CopyCat

Yes, I'm copying Deb over at Debland.

I'm trying to install Linkwithin, but unless it only works on new posts, I've already failed.

So this is a test.
Bear with me.

Thanks.

You'll want to get in on this

A give away.

No, not mine.

This one is Lorrie's . Isn't she the greatest?

And it comes from the wonderful Etsy shop of Simag.
Trust me, her stuff is super cute.
See? Told ya so.

But I'm a little bit lazy busy at work Twittering right now so I'm just going to tell you to go on over to Lorrie's blog and read the details of the giveaway.

But don't forget to visit Simag's Etsy shop to check out her cool jewelry.
Even if you don't win, it's worth checking out and placing an order.

It's been a hard days' night, and I've been working like a dog...

No, not really.

I've been roadtripping. Vacationing. Driving. A lot.
Playing tourist.

I'm baaacccckkkkkk.

Today I'm just slacking. It's 11:30 and I'm just about to head in to the shower.

Hey, I've been busy. I think I deserve it. Besides, I'm the mom and I can slack if I wanna.

So, let's recap the week. (skip it if you're bored already)

Friday - drive to Cornell and pick up freshman nephew, continue to Wilton, CT to bring him home. Check into hotel room 5 minutes away at midnight.

Saturday - off to the new Yankees Stadium. Wait in line for an HOUR to see Monument Park. Plaques of dead Yankee players. Big whoop. I'm sorry, I just don't get it. But I did like the ballpark. And the beer. And the garlic fries.
See neighbor from Fairport. Random. Meet friends there in nosebleed seats over home plate looking at the first base line. Good view, though.
...To see the WORST inning in baseball history. 14 runs scored in the second inning. Yankees lose 22 - 4. NO, that's not a typo. It was history. At least it was a beautiful day.

DH and Number One Son go to midnight Easter services at the Greek orthodox Church. I stay with sleepy Darling Daughter. (yay, me!) They return somewhere around 3 AM. Christos Anesti!

Sunday - Greek Easter with the fam. Lots of lamb and other good food. We leave at 5:30 PM to drive to Washington, DC. We arrive at midnight. Again.

We check in to the beautiful Westin in Old Town Alexandria.

Monday - Awake to POURING rain. Buckets and more.
Decide to drive, instead of take the metro. Spend an hour looking for a parking spot that doesn't involve needing a rescue buoy or rowboat.
Car develops a weird shudder and service engine light comes on. Tour the National Air and Space Museum.
So is everyone else. See family from the church where I work. More random.
Drive 45 minutes out near the airport to see the other Air and Space Museum. The one with the shuttle.
Hey it was raining, what else would we do? Saw cool stuff. On the way out, saw Tuskagee Airmen. For reals. They were there for some ceremony.

Tuesday - GORGEOUS DAY.

Car still shuddering.
Tour Arlington Ceremony.
What's wrong with this picture?
Did you see it?

Lincoln, FDR memorials and Korean, Vietnam, and WW II War memorials.
Interrupted tourist agenda to sit through 2 our timeshare presentation (UGH!) It was the reason we went to DC for $99 for 3 nights in the Westin. It was totally worth the pain and suffering. Except the presentation sucked and the sales office was shabby. We are loyal to Marriott, thankyouverymuch.

After a late lunch we resume our tourist activities.
Daughter RUNS the whole length of the reflecting pool for fun and isn't even winded. Yes, I'm a bit envious. Starts to sprinkle, we run to car. Sky is threatening. We go to the Jefferson memorial and DH stays in the car because there is no parking.
Thunder and lightening begin, sky opens up with a biblical deluge. There are white caps on the water. Emma sees boy from her class at school. More random.
Yes, kids left their raincoats in the car and I left my phone there. We sprint to the car and arrive looking like we took a shower and forgot our towels.

Of COURSE this is fun.

We got to a little Greek restaurant near the capitol and have an amazing Greek meal. After we circled for 35 minutes looking for a parking spot.

OPA!

Wednesday - DH leaves at 4 AM for Dallas. We wake up at 7 AM and find a clogged toilet. Lovely. Because I am stubborn and want to see goofy tourists on Segways, we detour into DC to find and photograph them before heading to Philly.
This little excursion costs and hour due to traffic, construction and breakfast. Yay. Car stops shuddering, but service engine light is still on. I call dealer to make appointment for Thursday.

Arrive at Philly by 12:30 to meet my little bro for lunch and a little touring.

We go to seafood restaurant where Number One Son and bro gorge themselves on stinky fresh seafood while Darling Daughter and I eat kids meals - hot dog and chicken tenders.
Across the street, we go to the Mummers museum - built in 1976.
My Dad was the project manager for it for the city of Philadelphia as a part of his work on the bicentennial. It's a little tired looking but it was cool.

Yes, I still don't know how to rotate my pics on blogger. Sorry.

If you don't know what a Mummer is, google it and go to a New Year's parade in Philly sometime - very cool.

We played tourist in my home town and see old churches,

Carpenter's Hall, statues,

and the Liberty bell.
Just like my father, my brother knows someone everywhere we go and takes great delight in showing off Philly landmarks.

Despite all the impressive historical landmarks, my kids really want to get to my brother's house to see his dog and chickens.

Yes, chickens. And Aunt Sue, of course. ;-)

We have a delightful 2 hour visit and then are on the road again at 6:30 to head for home.

Fast forward to 5 hours, 1 nap, and 300 miles later, and I get stopped for speeding in a work zone, less than 40 miles from my house. I was going 63 miles per hour and it was 1 AM. I couldn't believe it. Grrrrr. He gave me a bogus ticket for using a cell phone and acted like he was doing me a favor since it has no points and is a lesser fine.

Thursday - Got to work after 5 hours of sleep.

And now I'm tired. With mounds of vacation laundry to do. Why is there always more laundry to do then what we normally wear in a week?

Yes, I know it's super long, but I had a whole week to catch up on.

Here's a list of bloggers/twitterers that I came close to, but didn't get to see:

TooofEach/PearlsofSomethin (PA)
Lorrie (NYC)
Kelcey (NYC)
Marinka (NYC)
JeffKay (Scranton)
Debland (PA)
Flamingo (Syracuse)
Junkdrawer (Lehigh Valley, PA)
Tiffany (Baltimore)
JudyZ (CT)
Amy (CT)

Waaahhhhh. I did wave from the highway, though. Didya see me?

My SpRiNg FLinG is OvAh!

::Sniff:: Yes, it is.

My Piperlime box came today!!!

Oh, joyous goodness, how exciting!

Alas, out of 4 shoes, the only ones that remotely fit are the clearance flat suede boots. And even they are a wee bit snug in the calf.

I might keep'em anyway.


Look at what I have to return.



It breaks my heart.

The old sneaker next to the cute red shoe is more like what I normally wear. :::sniff:::

Mars Landscape? UpDaTe

What is this?

Update: Yes, you clever, eagle-eyed bloggers, it is an eyeball.

*My eyeball, the left one, I think.

I went to my eye doctor yesterday and he has this nifty space-age retinal imaging opto-somethingorother machine that takes a pictue of the back of your eye.

Apparently they can get a better look at your whole eye than they can when they use those annoying dilating eye drops that leave you blind for the next hour.

Since I'm a big girl now and was planning to drive myself home, I didn't think dilation was such a good idea. :-)

MoRe SpRiNg FeVeR

Okay, I'm waiting for my shoes to arrive, but I got to thinking that I really need to celebrate Spring with style, so I've been looking at handbags, too.

I found this site back when they were first starting their website and had a Twitter contest. (Sadly, I did not win)

Handbagheaven.com

But I love to "window shop" and browse through their site.

Here are a few I've been eyeing:



What do you think?

And they're having a sale! Click below for a discount.

15% off all Handbags at HandbagHeaven.com

Spring has sprung

I've been jonesing for some new spring shoes.

Mind you, I normally wear pretty basic, mostly flat shoes.

In boring brown or black.

But I've been dying for some cute, sexy spring heels.

In plum. Or red. or something fun.

I got these today, online at Piperlime.com.
They were NOT cheap and I'm a little embarrassed that I got them, even if they were 20% off.

Guess Footwear Ventura

And I got these at a local Payless store. $14.99

Who cares if they're cheap, I LOVE the color.

I also ordered a pair of tortoise shell heels and a pair of red shoes. And a clearance pair of suede boots. I hope the tortoise ones fit, I'm not so sure that the red ones are what I really want.

I was bad. Really bad.

Now I feel the need for some cute spring dresses to wear with these.

oh. no. way.

She's only 10 years old.

She still falls asleep in my lap when she's really tired.

She has a quirky fashion sense that involves mixing prints and colors not found in nature.

She spends ages in front of the mirror, experimenting with her image, her persona, having fun with it all.

She's only 10.

She gets easily distracted while cleaning her room and could end up writing a song, or choreographing dance steps for a song she heard on the radio or drawing a picture for her YiaYia.

She likes to climb trees and ride her bike.

She still likes school.

She's only 10.

She sometimes forgets to brush her teeth.

Her favorite foods are spanakopita, mac and cheese, hotdogs.

She ate 5 apples in one afternoon last week to make up for not having an apple a day.

This came home from school yesterday.
She's only 10.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not upset that they're going over this stuff in school.

I just can't believe she's almost that age.

She's only 10.

And I think their marketing is hysterical.
Your "Happy Kit"? Are you kidding me?

Now, I don't call it the curse, or anything, but "happy kit"? :::snort:::

Do any of you remember a kit like that? I remember one my mom gave me from Kotex. It had all kinds of big bulky pads and panties with little elastic straps in them (before the days of the sticky lining) and garters.

A little bling bling

I bought these earrings last week. They are amethyst and silver and made in India in a Fair Trade workshop.

Amethyst Blossom Earrings

AND they were on sale. :-) Score! I supported a good cause and got a deal.

SERRV works with thousands of small-scale artisans and farmers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other developing regions of the world by marketing their handcrafts and agricultural products. Through our work with 75 community-based organizations in 36 countries, we create economic opportunity so these producers can support their families.