A WHOLE MONTH....

That's a long time.  Between blog posts that is. But it's 'that time of year'....

Sorry, I'm kinda busy, but there is a whole lot to discuss.  I'll give you a fairly quick overview...

First, we bought the house, barn and lot behind us.  It was a short sale. That is the dumbest name ever for an aggravating way to purchase real estate.  I think we had 3 closing dates, before we finally DID actually close. And that was tenuous up until the final moment.

I always wanted the lot, to square off my back yard.  My yard was misshapen, and it always bothered me. Dumb, I know.  I think originally my house (well the person who built it) owned all the land around it. He sold off portions here and there, as did his son in law, who lived here with his wife and daughter.  We were the 3rd owner of this 110 year old house; the 2nd family.  (useless trivia for you) Anyway, I wanted the yard, and since I'm now old and have no little kids to play in it, I've got it!  So we've been working around there quite a bit.  I will say, it was a bittersweet acquisition.  I always liked the neighbors that lived there, long time family friends, nice people.  I miss chatting with him over the fence, that is gone now.....AND, he had the greatest garden ever. Big shoes to fill if I take should up gardening.

I hosted Thanksgiving at my house again.  Had my mom, sister and her family and Jess and Blain.  Scarlett and Dan were gone to California, and Corbin and Ally were gone to Iowa.  We missed them, but they've got other family too, ya gotta share your kids!!!  I didn't get the memo, or just forgot, or who knows what, and bought a 28lb. turkey... yes indeedy we had left overs.  

I forgot to take any pictures that day, well, we took one... 

Molli in Clem's new mini bed, giving the stink eye.. pretty much normal for Molli....

Put up my tree(s) and decorated the house... hohoho...

I've been a shopping fool.  I'm kind of clueless as to what to buy people, so I feel like I've been shopping a lot, with not so much actually purchased.  UGH... there's what 9 days?  Great.

My sister, and two of my good friends gave Scarlett and Dan shower # 2. It was DELIGHTFUL.  They got such FAB gifts, and it was just lovely.  There were delicious foods, deserts and chocolates... DARLING cookies, that were wedding cakes and engagement rings. All types of little details that these three are famous for seeing too.  They've got the shower thing down.. let me tell you.  Here's a snippet of shots from it.

Mark and I and my sister in law Lori, just returned from Florida.  We went down for a long weekend to visit Mark's dad. It was a fun time, too short, but a nice get away.  The weather was perfect. We hit the beach a couple days, and the pool the other.  Did a couple of our favorite things, watched the sun burn into the Gulf.

Went to St. Armand's, unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you want to look at it, it was 'Lighting of the Tree' on St. Armand's, so my FAVORITE restaurant didn't have it's outdoor piano man playing. There was, however various musicians all around the circle.  We 'made do' with a different place with a saxophone player... oh the sacrifices!!! haha

Enjoyed linner ( combo of late lunch and dinner) at Sharkey's... better for atmosphere than food.. but a 'must do' none the less. They are remodeling, but still festive.

I thought I got a picture of Santa riding a shark.. but, guess I didn't.  Normal holiday decor- right?

Let's see, what else...

Oh yeah, this little thing called a wedding... I've been working steadily on that.

What have you been doing? It's a month and 4 days away....

Is it too early for a drink?

ME, A STALKER.....

I mentioned that we went to see 'my best girl' Barbra in New York City.  Well, really Brooklyn, but whatever...

WEEEELLL.....

I heard she was coming to Chicago, so just for the fun of it, I thought I'd see if her tickets were sold out.  And they weren't. So something came over me, and I felt compelled to grab some.

Um, yeah.

Then I got to thinking about breaking this little news to Mark... so I did what any woman would do.  I waited, putting it off, thinking I'd wait until 'next weekend'.  I finally waxed my wings, soared by the sun and told him.

He took it okay...

so we went, again.

These seats weren't as good as the NYC ones, in fact we were in the upper part, but to the left of the stage, and THIS time, I didn't follow directions and took my camera.  WEll, I didn't take them, incase ONE of us got thrown out, Mark did... So here's some shots from my little pink camera.. that really aren't that bad at all, we could see her, I'm SURE she was waving at me a time or two....

Chris Botti played the trumpet

Pretty good huh?

Mark asked me if there was anything else I wanted to tell him about Barbra... about any other cities.  I told him no, but I could snag some if he'd be okay with it.

He said, I could be construed a stalker...

I said I didn't care.  We are what we are.

He said no...

I really HATE that word.

1ST SHOWER FOR SCARLETT!!

Couple of weeks ago, Scarlett had her first Bridal Shower!  This was given by her sister and one of her bridesmaids.  Now, they had a conundrum... where to host it.  Jessica and Heather both live out here in the country.  The rest of the girls live in Chicago, and most of them don't own cars. They discussed a restaurant, and finally came up with the perfect solution.

The hosted it at Scarlett's apartment.

It was just lovely.  Now I won't lie, I had SWOLLEN eyes from crying over my sweet Millie, and I'm sure some of her friends thought 'wow, Scarlett's mom needs a serious face lift' (they are right, but that's another story).

The girls made a TON of delicious snacks, and had a tea party theme, complete with fancy china! The party favors were a darling cookie made to look like a three tier wedding cake with a rose on top and a candle, made in a tea cup.

I didn't take many pictures, but here's a smattering... 

 Jessica jotting down the gifts.

And Scarlett got such nice gifts! Wonderful kitchen things, great entertaining things, and some sorely needed practical things.  She made a haul... and she didn't have to drag it all home to put it away. She was home! Great plan.

Her sister, grandma and I gave her the always wonderful Kitchen Aid Mixer.  In a fun retro green, actually pistachio.  I expect great things to come from the mixer Scarlett....

LONG TIME NO TALK....

So, as I mentioned when I posted about losing my sweet Millie, of which I am still having a hard time dealing with... there's a whole lot happening in my life.

Like I went to New York.. where we were greeted by this... so very true... really my thought exactly and not just in NYC.

We went to New York City to see Babs...as in Barbra Streisand.

(photo from New York Times)

Ah yeah.. she was returning to Brooklyn for her first concert there in 50 years, so we went.  We were in really good company, let me tell you.  The likes of Barbara Walters, Woody Allen, Sting and his wife, Katie Couric, Rosie O'Donnell, Regis, Calvin Klein and Babs' fave designer Donna Karan. And me.... and Mark of course!

Cheeky huh?

AND, we were in the 14th row, so I could see that for 70 she looks really good.  It was awesome. I know I'm weird.  I followed directions and didn't take my camera... duh me.  Had I taken it, I could have taken the above picture, I WAS THAT CLOSE.... But the lady next to me lied to me, and said she'd email me hers.  I'm still waiting....

In addition to Babs, we hit the world trade center memorial, where we were reminded the horror of that day.

All those names of all those innocent people who left home that day to never return.. possibly to have had NO PART of them return... they all kissed their loves and children goodbye that morning... ugh....it was well done. And amazingly people were quietly respectful, as they should have been.

After that, we felt the need for cheering up, so we headed to Times Square for lunch, at a deli, of course.  And to see the crazies.
   

Yep, he's got on whitey tighties.. THAT'S ALL.  I'll spare you the details of the OLD man, in a thong bikini that had boobs... it's an image I didn't need to see..

Anyway, after lunch we headed down to SoHo and ran into a store I sometimes have ordered knitting stuff from. So of course I had to go in.  Right?  Other than that, we wandered around, had delish foods and drinks and being us had to go to the water. 

The next morning after seeing Babs, we said good bye to NYC, 

and headed out to Rhode Island, a charming little town, Newport. Kind of like what you'd imagine an East Coast fishing village to be.  We hung out there, wandering around in the little shops, enjoying some lobster. 

The next day we headed over to Cape Cod, and somehow, Mark convinced me to get in a plane the size of the Miata with 8 other foolish people and fly over to Nantucket.

I have to say Nantucket was way charming... It's stone streets and expensive real estate.

After we safely flew back on the miniature plane, with a pilot that was about 12,

we headed out to our hotel, and out for dinner.  I sent my children a quick text to let them know they were not orphans, we had survived our flights.

We found a restaurant, ate outside, (it was kinda cool) and then enjoyed their live music in the bar.  Bet you can't guess what we had....

Lobster.  What else do you have in New England?

The following day, we were scheduled to fly out of Boston and decided to take a little detour to Plymouth Rock via a lighthouse.  Where it was super windy, and Mark needed his sunglasses to keep the sand out of his eyes...

Since my 10th great grandfather came into Plymouth on a little ship called the Mayflower, I thought it'd be cool.

This replica of the Mayflower showed us how SMALL the boat was.  Now I like to sail, not on this...all the way across the 'big pond'.  In steerage, no less.  

We treated the Indians poorly.. just saying.

 This houses 'the rock'

After that visit we headed to Boston, and learned we were delayed... great.  Drove around Boston, checked out Harvard, and Beacon Hill, and finally decided we would head to the airport.  

We arrived a mere 2 1/2 hours late, but did at least get home.  And home we came to all that that week 

held.  I know you are thinking it's just a dog, move on.. but I'm still sad.  Sorry.

Maybe, I need to take my cue from Liz Taylor, who said...

 Sounds like excellent advice.