hard to leave the 'old' house, no matter how good the new one is, because the memories are irreplaceable.  Watching my beach babies grow up there, getting entrenched in 'the block' with all the special people on it, and knowing all the sweat and effort Tom put into it to make it our little 'zen place' just made it soooo hard to say goodbye.  When we had our family moving day with the kids all helping, we were each a little emotional in our own private way, Tommy and Juli especially, Jonathan surprisingly not so much, though he tends to be more emotional when it comes to people vs places or things.  Then on my last trip down there,  I left a card and some little surprises for the new owners, and I just cried my eyes out trying to convey in writing how much good karma the house has in it. (tearing up again as I type this).  But on we go to the next chapter in our incredible new haven.  Hard to believe that we will enjoy the sunset EVERY EVENING right out our bay windows or strolling out on our deck or sitting in the sand on our little private bay beach.  How did I get so lucky????  Then this past weekend we celebrated my mom's 75th birthday which was such a happy day for her with just our immediate family together for brunch.  She didn't want a surprise party, which I can totally relate to, but last weekend we blew her mind with a little 'guest room make-over' while she was away on vacation.  She came home and was  shocked to find a new queen size bed, complete with bedding, side tables, lamps, a wall hanging and a special dressmakers mannequin in the room and on the day of her party, we presented her with some of her old dress sketches which we had matted and framed to complete the room.  Even the 'blue monster' (aka ugly unwelcome computer cabinet) that needed to find its graceful exit is leaving the zone this week so the room will be lovely at last.  And as if that is not enough, even work has brought me joy today.  Though it started off rocky as I dropped my phone in the toilet before heading out, I dove in after it and the i5 is truly a prize and worked like a charm after the little dip in the pee.  Sigh of relief and off I went (after washing my hands, and yes, gave the phone a quick rinse too!) to shoot in Fort Lauderdale with pretty young models for a temporary tattoo commercial and I marveled at how much they ate for lunch - big sandwiches, mac and cheese and giant chocolate chip cookies, and then later, cold pizza, potato chips and chocolate!.. while prancing around all day in itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikinis showing off the tattoos all over their perfect little bodies.  That might sound depressing to some, but I truly enjoyed their youth, beauty and spunky personalities without resentment.  One of the models had the most unfiltered responses to everything all day which was so funny but is hard to recap - you had to be there.  Midday I enjoyed a wild ride in crazy eddies batmobile which was right up my alley being a coaster fanatic - I had a momentary feeling of being on Kingda Ka but then realized I was on a local florida road.  oh my.  enough said.  Following the mostly enjoyable shoot, I enjoyed a long run along the beach path at dusk as I watched the full moon appear over the beach... came back to the rock star W Hotel to check out the other elements of it that I hadn't yet seen (pool, gym, restaurants, etc) and enjoyed dinner in my room with my beach view (awesome) and I'm looking forward to waking up to see the sun rise over the beach from my balcony - yes, I promise I'm gonna get up for it - and then spend a few hours poolside before heading to the airport.  I'm hoping for a clear day, but if not, oh well.  It doesn't really get this good with so many happy things in a row too often, so I will consider it my lucky few days and not miss appreciating it with or without the good weather tomorrow.  The sun has pretty much been shining spiritually, so that is good fortune enough for me.  Photos of it all below....

Goodbye Surf City :(

Hello Harvey Cedars!  :)

Backyard paradise

New neighbors

Killer sunset

Happy family

Surprise guest room decor

Seamstress's corner

Tattoos and bikinis

Krazy Kayla

Yes, they do eat.... A LOT!

Batmobile

W Hotel room

There's an alligator on my bed!

View from my room

Breathtaking balcony

durbo nyc

Today is the official 1st anniversary of muthership, so it's fitting that I take the time to write about the big celebration bash, which was the next phase of the durbo party - taking it to manhattan and adding DJ Sharri, bartender Kelly, coat check Georgette, security guards Bob and Steve, catering organized by Debbie from Between the Bread, food server Katie and muthership-hand-stamp delivered by Zaineb upon arrival to get into "the club".  With different guests than all my previous parties, this was a first time for almost everyone and I don't know if they were ready for what unfolded.  It started off nicely with some socializing, cocktails and appetizers, and then the disco ball lit the loft, the music kicked up and there was no looking back.  We danced.  We durbo'd.  We brought down the muthership.  Thanks to all the awesome dancers that totally embraced it and made it great!  Check out photos below and yes, I danced all night in those crazy shoes...

a little surprise

I came home from work tonight to find a few packages at the door - not unusual since I shop on-line for all the little things I don't have a chance to hunt down (the nice fekkai shampoo, or the special thymes body lotion), but one box was marked from my sister-in-law and it's not my birthday and I don't think she'd be sending me a valentine's gift.  So how completely excited was I when I opened it up to find the very scarf I accidentally sold to a stranger in a thrift shop a few weeks ago!!  Well ok, it wasn't 'the very one' because I'm pretty sure that person is still enjoying it, but she bought me another one and the same and I am oh-so-grateful.  Such a simple gesture can just be the icing on the cake to an already pretty good day.  (insert big smile here)




 

pump up the pain

I was thinking about how we take for granted having no pain day-to-day for the most part.  I realize that not every young or middle-aged person is completely pain-free, but for the most part, we move and shake pretty easily until we get up there in years. Older people clearly look like every step takes a major effort, like my father trying to tackle the bleachers at Jonathan's basketball games.  I cringe when I watch.  So then I have to wonder, why the heck do I inflict pain on myself willingly by taking the grueling power-sculpt class, or boot camp session or boxing workout and pushing myself to the limits?  And it's not enough that it hurts during the class itself, it really does, but for the following 2 days, every single step is wrought with pure pain and muscle ache!!  I must be trying to punish myself for something, but I can't think of why I would want to do this do myself willingly when only a few days earlier, I was hustling along happy as a pain-free clam.  I mean if I can see the future, I know that going up steps will someday hurt without me doing an exercise class the day before, so I surely don't need cause myself pain by choice now, right?  But as I near the end of the day 2 aftermath of the most recent muscle-shock class, I know that by tomorrow I will forget the hurt and in a few days the new some-cool-name class will draw me in because it sounds like such a great way to stay in shape and ouch, "no pain no gain" - the vicious cycle continues...

my music videos

Yes, it's true, I can actually remember when portable cassette players, CD players and walkmans  first came into existence and I was an early adopter, wearing headphones for running, exercising and of course, commuting.  It was amazing how the ordinary routine suddenly became a music video and MTV became HTV as I had my own videos playing any time I looked around!  The music truly changed my view of everything, from how I felt while I ran with the driving beat of the music pushing me along, to the mundane and usually annoying bus or subway ride that suddenly became more relaxing and groovy with the tunes playing.  Years later, I still enjoy running and riding the subway with my headphones on for that very same reason, but it has gotten even better because now as my inner music video plays out, I often see other people with their headphones on moving to their own beat and the video becomes more realistic as if there are now dancers in the scene!  So awesome.  As I bop along to my beat, I don't really care if I look like a fool (the good part about being older) because all I want to do is dance... 

confetti angel

No mater what teams are playing, super bowl is the one sporting even that gets my attention.  I cook 'super-bowl-esque' food, usually involving chicken wings but this year it was thin sliced steak with veggies.  I sit with the family and I watch the whole game.  Of course I watch all the commercials and it's one of the few times that I look at facebook to see all the comments.  This year, I can't even imagine what it must be like for poor mama Harbaugh and let's not even think about their next family gathering!   Beyonce ROCKED the halftime show and prompted me to instagram an old photo of myself with her and the destiny's child crew - I couldn't resist a little throwback photo :)  The power outage had me feeling sorry for the poor producer who is probably not going to sleep for weeks.   But my favorite moment of the night - during the ending celebration, one of the Ravens players made a confetti angel on the field!!  

#beyonce  #destinyschild #superbowl 

scarf search

You never know when a simple gift is going to end up being the 'wardrobe go-to item' and that is how it was with the scarf I received this Christmas from my sister-in-law.   It instantly became a staple in my wardrobe.  I wore it almost every day because it seemed to go with my vibe (as she told me when she gave it to me) and it was like wearing a piece of art.  Over a week ago, Tom, Juli and I decided to check out some of the 'second hand' stores that are very popular around here.  There are two -  both sell furniture and one of them happens to be also like a clothing thrift shop.  The place is a bit of chaos with everything packed in really tight and on a Saturday, it gets a lot of people traffic rifling thru the racks.  So I was wearing my coat and favorite scarf and I was trying to squeeze my way closer to take a picture of a lamp I was interested in, and I felt like I was going to self-combust (hot flash?) so I took off the scarf for a minute and put it down on a dresser while I took the picture.  I'm sure anyone can guess what happened - I left the store shortly thereafter and forgot to pick up the scarf.  The place NOT to leave behind something you really like is a THRIFT SHOP because after realizing my error and going to back to get it, I found that they sold it to someone lucky lady who is now the owner of my most special christmas gift and she probably got it for a song.  I have searched the web and found one on Etsy, but it seems to have been sold.  I finally decided to reach out to my sis-in-law to find out where she bought it so I could go get it again!  Now I wonder if I want it back so badly just because I can't have it, or was it really that amazing? (see photo to the left) Not quite sure, but the 'tree branch scarf search mission' continues....