I LOVE NEW YORK!

Well thanks to my adventurous, well organized, very intelligent, friend Barbara U., I spent the day in New York City yesterday. Way, way fun!! Barbara coordinated a trip to THE CITY for 46 folks (the majority of whom work for Otis E) and I was invited. The bus picked us up in Farmington at 7:00 a.m.

Here is Barbara giving the bus driver a few tips on how to get to NY.

Donna, me, Linda, Barbara, Mary & Robin at lunch at Casa Bella in the heart of Little Italy
after a morning of shopping.

more friends in NY at Casa Bella

more little Italy ...

and more little Italy ....

so close, yet so far away! where in the world is Matt Lauer?

chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

there are tourists everywhere in the City (maps and cameras in hand)

(Linda, Barbara, & Robin)




Not sure what goes on in this building, I just like the word ....


(Grace is often distinguished from mercy in that mercy is seen as not receiving punishment that one deserves to receive, whereas grace is receiving a positive benefit that one does not deserve to receive.)

God Bless the USA and NEW YORK!

Signs everywhere ...


Sisters in the City!

almost the end to a PERFECT day ...


... drinks in the Broadway Lounge at the Marriott Marquis Times Square.


This signature drink is called "Wicked"


anyone want to go to the Gershwin and see Wicked?

"The Best Musical of the Year"
Time Magazine Winner of Three 2004 Tony Awards®
Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked follows these two unlikely friends and college roomates grow into very different women: The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

xoxo

Congratulations Roger!

30 Years with UTC!

(nope, not me!)

Roger celebrated his 30 year anniversary with UTC this week. It all began back in 1977 (WOW just 2 years after I graduated from High School). Here is how it went ...

~

1977 - 1984 Pratt & Whitney Security Officer

1984 - 1985 Part-time Security at Otis Elevator and

OtisLine CSR

1986 Otis Chauffeur

1986 - 1987 Otis Elevator Construction Helper

1987 Otis Protection Officer

1999 Senior Otis Protection Officer

2007 Otis Security Manager (a recent promotion ~

more CONGRATS Rog!)

30 years is a long time to do anything. My UTC career only lasted 17 years. I've never done anything for 30 years, except be alive and brush my teeth ...

ROGER, WE ARE

VERY PROUD OF YOU!

... what have you done for 30 years?

have a great weekend!

xoxo

GIRLFRIENDS

GIRLFRIENDS Here is a very old picture of my MOM and her girlfriends.

If you know me, can you guess which one is her?

...

Girlfriends bring casseroles and scrub your bathroom when you are sick. Girlfriends keep your children and keep your secrets. Girlfriends give advice when you ask for it. Sometimes you take it, sometimes you don't. Girlfriends don't always tell you that you're right, but they're usually honest. Girlfriends still love you, even when they don't agree with your choices. Girlfriends might send you a birthday card, but they might not. It does not matter in the least. Girlfriends laugh with you, and you don't need canned jokes to start the laughter. Girlfriends pull you out of jams. Girlfriends don't keep a calendar that lets them know who hosted the other last. Girlfriends are there for you, in an instant and truly, when the hard times come. Girlfriends listen when you lose a job or a husband. Girlfriends listen when your children break your heart. Girlfriends listen when your parents' minds and bodies fail.

author unknown

Thank YOU to my extraordinary GIRLFRIENDS for all of the above!

xoxo

Vaca Week is Almost Over

Vaca week is almost over and what do I have to show for myself?

A mammogram, clean teeth, a termite and mouse inspection by Abair Lavery, lunch with a forever Friend, breakfast with my Sister, Spring cleaning for my 'Golden Girls', new ovens and cupboards, even some spring cleaning for me, paid some bills, planted some pansies, 'movie night' with Roger and Robin (In Pursuit of Happyness), fed the birds and the squirrels, shopped a little (even for groceries), fried chicken like KFC, ran some errands, Blogged a little, and read The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Helen and I found it amongst her treasures and she recommended it highly ~ GREAT STORY! Kept me out of trouble almost all week! Thx Helen! I love to read ... for 5 days I moved back and forth from my life to Kit's; 1687 in Wethersfield to 2007 in Bristol, etc. Finished the book just in time to get outside in the sun tomorrow and add some yard work to my list of accomplishments.

~
The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a novel by Elizabeth George Speare that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1959.

... Sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler has lived most of her life on the sunny island of Barbados, raised by her wealthy grandfather on his plantation. However, his death in 1687 forces her to go live with her only remaining relatives: her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Matthew in Wethersfield, Connecticut in the Connecticut Colony...

... curl up with a good book and have a great weekend (but play outside on Saturday, it's supposed to be very nice)!

xoxo

Still No Sun

Our Thoughts and Prayers
are with the VA Tech Families
and Friends

~

Noah's Ark by Martha

(E and A's table top)

.

hopefully the rain has stopped here in CT

still no sunshine!

flood waters should be declining

more prayers for VA Tech please!

xoxo

Shelly Cupboards

Our New Ovens

and 'Shelly' Cupboards

20 years ago next month my Mom's dream kitchen came to fruition ... she was 60 years old. She cooked some amazing meals from her ovens but it was time to update them. Check out before and after pics

and come on over for dinner!

We will have to see if I can be
1/2 the cook my Mom was!

Old unit had one drawer below double hung ovens. Upper oven was microwave (that really didn't work to well anymore) and convection oven. Small cupboard above ovens.
New unit has larger cupboard above microwave/convection oven combination above larger oven, two drawers below ovens. Whole unit is wider. New cabinet and drawer pulls on order for entire kitchen.

Need to go read my oven manuals!

Thank YOU S & B

xoxo

Whatever Became of Hootie?

A Bird Story!

Shortly after Roger's Father's Uncle Hody passed away in October 1999, Roger's Dad found a white dove in Hody's driveway. It was the middle of winter and the poor bird was just sitting there shivering. Dad picked her up and brought her home. He tried to find out who she belonged to, but no one ever claimed her. We often joked that Uncle Hody had been reincarnated as a dove. Dad and Hootie (named after Uncle Hody) became fast and furious friends, sharing toast at breakfast and spending time at the beach. Dad would let Hootie fly up into the treetops and she would always come back to him. He would ride his bike at the beach with Hootie on the handlebars catching the ocean breeze under her wings. She'd lay eggs routinely and whenever she heard his voice she would call out to him. After Dad passed away in June 2006, she stopped laying eggs. Roger's sister Linda took on the care of Hootie, and although she did a good job, something was missing from Hootie's life. Along came Thom, Linda's beau friend. Hootie took quite a liking to Thom and is wintering in RI at Thom's home. She is now laying eggs routinely and she has found a new little friend in Liam, Thom's Grandson, riding on the handlebars of his little bike.

Hootie and Dad at the beach going for a ride!

Hootie is living the good life in RI
(thank YOU Thom and Liam)!

Happy 20th Birthday Cory! (and .... )

Happy 20th Birthday Cory!

... and congrats to your Mom

for a pursuing her passion of a lifetime ...

being your MOM!

"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing."

~ Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987

Goodnight Michele!

Having a GREAT week with E and A and Elmo.

Silly Elmo, hanging out
in Bubble Gum Playland

while E and A took a nap!

so there ya go Shell!

xoxo

"Opening Day"

Baseball is back from Coast to Coast!

"Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks,

I don't care if I never get back,

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don't win it's a shame.

For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game."

(This song was written in 1908 by a man named Jack Norworth

and was later set to music by Albert Von Tilzer)

Opening day was Monday, April 2nd ~

I can't believe I missed it!

I'm surrounded by Yankee fans ... here is Stef and Rich's little Scotty "Jack" (our grand-dogger)!

xoxo