Trouble With A Capital "T"

When, I ask, is it safe to leave the room for five minutes without this child creating some form of chaos?

I Love Eating!

I notice when I read all of your blogs that you all have some incredible talents like creating amazing stationary, or incredible needlepoint projects, and even these cool belts. I never thought I had any talents until this afternoon when I realized I have a talent for eating out. That's right folks, I love restaurants and I do a damn good job of eating when I am at one. In the last week alone, I went to Fleming's Steakhouse on Thursday, Morton's of Chicago (but in Boston) on Sunday and tonight I will be eating at Grill 23. I guess it is pretty obvious why my cholesterol is hovering around 250 points and my clothes don't fit anymore! I keep saying that I am going to eat better, but these restaurants just keep getting in the way. But on a warm summer night, a cool crisp salad, NY sirloin and a lemon drop martini are all I need to make me smile!

The Gang's All Here!

Look what arrived yesterday! My big Bonanno Sunfest Order! I ordered two pairs for myself, one for Madigan, one for my Mother, my Sister and a great Friend of ours! They looked so beautiful sitting together out in my almost completed landscaped backyard. I took lots of pictures, so I can run you through the individial choices! I feel like I am ready to order another pair. These things are addictive!

Sister's pair are Skye with Bellflower

Friend Linda's are the opposite, Bellflower with Skye
My first pair is Pomme with Emerald Blue. This pair I kept going back and forth on. I thought I wanted the primary colour to be Emerald Blue but decided at the last minute to give the honour to Pomme. I already have a blue pair (bellflower with skye).

These are The Palm Beach Classic, June Blue with Bois

These are my Mom's White with Arbutus, these

came out great! And last but not least, Madigan's Linaria with White to match my original pair. She loves them and has not taken them off yet!

I've Been Fleeced!

Date check: It is June 14th, flag day here in the United States. The current temperature reading on my AOL dashboard is 56 degrees! This weather is crazy. I went for a nice walk last night and I was freezing. I wore my fleece, but the zipper is broken (note to self, check LL Bean website for fleece sale) so it was a chilly stroll to say the least. I didn't realize I should keep my winter clothes around a bit longer!

Tonight, the Doc and I are going out to a work dinner on HPV (human papilloma virus) at Fleming's Steakhouse. It is a very timely discussion in the world of gynecology. If you have girls or are a young woman between the ages of 9 and 26, you should learn about Gardasil, a vaccine that may help guard against certain types of HPV. We administer the vaccine a lot at the office. I think it is a great medical advancement. I know some parents are a bit worried about the side effects of the vaccine, but so far it has a great track record.

That's my public service announcement of the day!

Weekend Recap

This is where I went on Friday. It is the stretch of beach in front of my friend's Cape House. She graciously hosted nine of us for an overnite and we had a great time. The weather was great on Friday and we had a pretty easy ride down. It was weird not to see the rotary anymore at the Sagamore bridge. I hope it helps with easing up the weekend traffic.

We got some sandwiches when we arrived and hung out on the beach for a while awaiting the rest of the ladies. Someone, still not sure who, sent over a bottle of wine and a huge shrimp and lobstertail platter for our cocktail hour. Then we went to a great restaurant called Chillingsworth Bistro. I had an awesome Lemon Drop martini there! After dinner we headed over to Ocean Edge.

We had our mudslide desserts there and they were delicious. At this point, it is 11:30pm and sorry to tell my younger readers this but that is generally quitting time after the age of 35. I am happy to say only two of the gang called it a night! The rest of us headed over to the Woodshed where a great band was playing and lots of drunk twenty-somethings were dancing and grinding it up! We had so much fun there, stayed until closing time and headed back.

Saturday's weather wasn't so great so we had a very relaxed breakfast and then headed home around 1pm. We are already planning for next year's overnite. Here are two more pictures of the area:

This one is a view from her back deck. Nice to look at! I probably won't be back on the Cape until July, so I'll have to remember this!

North vs. South

Happy gorgeous Friday everyone. It is beautiful here in the Boston area. Weekend plans are exciting in our house. We have two road trips. Madigan left yesterday with some of her preschool crowd to go to Story Land in New Hampshire. She has been counting down the days for at least a month and she was ecstatic. So ecstatic she left her "Gankie" (blankie) on the floor of my office. I had a panic attack about what to do, I found it about twenty minutes after they drove off. I called three of the other moms who were headed up North. I got all answering machines, so I raced off the work with Gankie in tow. Seri called me and said she'd be happy to take it for me. I had a conference call at noon so I told her I'd be able to leave shortly thereafter. Instead, I got a call from her saying she was in front of my building! She drove into Boston with her two girls just to retrieve Gankie! She is an absolute doll!

Today, I am leaving for Brewster, Mass on picturesque Cape Cod for my last meeting of Book Club. I think it is pretty cool to have overnite field trips for Book Club! I have no idea what book we were supposed to read, I decided that since it was an overnite, more amounts of alcohol will be involved therefore, no need to read the book this time. The forecast is looking supportive of a trip to the Cape too!

And our other family member, The Doc, has exciting plans too! He is inducing four patients this weekend! So while Madigan and I are away, he will be stuck inside the hospital! It is a productive use of his time though, right? To make up for that, the two of us went out for dinner last night to the Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons. If you are a local reader, you absolutely must go here for the Bristol Burger. I guarantee it is one of the best burgers you will ever feast on! Apres diner, we strolled around the public gardens with a Cold Stone ice cream. It was a beautiful evening.

Any good plans for you all this weekend??

Home Again

We made it home on Thursday night, touching down at Logan Airport at approximately 11:58pm. After getting detoured on our way home, a 10 minute ride turned into 40. I think I last remember the clock reading 2:05am. Then it was up at 7am to get Madigan ready for her big day.

Graduation started at 9am, so off to the tub she went to look sparkly clean. The ceremony was quick and painless. Lots of songs that they have learned this year, and they each played a part of an animal in the story their teacher read. Madigan was a bumble bee. They had lots of fun with that. Somewhere in my crazed mind before leaving for Aruba, I mentioned that we could do a "graduation party" back at my house. I figured 8 or 9 kids, 8 or nine adults would be the crowd. Boy was I wrong! I think all but 5 of the 31 graduates came with their parents! I should disclose here that not only had we returned to the U.S. a mere ten hours prior, but we are in the midst of a giant landscaping project here so my yard is all dirt and the pool is still closed. Never fear, the sprinkler and jumpy house came to our rescue. Everyone had a great time and it is so cute to watch the kids play together. We parents reflected on how fast the two years of preschool had gone and lamented on how we did not want them to grow up and become fresh, foul mouthed kids!

Here are some shots from the graduation. Hope you all had a great weekend!