Jaime Snyder blogs!

My friend and fellow Montage associate Jaime Snyder has a blog!
Her post today brought tears to my eyes...
Check it out HERE
Welcome Jaime!

Europe 2007

Today the plane tickets and trip itinerary arrived for "Europe 2007" (say like "JACK 2000!") Allison and I will be traveling to Budapest, Vienna and Prague on a 10 day tour next month. The coolest thing about THIS tour is that there is one "free day" in each of the cities. So we can take our time and walk around and maybe find a good bookstore and eat something delicious a little cafe or at the bakeries or we can just sit and relax at the town Starbucks! With all the cities in Europe I saw on my 21 day Europe trip last year AND all the cities Allison has seen in her MANY travels to Europe, it is AMAZING that neither of us has been these three beautiful places....I am so excited!

So long, farewell...

Well, the day has finally come...Eliane leaves for Dayton, Ohio tomorrow morning!
Today we spent the whole day together, starting at Burke Williams for a special treat! We each had a massage, spent some time in the sauna and the jacuzzi and the quiet room...ahhh...
Then, we finished up the packing of her house...
We ended the day by celebrating what has become an almost weekly ritual--dinner at Chili's
(sans the alcohol--we were just too exhausted!)
We started by sharing our favorite Quesadilla Explosion Salad and finished with
Eliane & Jerry's "wedding cake" below.
Eliane and I worked together at Coco's almost 20 years ago...
and we have been the closest of friends since then...
and nothing is going to change...
except the weekly trips to Chili's...
Love you Eliane

CHEERS!

C.ombining H.earts & E.fforts to E.mpower, R.ebuild, S.erve
3rd Annual Charity Wine Tasting and Open House

Kelly, Paul and Sonja--all friends since high school!
My friend, Sharel, and founder of CHEERS

Bridget, Sharel, and Marla

Yep, we tried them all...

Kelly and I each won a bottle of wine!
(Last year I won the grand prize-the weekend at the suite in Los Angeles)

Paul, Kathie and Sharel...Mater Dei friends!

My long time buddies!!

THE GOAL WAS TO RAISE $10,000 TO HELP RELOCATE AND PROVIDE EQUIPMENT FOR THE SATHYANIKETHAN ORPHANAGE IN MUMBAI, INDIA
This orphanage serves children rescued from the deplorable
conditions of the largest slums in Asia
WE ENJOYED WINE TASTING, APPETIZERS, RAFFLES, AND GOOD FRIENDS !
When I left they had raised $9,800!!!

My 400th post

I would just like to take this chance to thank Allison for encouraging me to start a blog last December...400 posts later I have a whole world of friends through "blogging." And the rest of the world is finally catching on.
My sisters Gina and Sarah each have a blog. If you don't have one and you think it might be too hard to figure out...let me remind you that my Dad has a blog and now has MANY friends that he knows ONLY through the blogging world...(Heather is his best friend. They actually have conversations in the "comment" section of OTHER peoples' blogs.)
Special thanks to my cousins, Robin and Sherri and my Hungarian friend, Julianna (ALL currently blog-less) who read the blog and encourage me to keep blogging through their constant kind notes and emails.
I love posting each day. It's a rare day that I don't have something to say. And I love the emails when I actually miss one day...thanks for worrying about me! (Usually it's a day I contemplate posting about how much I love Apple Jacks or about paying $3.05 for gas...seems silly sometimes!)
The world is smaller now...my friends and I can keep up with each other almost daily through this amazing form of communication. And the technology just keeps going.
Do you have Google Analytics yet? You must sign up for this. It's the way I know that someone in Santa Ana gets on my blog SEVERAL times each day, sometimes for more than a half hour. Priceless info.
How about Google Blog Search? Very cool.
And, my new favorite--Google Reader. No more going line by line through my blog roll to see who has a new post! Google Reader lets me know WHOSE blog I need to read...(Josh Griffin, Allison and John Mayer seem to never disappoint!)
Thanks to ALL of you who are so fun to read. Thanks for "tagging" me, challenging me, making me think, making me cry and making me wonder about things I had never thought of.
Thanks for making me laugh out loud every day.
400 posts.
Perhaps I need to get a life.
Naw...this one is just perfect...

Sarah Smile

My baby sister, Sarah has a blog now!!
Click HERE to check it out!

Mango Salsa

I bought a tub of Mango Salsa the other day and have been eating it on EVERYTHING!
It's delicious on omelets or toast or with pita chips...seriously fabulous on ANYTHING. Tonight I made an avocado and Swiss cheese soft taco with LOTS of mango salsa on it...
I highly suggest you get a tub or two!

If I could be a

Allison tagged me on this one...here goes...

If I could be a famous person in history I would be Leonardo DiVinci.
Creative, brilliant, way ahead of his time, free thinker...and Italian.

If I could be a celebrity I would be Gweneth Paltrow.
She is gorgeous, a great actress and is happily married. To Coldplay.

If I could be a famous athlete I would be Steve Garvey. I ALWAYS wanted to be Steve Garvey. When my friends wanted to "marry" Steve Garvey...I wanted to BE him.
One of the best Dodger players EVER, a genuinely NICE guy to this day...and very handsome.

If I could be a famous musician I would be John Mayer. I LOVE this guy. I SWEAR we have had similar life experiences...he thinks JUST like I do. Please check out his blog HERE too! He's hilarious and blogs more than I do!! LOVE John Mayer and would LOVE to be him!

If I could be a famous Christian Mover and Shaker I would be Donald Miller. He has influenced a whole generation of people in a way that is so admirable...through honesty, curiosity, questioning and by encouraging deep thinking and processing. When I read Donald Miller I think, "Gosh, I have had that same conversation with students." Only he wrote it down and influenced OH so many. Good for him. Good for all of us.

I tag Gina, My dad and Josh(ua) Treece

I gave blood today!

Montage held its semi-annual blood drive today and
I could not wait to get in there and donate!
It's great, it's easy and it saves lives!

Yep, that's my blood in the bag...
My blood type? BE POSITIVE of course...

We ate our dinner with a good Chianti...

Went for dinner with my LONG TIME friend, Ann and her daughter,
Dawn Rene and HER daughter, Madelyn.
Oh I love Chianti...

I had the Seared Scallop Salad--SO YUMMY!!

With Dawn Rene and Madelyn...
(I used to babysit Dawn Rene!)

Good bye Debra!

My sister, Debra is all packed up and moving to San Francisco tomorrow!
If you don't know by now...my family will use ANY reason to get together and eat
(explains all of our weight issues, huh?!)
Love you Debra!

How could she leave this great looking group?

The last garage sale...

My friend of nearly 20 years is moving away. Eliane has found the love of her life--but, unfortunately for me, he lives half way across the United States.
Eliane and I did garage sales together for years and years and yesterday we did our last one. Boxing up and selling most of her things, she can move to Ohio and make a fresh start.

This is about as good as you can look at a garage sale at 6am...
We ate scones and drank A LOT of coffee and laughed so much...we always do.

We had customers CONSTANTLY. Eliane was able to make a good amount of money and get rid of just about everything...

My friend has one week left in the OC.
Then it's off to live happily ever after.

My favorite mistake

Me and Allison on Father's Day last month...
and in 1984 and 2004Can I just take a minute to say that there's not another woman on Earth of whom I am more proud? And there is not another woman on Earth of whom I love more dearly. She is one of my best friends in the world and the best thing that ever happened to me.
She brightens up MY life and the lives of SO many others...
Tell me what YOU think of my little girl...

Amelie

Just watched this for the first time in years! I had forgotten how amazingly beautiful it is! It is SO uplifting and positive and encouraging.
It was also a little more special this time because I have been to Paris twice since I saw it last and recognized so many of the places I had visited.
The film itself is simply brilliant. It really is. It just makes me happy!

Christmas...in July??

Seriously, hardly anything bothers me. Really. I have enough going on in my life that I don't worry about stupid, unnecessary stuff and usually I just don't care about silly things.
But FREAKING CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS in July bug me more than anything I can think of! Last week I went to Jiffy Lube to get my oil changed. I noticed on the back wall of the building a string of Christmas lights...barely clinging to the wall--unevenly--from three ailing straight pins. Come on car guys--NOBODY can take ONE minute to pull these down?
A few days ago, stopped at a light I saw a Christmas Wreath on the car behind me. REALLY? REALLY? You haven't had your car washed since Christmas? You can't find a knife? You think it's cute?
And today, in the parking lot of Lucille's--the car next to me had a Wal Mart Santa antenna ball. The poor ball looked as though it was gasping its last breath, nearly begging me to put it out of its misery...dirty and faded, it cried out for a kinder time....like a day last December maybe? Seriously...retire the ball...please notice that it is Summer.
NOBODY loves Christmas more than I do. Nobody. But only from the day after Thanksgiving through Jan 3 or 4. Maybe 5th.
Maybe it's just me...I don't want to see holiday decor in the Summer...I can't stand to even hear a Christmas song in July...it's just plain wrong.
But, honestly, that's about the only thing that bugs me.

Eiffel Tower Print

Allison and I bought the LARGE Eiffel Tower print
(up on the shelf) at IKEA on Monday.
I had three places in my home that I thought it would look good.
By the time I had it stretched out and ready to hang,
I knew it was going to be too large for
any of those spots...
(Please note: the print came in a 6 foot x 4 inch x 2 inch box)
So, with a little re-arranging (and one TALL ladder)
it has found its permanant spot in my bedroom.
I actually think it's the perfect addition!
Trust me...this photo doesn't do it justice--the thing is HUGE!

The OC

...FAIR!!!

Jaime and I just got back...can you tell that I freakin' love the fair?

The chickens (and pigs and cows) did not disappoint!

Jaime and I were tempted by so many food choices,
but we were pretty good! (Those are Jaime's fries...)

Seriously, HOW COULD YOU RESIST??

Didn't have one...but had to take a picture of the sign for old time sake.

This year's largest pumpkin...not so large.
Nice grapefruits (why, thank you!)

Lots of Elmos and Doras

Oh, yes...we did partake! With powdered sugar, strawberries and whipped cream!
So delicious...

Really? No...not after that Funnel Cake...
but just could not resist a photo op with the sign!
Thank you Jaime!
And a special thanks to those ATTENDING the OC Fair.
You always make me feel like a beauty queen...

There's no place like home...

Especially when it's your first time out on your own!
Allison moved into her own little condo this past weekend and today...we set up house!

First we made a trip to IKEA for some CD/DVD racks and some pictures and some sweet swedish gingersnaps! We did the majority of our shopping at Target!

Allison put together her CD/DVD shelves (that's my girl!) as I put in a little contact paper and unpacked, washed and put away the new cookware, bakeware, and flatware...

Ta-dah! All set up and ready for guests! Allison's friend, Allison came by to see the new place!

Allison said the best part of having her own place is buying the kind of ice cream she likes and knowing that SHE will be only one eating it! Yeah!!
Welcome Home Allison!