Red Letter Days

There's a sweet giveaway at Skip to my Lou from Red Letter Words. Go and check it out. Her work is fabulous and so diverse, there is somehting for EVERYONE!

Good Luck!

Sweet Land of Liberty

This morning my mom called and asked what we were doing today, I told her nothing was planned and she said, "Let's go to the Statue of Liberty." So an hour and a half later we were on the road to the Statue. We got lunch to picnic with, drinks, and camera all ready for our big day.

We drove to the ferry and got our adventure going. We were not able to go into the monument because we did not know you had to made reservations for that weeks in advance. Disappointed but still enjoying the fabulous view and weather we vowed to come back another day and then we would go in the monument.

We also got to see the old railway terminals of New Jersey where our ferry departed from in Jersey City.

NYC view from ferry

Sam & The Statue

Kids on the Ferry

We're standing infront of The Statue

Ahh, always have to get Souveniers

We had a great day and tomorrow adventure entails the Museum of Natural History with Great Grandma! Frog exhibit her we come!

Mission Accomplished

We have lived in our house for about 8 months. Before we moved in we were living with my parents, who by the way live three streets away from us, and we had the place painted before we moved in. We found guys who did it on the side as it was a big job (i.e. every room needed to be painted and my husband does not paint). However, as nice as Luis and his crew were they failed to do a few little things. That's okay with me considering our daily rate and I don't mind painting.

However, the places that need the paint are in MY ROOM!

So, today I got sick of seeing my closet door, my husband's closet door and the door to our bedroom not painted. It is very hard to tell they are not painted since it is in the white family but not the sharp, crisp, semi-gloss white of ALL my trim. Today, I painted the doors. I am much happier. You see that hallway in my bedroom is long and it doesn't always appear to have a problem, but I knew and every day it irked me. You know that feeling? So it is done. Mind you have another coat to do but it looks great and if it took me another 8 months to do I wouldn't care. But it won't, I will do it this week or next.

This actually made me realize that I need to paint the door going from our kitchen to the basement. Again, it is in a spot where the light hides the mis-step but I now Know it exists. That will be painted too, the next time the paint comes out.

And, finally, Maya came home with a fabric sample from my dad's house that grandma gave her and I need to have it for my family room. How I will find it's name now is beyond me but I am on a mission.

Have a great night!

Zizette

Peace and Quiet

Ahh, do you hear that? Nothing, pure silence except for the clicking of my keyboard keys. Why did I not think of this sooner? Sam went to a friend's house, my mom just picked up Maya. No, mmmaaaaaa, mmmaaaammmmeeee, she hit me, he bit me, get me a drink, can I have cookies? Pure silence.

I love my kids, I really do. In a past life I used to want to be a stay at home mom, cooking, baking, doing all those wonderful things stay at home moms do. I lasted about a year and a half. Not bad. I had to go back to work to get our family benefits, but that was okay. It actually sent me straight to where I am now, fulfilling some sort of prophecy I feel I am destined to fill. (Should I have done it 18 years ago - yes but I digress).

I love all the things about staying home, I really do. I think it was more for me when my children were little, babies. I love those stages. I do like their stages now. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and I love seeing them grow but the fighting - UGH!!! Please make them stop.

And they are set on go at 7 am. Maya would probably sleep in if Sam wasn't talking and rolling all over her and Sam would sleep in on days if she wasn't doing that to him. Day three after camp ended I wanted to know when school starts, for the record, not until September 8th.

Please, don't hate me or think of me bad.

I like to keep busy. I am a working mom (well, not anymore but will be a student teacher for 12 weeks), a student (working on that Masters degree to be finished in December), a wife (heck we all know that sometimes that is like having another child - LOL), a person, and the chair of my school's largest fundraiser that takes me most of the year to plan. I am involved. I do my best work when busy. Most days I love who I am or who I am becoming.

This is why I need the silence. Even for a few moments, to let me zone out. I have friends who feel the same way. They love their kids, want to be with them but let's face it, summer is LOOOOOOOOONG. I think we all benefit from our time together and our time apart. I will miss seeing my kids all day (at camp I got to see them a lot) but I will also be glad to see them growing on their own with their friends at school.

So, please don't hate me for enjoying the silence. The only problem with it is I have run out of wine.

When all else fails, eat chocolate

I have been down lately for various reasons and today I decided I needed something sweet. Something chocolate. Now my kiddies have been asking for me to make chocolate chip cookies but I needed something, more. Something with lots of CHOCOLATE. So, me and Maya made SUPER FUDGEY Brownies!! Oh, how I love the smell as they are cooking, cooling and entering my mouth. I made, once last year, a Peanut Butter Fudge Brownie. Can you say HEAVEN? I brought them to work and the women were literally DYING for them. Mind you, I made EVERYTHING from SCRATCH! Suzy homemaker I was on that project. And, I'd do it again they were that good. I also know how to make a mean fudge.

Yummy Fudge

Seven Layer Cake, Can you say Delish?

Chocolate Fountain but who I am I kidding I would not be dipping fruit into that one. Last week at the camp party I dipped Rice Krispie Treats - Yummy!

Those Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies I told you about.

In any case, the brownies were/are delicious and I plan on going back for the other half of the one I started before.

Bon Appetit!

Where's the Help?

Yesterday I was talking with a friend and the conversation was about money. I am not talking about getting by or making ends meet I am talking about insane amounts of money as a year as your salary. She knows someone who on a few occasions has made upward of $80 million a year. She asked what do you do with that money? He replied buy another house, a plane perhaps, vacations. So she said she couldn't fathom what to do with the money and then said, "well, yeah I could. I would have help." She means help or people to do the work. A cleaning lady, a driver, someone to give her lessons, etc. I agreed. I would want help too and an island or a house on an island in the Tahitian Islands. Did you know you could live there for three months at a clip without having citizenship? I know I checked it out on my honeymoon. This is of course unless you did want to become a citizen then it has to be in a trade that they have (like a hotel or something like that). See I told I asked.

Be on this a lot

I'd need to vacation here

I would definitely have one of these

I think if I had that kind of money, yearly I would be silly with myself. I would want house help, Decorating help - after all I would be able to get ANYTHING I wanted, driving help - you know the kids need to be shuffled EVERY WHERE, shopping help - not that I need help with shopping but it would be nice to have someone there with me, someone to give me tennis lessons - I do want to play again, then I would like vacation homes, a fun car and lots of vacations to places I have never been. This help would allow me to be with my kids more, spend time with my husband and none of the worries associated with too little or not enough money.

What would you want if you had crazy money? What would you do? Where would you go?

Life is an adventure

You know Life is one big adventure. Today I did some errands to fix the mess that is presently going on in my life, which eventually figure itself out but none the less I am working on it. So I had seen a friend on the way out and asked if she would be up for some Mojitos later on. She is always up for that, she says give her a call.

So after returning I am playing around a decide to give my friend a call and have some Mojitos, she says bring the kids over to swim. They live behind us. I drive over to mom's to cut some fresh mint(gotta have fresh mint) and then we go over, Did I say they live behind us?

The hubby is home and asks where my hubby is and I say I will text him. My husband waves from our yard when he gets home. A few minutes later he pops over the fence. A while later we come home. The kiddies and I are getting ready to sleep and my hubby realizes he cannot find his phone. Now I am on a search to find the phone, we look all around and nothing.

I ask my hubby if he thinks that he lost the phone while hopping the fence. He doesn't think so but we go outside and me, phone in hand, calls his cell, in the pachysandra he hears ringing. Can you believe it? With the secadas, the crickets and whatever else is out there we hear funky music. Did I mention that we have no light out there? So he is in the pachysandra and probably poison ivy hunting for his phone. AND each time the phone rings too much it goes to voice mail so the ringing stops and I have to call again.

Finally he finds it. YAy! He always talks to me about making sure I put stuff away in the same place. See I am not so bad, I may have some clutter but I know where EVERYTHING is.

Nothing was truly funnier than seeing him hunt in the dark for his cell phone. I'm sorry that was bad. Please forgive me :)

Zizette

Double Giveaways!!

Dawn over at Life At Eventually Cottage is having an extra special giveaway - a DOUBLE GIVEAWAY, go on and check it out!

Fabulous prizes - You'll love her site!

Zizette

To the Beach

That's where I am headed. After a nice summer crafting at camp it is time to relax with my kiddies and sister.

How Fabulous could it be to being going here?

A nice walk on the beach in the early morning or evening, those are my favorites

Hopefully I can keep this one in mind for my dreams

A few years ago while at the beach my husband said, "you really love the beach." I replied yes and then it occurred to me, he likes the lake better. He is "granola" or shall we say more out-doorsy than myself. While I live in NY and have lived in San Diego I prefer to live on the East Coast but LOOOOOOOOVVVVVE the beach. I love the smell of the ocean, the salty water, the sand between my toes, running it through my fingers, the shells, back in the day the body surfing, I just love it.

So we concluded that he is lake and I am beach. It's okay to be that way. He is not opposed to the beach and I am not to the lake. It works. My children love both and that's nice too. While the waves are supposed to be crazy due to the hurricane south of us, we will have fun. Hopefully we come back with some nice shells and maybe even some cool driftwood.

Have an awesome weekend, I am pondering some ideas for my 100th post coming up soon..

Zizette

Make you Stronger

I believe the saying goes:

That which doesn't kill you will make you stronger

- unknown author

I am totally into believing this these days. I think there have been other days that I have felt this but particularly these past few days or even the past week I have felt this way.

I am having some issues at work and hopefully I will be able to continue the work I love to do and feel that I am destined to do. My last post I talked of mistakes and regrets and I have made some mistakes and feel that I should not have to pay for them now after 20 some odd years later.

Whatever turns out of this situation I know it will make me stronger, I will be a stronger person, educator and mother.

I also feel that sometimes we need to learn these things to make us stronger. This also made me think of the strong women I have known in my life.

My grandma, I do not have a picture of her on my computer, I will have to try and get one of her scanned and then put on here. She grew up during the Great Depression, she was recommended to be put in a home when she was younger because they thought she had had Polio when it was a knee injury from falling out of a stroller and she ran a successful insurance business with her husband for 40+ years.

She is totally my inspiration. I love her and miss her everyday.

My mom, she went to a foreign country at 20 and met the man of her dreams (or so she thought at the time) and traveled with her friend. I wish I could have done that back then too. To have the courage to leave home like that and go so far away, she is strong.

My birthmother, she gave me up which I am sure is the hardest thing to do with your own child. It is a completely selfless act. While now I do not have a relationship with her, I do know she regrets what she did because she did not want to give me up but still to have done and live through that pain, makes her strong in my eyes.

For all those other women out there who have persevered through think and thin, good and bad, and whatever else may come their way I appreciate you. You make us stronger, make our daughters stronger and lead a fine example for the future.

Who do you think is a strong woman or who do you know to be a strong woman in your life?

Regrets

I was reading a post form a very wise woman over at Blondie in SC she talked about regrets and mistakes and it really hit home for me on a day I felt I had regrets and mistakes. I could think of a few for both and decided to do my post.

I have always felt that I did not regret the things I done in my life because they taught me a lesson. While they may not have been wise choices, something I would do again or things I was happy with I learned something.

Things that I regret are not having a better relationship with my brother before he died, not really knowing him for who he was becoming. I can't change that in any way and that is a huge regret for me.

Not making amends with my cousin before she died. There was not fight or anything like that we just "lost touch."

Running away with my bad boy boyfriend at 20 years old, mistake, do I regret it? No,it was something young a foolish I did and taught me a lot about myself.

Not trying as hard in school when I went to college 23 years ago, regret because now I am paying the price.

Not having a better understanding on my birth-mother to have a better relationship with her, regret.

These things make us grow. Who we are is because of our accomplishments, failures, mistakes and regrets.

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about those who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it."

~ author unknown~

I thank you Blondie from another Blondie for letting me see the light on this dark day for me. Everything, even the bad stuff, happens for a reason. I guess my venture will help me to appreciate those who will work for me in the future.

Zizette

One Proud Mama

Future Sailors

Yeah, that's me. I am always proud of my children but yesterday we took a trip up to the lake with some of our friends. Our boat had decided it had enough last weekend with the family last weekend so it was in repair, however, my in laws have VERY nice friends who lent us their boat for the day (YAY!!!). It was the first time our friends were coming up so we wanted to have a nice time.

The weather cooperated and it was a GORGEOUS day! The men went up earlier that the ladies since the younger ones had a party.

The big boys were tubing when we got there and as we were driving around the lake we saw a tube with some kids and thought, "are those our boys?" We could see for sure but when we pulled into the house, my husband said that the boys were out tubing with my brother in law.

We did the usual of getting ready and the little ones tubing and even the husbands tubing (I'll have to get those pictures from my friend!).

All week my Sam kept saying he wanted to water ski and last year he made a great attempt but didn't get up all the way. He insisted that he was going this year and he needed gloves so his hands did not slip. Well, my sister in law Emily started him off by the dock and he got up! He was skiing! My husband and I were on the boat, me taking pictures and Ken holding the line (my brother in law Steve was driving the boat since he is best at it and teaching the kids to ski). My in laws stood on the dock watching. Sam did a great job. Eventually he went down and when he did he wanted to try it again without help (considering he was in the middle of the lake and Emily was not around). He got up right away!

Taking Off

Steady riding

Keeping it real!

My husband is SO PROUD. He is a skier and I am not, I have tried but this old body cannot do it. I'll be a spectator. I am so proud that he did it. He wanted it so bad and it worked out amazingly. Now I know my life at the lake is going to be so different because now he is going to want to ski ALL THE TIME!

My niece and nephew are huge skiers, so now we have another in the bunch. Grandpa better get that boat fixed soon Sam wants to go up again!

I've Been Tagged!

by my lovely friend Nancy, she wants to know 6 things about me. I thought I got off easy when I was not tagged by her earlier in the week. So, here goes.....

1. I, as Nancy, used to play the flute too in elementary and Jr. High (don't anymore but have thought about taking it back up as a hobby).

2. I used to work for a big wedding show coordinator in NYC, I got to see all the couture dresses and accessories of your dreams and do 2 shows a year. I was living the Fabulous Life!

3. I have been flying since I was three days old, did twice yearly trips back and forth between NYC and San Diego for a dozen or so years and had no issues. Now I am terrified of flying. I have this fear all of a sudden.

4. I have always wanted 3 children ( I have 2).

5. I am a control freak, but in a good way. I like things done my way and need to let others do more (a work in progress).

6. I love snuggling with my children as my parents did with me. I love to watch them sleep.

That's it, so who's next? I'll spare you but maybe you could share a few tidbits about yourself.

Zizette

Collector of stuff

I have a collector living in my house. A collector of all things. My sweet Maya collects EVERYTHING, and I do mean EVERYTHING. She puts everything in little bags, big bags, boxes, drawers, you name it.

My children are attending camp this summer and I work there so that they can attend camp at a reduced cost. It happens to be the camp I attended as a child so it is nice to be back at a place that I loved (and made my best friend for life at).

A few days ago, or maybe even a few weeks ago at this point, Maya's counselor (who is a friend's sister in law working at the camp) says, "Maya collects stuff, I mean, she is always stopping along the way for a bead, some lanyard, a sticker." I said, "Yeah, I know. She does that with everything, we have bags of stuff all over of her "treasures" but that is her." The counselor then said, "After a while of her doing this I realized it is who she is." And that is true.

Hopefully I can work on her skills and take her to the flea market and Estate sales with me someday.

My Blog Friend(s)

I am meeting new wonderful women through blogging. One person in particular I have met is Nancy , I have always felt a nice connection with her. Well, last week was her birthday and I kindly wished her a happy birthday, as I would any of my dear friends, old and new, real or out in blog world. She was SO KIND to send me a gift for acknowledging her birthday, what a woman she is. I got my gift yesterday and it was so sweet. She sent me a lovely lily candle AND a Willow Tree figurine. It means or represents Friendship.

Thank you Nancy for the lovely thoughtful gift you sent me and thank you my blog-world friends for adding to my life such wonderful happiness and friendship.

XOXO

Zizette

Working away..

I have been spending my free time at work making jewelry... Lots of rings.... Lots of fun...

I'll keep you posted....

Broken Heart

Three years ago I was called by my mother in California to inform me that my beloved cousin took passed away.  She took her own life.  Caryn was the older sister I never had.  As cousins we grew up very close.  We spent many hours together as we grew up in the same building in Brooklyn, NY and at our grandparent's lake house in the Catskills.  So when she passed I was particularly devastated. It was like losing a sibling, and I had done that 5 years before that.  This time I was more lucid.  I was not in a post-partum state of mind, I was fully aware of what lie ahead.  I also could not make the trip out west to say goodbye.

It was also particularly hard that at the time of her death that she and I were not talking.  Not that we were fighting but we weren't in touch.  We did that.  She would be busy, I would be busy.  That is a regret I have.  I had been thinking for about a week or two before she died that I wanted to talk to her, catch up, make amends for not being close, knowing her children better, knowing what was going on in her life.  Those are regrets I can never make up.  I have recently friended her oldest child on Facebook and I see her in him so much I want to cry.  I miss her, I miss her spirit and it hurts that she is not here.  The anniversary of her passing just went by and there is an emptiness in me.  I know she is at peace now and I should be grateful for that but the selfish part of me wishes she was here.

So today I think about my cousin Caryn and the times we had together.  I love you and miss you.

Truly Inspiring

I have been truly inspired this weekend.  Not of the artistic sense but of the spiritual sense.  The other day I was introduced to NieNie's blog by Katie of SaSeaBoutique and by doing so I was introduced to Stephanie's sister's blog cjane.  I learned the story of two sisters or rather a family who went through a tragic ordeal together and came out triumphant, or at least still working on it.  Stephanie was in a horrible plane crash and her sisters took her 4 children in and raised them while she was recovering.  It is a beautiful story of the power of love and prayer and the power of love between these sisters and their family.  I found myself reading Courtney's blog to find out how Stephanie was doing and crying at the trials and tribulations they all faced.  I became followers of both blogs and look forward to what is going on today.  The accident is almost at it's year mark and it is truly amazing how many across the world joined in to help this family.

This inspired me.  You see, in a world like we live today there are many troubles there.  It doesn't matter who you are, there is some one out there that disagrees with you on some level.  However, this story showed me that people have genuine love in themselves and certain things bring out the best in them.  I love that.  Life is not easy but somehow this family and their faith helped them through.  Now I am not a huge temple or church goer but I believe in a higher being.  Life has a lot to offer us.  I guess the saying, Make lemonade out of lemons, holds true.  Make the best of what you got.

I will continue to read these new blogs and be inspired by some fascinating, loving women who brought me hope on this rainy weekend.

Love to you all.

Zizette