So cute!

That's a Bernese mountian dog but very close to a st. Bernard. That's the dog that we are going to get. Isn't it so cute? They are so dumb, lazy and lovable. Can't wait. Just got back from dinner with kevin and kristi. It's been a long day.

This one is for you Lizzie.

I met this adorable St. Bernard outside of Rose's Cafe on Saturday morning. This dog was so sweet. I can't wait until you guys move here and we can walk your new St. Bernard puppy to breakfast!! xoxo, L

etc, etc

I have been meaning to post this picture for some time. This baker getting off the school bus. It is so cute.

Anyway, Still trying to iron stuff out on my end with work. Going a little slower than I thought but fingers are still crossed. I have been shopping like a mad woman for new work clothes. I just got this fab trench coat that is bad ass. I wish I liked to shop because then it would be more fun. I just do it cause you have to. Never been a big shopoholic.

I am having Carrie and Andy over for a belated birthday dinner for Drew on Saturday night. I am so excited to cook. I haven't in awhile. I am going to do the cauliflower and scallop soup with the greyer popovers to start and then I am doing lamb chops with poached quince and balsamic. Carrie is making a carrot cake per Dreamy's request. I haven't had carrot cake in a long time and I love it so I am excited. Carrie is an awesome baker.

The hair has been a big hit. Drew is warming up to it which is good. Fall is here and the temperatures have gone done. It's my favorite time of year.

Lyd- don't think I am going to be able to take time off. I'll have to keep you posted. Things are kinda outta my hands at the moment. Love to all.

Love the Chaz updates!

Great update Chaz. Love it when you chime in. Having a great week this week. Always love the weeks when there are workmen at the house at all times. It means progress. Today they are finishing painting the deck. It is amazing. They are also painting the basement playroom as well. I am so excited about that. I want to lighten it up. Right now it is just the room where we put everything we hate. Not fair to the kids. So we are going to Craigslist everything and go to Ikea and just buy a room like Chaz did that is bright and fun like a playroom should be. Not kiddy, just good for everyone. Speaking of Craiglist, I have been stalking it every day for bunk beds for Baker. It all goes so fast. Great stuff on there though. As Chaz said, the kids have been great. Well Baker has been. Spencer is always perfect during the day, but has been undergoing baby boot camp at night. No fun to let him cry. Mary Rowe is a bit irratable, but that is her. She is liking soccer and Baker is always full force into t-ball. Dill has been gone since Sunday. He is on the island of Cebu off of the Phillipines at this insane resort called the Shangrila. He comes home tomorrow night, but with the 12 hour time change he is worthless for a couple of days. He is here all next week though so we are all going to go to BeniHana on my birthday with Anna, Steve and there kids. Liz, you look great and Lucille, the party sounds fun. Engagement is nothing but fun for you guys from here on out. Have fun in Shasta Chaz.

I am a total cry baby

Jesus. What a wreck I can be. I was showing someone else those Paul Potts clips and even after seeing them 4-5 times, I am still crying like a baby. It is true. Lyd and I had a great time together. The kids were so well behaved. That star system Lyd has works wonders. Of course, Oscar wouldn't give a hoot about a star. He knows Dad is a push-over. Get this all of you. I am nearly done with my Christmas shopping. That's right. Let me repeat. Almost done with Christmas shopping. What the? Who? Huh? How? Don't know what came over me but I swear it is true. Gearing up for my trip to Shasta tomorrow to go fishing with James. Can't wait. I need a break. Gotta love being out of cell phone coverage too. Bonus. Lena's dad and her nephew have been with us for a week. We had a nice time. Mauri took us to a great restaurant last night for a final dinner. It was great. Not much else. Our new full-time nanny lasted a day. What a wimp. Too stressfull she says? Really? Stressful? Two boys under the age of 3. Nah. Welcome to my world. Anyway, we have another lined up. We'll see if she can make it through a day. Love you guys.

Unemployment Bliss

Lyd- Your yard rocks. Did Dill flip when he saw it? Magoo, glad your engagement is finally FUN!

Well, I had a rockin' weekend in NYC. Really miss that place. It's so rock star. Speaking of, I chopped off all my hair while i was there. Think Posh Spice but a little shorter in the front. The longest hair goes below my ear lobe. Let's just say that Drew is optimistic but still warming up to it. He's a long hair guy but what guy isn't?

I have a meeting today at lunch with the agency I want to work for so wish me luck with that. I have lots of meetings this week trying to figure out what I am doing. It doesn't look like I'll be getting any time off but i am not positive.

love to all.

Engagement Fun

We had a wonderful Mexican fiesta engagement party in St. Helena this weekend. Justin's Mom and Godmother threw us the party and, despite it raining, it was just perfect. My favorite gifts were two bud vases and a silver coin that says heads and tails on each side - apparent used to settle disputes. I assume this will come in handy! We also got a beautiful silver frame that had a cute photo of us in it. Friday night we had a dinner party at our house. Justin made a delicious pineapple upside down cake and we made some roasted chicken that turned out Mmmm Mmm good. I will post photos of the Fiesta in Ofoto - Justin has the photos on his camera or I would post one now. I wrote all of the thank you letters today which was hard work!! I talked to Clark this weekend and he said, is the Blog still going? I said YES!!! Glad you had a nice weekend in New York Lizzie. I told Justin about your driver and he couldn't believe it! Lyd and Chaz, hope you both had a nice weekend. Your grass looks beautiful Lyd!

Let there be Grass!!!!!

Oh my god, it is like Christmas at the Dills! The sod came today and it is incredible. The deck will be finished by Saturday so we will have an incredible outdoor weekend. Fun, Fun, Fun! Well, where to begin. I have been soo busy lately. I have been volunteering quite a bit a Baker's school and really enjoying it. Not in his classroom because I don't want to be one of those Mom's who is always hovering, but in the Media Center etc. In a weak moment I joined a ladies singles tennis league which I am already regretting. Singles is hard. Youch, I don't remember the court being so big when I was 21!!! Dill has been gone since Sunday so it was even more wonderful having Chaz here yesterday and last night. We had a great time. Went to Mexican for dinner, bookstore etc. He looked awesome and the kids loved having him here. They are really getting to know you all now so it is great when they can see you all. Our next project is bunk beds for Baker. Our contractor is going to build him a loft in his room which should be so fun for them. Mary Rowe has been sleeping in his room every night so this will be a big hit. Seeing her sneak in there made me and Chaz remember how I did that every night. Mary Rowe started soccer last sunday. The cutest thing ever. Liz, good luck tomorrow and have a great time in NY. Can't wait for your next visit. Ready for a complete makeover. I may even let you mess with my hair!! Bough the Paul Potts CD today, the Opera guy from YouTube. It is wonderful. I showed Chaz all of the youtube videos of him last night and he was crying like a baby like we all did at Mom's this summer. Love to all.

Where is everyone?

No updates? Surly you people have stuff going on! Lyd, glad that you had such a great time with Chaz. Take a picture of your new and improved yard and post on the blogger. I want to see the final product! Well, I am resigning tomorrow and hopping a plane to NYC to blow off some steam. Pretty excited. Simone and I plan on eating out (a lot), shopping, hitting up Central Park and whatever else sounds good. Weather will be 80 and beautiful all weekend. I love NYC in the fall. I am so excited to be going back. Drew is SO busy these days with studying for the patent bar, work and school. I should be getting more busy with what I have on my plate in the next couple weeks, too, so that's good. Hoping to get some time off to go back to Atlanta. Have a good weekend everyone!

Happy Monday

Well, this is a pretty huge week for me. I am waiting to hear about job stuff so fingers crossed on all of that. Had a fun and very active weekend with Drew's parents. We ate out a lot, went boating and saw a second city show. Last nights Emmy's were a snooze. I don't even know why I watch those things anymore. I just bought my ticket to Rome this morning. I am going to meet Kelsey there for my birthday just as I did with Alex in Prague. Going to lunch with Amizetta, Spencer and Chaz today. That should be fun. I have really seen a lot of them lately. Even though I cannot afford it, I'm going to shop this week. I feel like I have no cute stuff so I am just going to go for it. I am also in the mood to go short again with the hair even though summer is over. So, if anyone has any hair ideas, post them or email to me. My look right now is a little too plain Jane for me. Magoo, glad you are better. Lyd, may have a problem with Thanksgiving. Dreamy may not go cause his brother won't be there and he is taking the patent bar the week after and is worried about studying. We are still discussing.

Birthday Wishes from Atlanta

Happy Birthday Drew!!! We hope you have a great b-day weekend.

Happy Birthday Dreamy!!!

Drew is 28 today! We have a really fun weekend planned with his parents. Lots of good restaurants and a second city show. I am so excited to see him tonight. Happy Birthday Dreamy!

Hot Damn!!

Wow Lyd!!! Good for you. Your legs look great! We got a kick out of that blog tonight and the "pretend" pumpkin pie. Too cute. Wish I was there with you two. I am heading home tomorrow for Bridget Maloney's wedding. I can't wait to wear the orange dress, it is so cute on. My AutoCAD class is going well but it's hard taking a night class after a long day of work so I'm a little fried today. It is officially fall here, the leaves are falling off and it's a little bit cooler.

Gee Thanks

Lizzy is here and we are having fun. She was sweet enough to slave today on her yummy meatball sliders for our Garden Club meeting tonight. She patiently sat while all of us cackling hens discussed dumb stuff. She even made me over with some great clothes and I am lovin them. Hate that she is leaving tomorrow. Luc, so fun that you are full blown into wedding planning now. Can't wait until Thanksgiving.

Hot Legs!!! Sing it Rod!

Ok. This is for real: these are LYD's LEGS!!!!! Who-hoo. Life change? I'd say so!!! A little report for y'all from A-town is that she is working her a$$ off and she deserves some cheers, cheers, cheers!!!! This has NOT been photoshopped!!! Go girl!!!!!!!!!!

Wonder Bust

Poured rain last night and they postponed the Stevie Wonder concert. On my way to the airport to go to Atlanta which means I'll be missing the show tonight. So bummed. Of course, it sunny and beautiful today and Chaz gave us box seats. Oh well, I am sure Drew will have fun. Can't wait to see Lyd and the kids.

Scary

I am blogging so the blog count of this blog is no longer 666. That was giving me the heevey jeevies!

L

Adventure Weekend

First off, Magoo you are on a roll! Glad you are finally having FUN with all this. I have always said that I would get married one day just so I could register. Very happy to hear that Mom is set with Oscars. I think she really needs to splurge and get a Caroline Herrera gown. http://www.carolinaherrera.com/home.htm She is the best designer for women mom's age. We should go to SF over xmas and go shopping with her.

Well, ever since I left San Francisco and realized that is was still a year until our move, I have been pretty antsy at home. I'm just not a patient person and I am desperate for some change in my life. So, when I woke up on Saturday morning, I declared that day adventure day. Drew and I took buses and trains all over the city to neighborhoods we have never been to before. We went to a cute part of town called Lincoln Square which has a very heavy German influence and then we went to Logan square which was ghetto and prominently Puerto Rican. On Sunday, we walked a couple miles up to the Gold Coast which is the ritzy party of Chicago and had a nice lunch and went shopping for Drew's birthday. I bought him the Ray Ban aviators he has wanted for a long time and he looks so hot in them so I was happy to buy them. After that, we went over to Armatige and Halsted which is another nice part of town and window shopped and walked around. So, we really made out rounds.

Stevie Wonder is tonight and Drew is jumping out of his skin he is so excited. I leave tomorrow for Atlanta and I cannot wait to see Lyd and family. I am also lunching with an old co-worker of mine that I have not seen in some time.

Love to all.

Shopped till we dropped!

The alarm rang at 7 am and we were up and at 'em, ready to start registering. We started at William's Sonoma where they had a warm frittata and fresh coffee brewed. We spent hours roaming around learning about knives, pots and pans and choosing our dayware and flatware. From there we went to Bloomingdale's where we picked out our silver and 'beautiful things' as mom would say. Silver is $$! so we'll see if anyone actually buys it for us. We are at home now and I am exhausted! Tonight we are meeting with the photographer who is one of Justin's best friends from college. We ordered the save the dates and things are really moving along! Oh, and we choose our wedding bands so that's finished too. At this point, we are having a blast with all of this, since the difficult parts are behind us (guest list and choosing the venue). Only the fun parts are left - choosing a dress, band, and designing the tables/flowers. This whole project feels like I'm designing another house so it's not too overwhelming. My good friend Caroline got engaged this week and she's getting married in St. Helena in June! So it will be fun to have a friend planning everything so we can brainstorm. Justin is hanging in there. He seriously DOES NOT understand why anyone needs silver. So that's been interesting.

Mom is going to the Oscars. It's all figured out. Now we just need to go dress shopping :) I can't wait to see her on TV.

I hope everybody had a great weekend. Lizzie, I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday and thought of you. You are going to FREAK when you go to this thing. There is just so much good food and great people watching.
xoxo, L

Stevie Wonder

Once again, props to Chaz for another pair of free tickets. Off to Stevie Wonder on Monday night with Dreamy. So, Dreamy is watching Oscar and Lucas just for an hour today but he has literally never babysat in his entire life and is sssooo terrified. It's funny/cute. I'm sure he'll be fine. Going to a dinner party tonight and dinner with my friend Nina tomorrow night. Have an itch to shop. Off to ATL on Tuesday. Pretty sure we've locked mom into going to the Academy Awards. Go team.

Back from Cali

Had a great time in Napa. Cooked a lot, saw Sattui's new castle, played lots of tennis (blisters to prove) went to San Francisco during the day, got smoked in Trivia Pursuit, went to visit Clark in Kelseyville, saw cousins, went out to dinner, and on and on and on.

It was tough for me to leave. After my day in San Fran, I wanted to pack my bags and just move out there on the spot. My SF wheels are really in motion now. It was SO great to hang out with mom, Mike, Lucille, Justin and Clark and Lucy. I would really like to go back alone to just soak up family time on my own.

The weather was heaven but that is to be expected. It was great to see Clark's place/ life in Kelseyville. It is a very pretty drive there from mom's house.

Just getting back into work. Drew's birthday is next week. Have no idea for gift. Way behind on food blog. Will be my homework tonight. Love to all. Great updates Chaz and Lyd

Survival

Heck. A week on your own with the kids ain't no thang so long as you have a nanny all day each day and a babysitter at least one night. Actually, we had a fun time together. For some strange reason- and Lena says the same thing- the boys behave better if only one parent is around. It is as if, even at that age, they realize that they can play one off the other. Anyway, they were good boys.

Lena got back on Sun around noon so we actually got to spend some time together over the holiday. For the most part, we just did a lot of projects around the house. It is coming together. Still a long way to go but we love it.

I went to the Bears game again on Thursday night. Lizzie is right. The tickets are great and the games are so much fun.

It has probably been written about repeatedly on this Blog but we sure enjoyed Marco and Clark's wedding. We are even planning to go back in March for a vacation. It was a perfect place for adults and kids and affordable too.

I hope this finds everyone well. Lyd, you sound great. Your kids are so adorable. I can't believe Baker is in school. Holy Moley. Lizzie, hope you had a great trip. I am sure you did. Bet you cooked up some mean grub too. Ludie, I miss you as always. Give my best to Justin. Momma, I love you dearly.