the storm before the calm

so it's been busy crazy stressful challenging here for the last few weeks.  i am finishing up the last of the mother/daughter tea stuff.  and the list is long.  lots of printing and gluing and finishing up the seating chart.  it's like a wedding but imagine that there are 10 "drunkels" that no one wants to sit next to, but you still have to find them a seat without offending them.  it's a difficult task.  but it's getting done.

so this morning after i drop sofia off at school i will head over to cha with my crockpot full of bbq chicken for the teacher appreciation luncheon.  i love cooking for the teachers and making a big luncheon as a way of saying "thank you" for all that they do.  it is a picnic lunch with bbq sandwiches, salad and lots of desserts.  after that i pick sofia and the boys from school then i come home to finish the flowers for the booth that sue will be handling tomorrow.

i think we have a cute set up.  it's appropriately called, "lucy and ethel's".  she is selling aprons and knitted caps and pin cushions.  i have the hairclips and a friend of mine made chocolate covered oreos. we will have a vintage feel to the booth.  let's see how we do at the fair.

then tonight i go back to school to decorate the area for the tea.  i'll bring all of the supplies that we've been putting together and some wine and we'll make a party out of it.

tomorrow we have andrew's game and then i'm off to school at 9:30 for set up.  the tea will be all day pretty much.  at 7pm we have tickets, luxury suite tickets, to the dodger game. my friend who gave us the most excellent tickets last year, invited us to join her family in their luxury suite.  five tickets, free parking, food galore and oh yeah the dodgers, who are not on my good side right now.

sunday, my other friend marisol and i are going to the pasadena showcase house  i have always wanted to go to this and now i will.  we will eat lunch there and then head home because we have to go to the preschool spring picnic.  we go to this every year.  the kids love all of the fun activities and i love the gift baskets.  they put together some amazing items.  we'll see what i come home with this time.

and that is the weekend.  next week will be a little calmer, although the last big school event is on friday.  our eco festival, and yes i am on that committee too.  but there is not a whole lot to do, at least for me.  i made the order form and am organizing the parents for our booth, and bringing the breakfast and setting up the pto booth, ok that is alot.

my other task will be getting andrew ready for his first communion on saturday.  i need to get him a suit, order food for the brunch and get the house organized.  we will celebrate his birthday and watch him play baseball that day too. 

maybe the calm isn't really that calm.   but it will be exciting.

week in the life - sunday

last day to capture.  after saturday night we really needed some quiet time.  bobby went to baseball practice in burbank while i slept in.  then i update my blog.

had a cup of coffee

made a breakfast burrito

and did the dishes

and look what sits on my windowsill. 

remember this post?  it was my birthday present from angela.  see, having a blog pays off.  i love them, thanks ang.

then bobby came home with the kids.  they were tired, but had a great time with bob, d and the acquerelli family working on plans for the wedding.

in the afternoon we met up with our friends, the barons, for a friendly baseball game and picnic at the park.

they brought along their dog, trigger, who had just as much fun playing with the other dogs.

it was an amazing day.  beautiful weather and a good time with friends.

we will definitely be doing this all summer.

at home it was about getting ready for a new week.  one of the 4 events i've been working on is over.  now it's on to the teacher appreciation luncheon and the mother & daughter tea this week.

for dinner we enjoyed spaghetti and some of the cabernet from the dinner on saturday. 

we lucked out and got to bring a few of these bottles home.  i love the label.  another episode of mad men, oh it's getting good and then off to bed.

and my schedule for monday that doesn't include a tea meeting and baking cupcakes for the bake sale on tuesday.  it never ends!

so that's our week.  tiring, huh?  i'll put these into an album at some point along with my notes and a few things i collected for the week.  i'm loving this album.   And I have some of paper from this collection and i bought this and this.   And I can't wait to see what Ali does with hers.  It will be fun to put it all together.  But not this week, and maybe not next week.  but soon and i will post.

i'll leave you with these two pics of my keychain that remind me everyday to live in the moment.

that's what it's all about after all.

week in the life - saturday

ok maybe this was the craziest day of the week or at least the most unforgettable.  it started with baseball.

sorry no pictures of the actual game, just of the fans.  we played the bulldogs this morning, the only undefeated team in our division.  they have a kid that throws heat.  andrew struck out looking again and then made it to coach pitch but couldn't hit it.  then . . .

it's bottom of the 6th (they only play 6 innings), 2 outs, the score is 2-1, they're winning.  a runner on 3rd and andrew is up.  i can't even watch.  he makes it through 4 pitches and never swings, they are all balls.  bobby is giving me the play by play as i hide behind the stands.  coach comes up to pitch and andrew smacks one down to right field, the crowd goes wild, but the short stop puts his glove up and catches it, three outs!  so close.  but i was so proud of him for swinging.  yeah they could have tied the game but the fact that he swung and hit it that hard was a victory for him.  we stopped at robek's for a power smoothie.

andrew came home with some energy to play baseball.  he pitched and was playing catch with bobby.  he was on a high.  it's amazing to see.

then i packed up the car and headed to school to drop off our wine for the dinner. 

they have transformed the school into an amazing event site.  here is the table where 170 people will be sitting down to dinner.  they put a dance floor down and have lounge seating.  there will even be a smores table.  our wine will be served with dessert and we will hang out in that area and talk to people as they taste it.  totally nervous about that.  but super excited to see this whole event come together.

i went back home to shower and get ready.  bob and diana watched the kids for us and they were sleeping over at their house.

the invitation said california casual  and i had this outfit from my birthday, just added the necklace .  it was perfect.

when we got to school it was amazing, the table , the lights and everyone was so happy to be there. the appetizers were perfect, warm goat cheese tart, lamb skewers and fava bean puree crostini.  we mingled and checked out the auction (to high for us) and then sat down for dinner.

i'm not going to post all of the food pics, i did take pictures of each course, but the food was incredible.  they had a chef making the courses and they served them family style at the table.

oil poached albacore with potatoes and golden eggs from a parent's ranch.

strawberry and orange agua fresca from a farm just a few miles from our house.

bison sirloin tip roast with grilled spring onions and leeks, baked ricotta and salsa verde.  despite the fact that we haven't had beef in over a year we couldn't resist trying this.  and it was fabulous!  we chatted with other parents and spent time with the teachers talking about things besides our kids.

me and b.

they introduced the chef and then bobby as the winemaker.  then it was off to have smores and wine.

homemade marshmallows and graham crackers + chocolate.

roasting the perfect marshmallow.

our wine ready for pouring.  i was so nervous.  this is a tough crowd with a knowledge for wine.  all of the comments were good if not great.  one guy kept bringing people over to try it and he even introduced me to someone who wanted to buy 100 bottles.  wow!  maybe we are on to something. too bad we don't have 100 bottles to sell.  so happy that it went well.  even the OIF people enjoyed a glass . . . or 2.

and we ended the night dancing.  lots of dancing and enjoying being under the stars on campus.  it was a perfect night.

gratitude: being able to experience this once in a lifetime event.  i wish we had money to go to some of these events.  but having it at our school and serving our wine, it was truly magical.


thoughts on today: i take on too much and give away my time, and i complain and get frustrated.  but seeing something like this come together and seeing everyone happy makes the hard work worth it. 

week in the life - friday

get ready cause this was a jam packed day.  starting with mom and grandmas day at sofia's preschool.

painitng, planting, pictures, playing.  sofia showed off her class and her friends to my mom, sue and d.  she was so proud.  they played a game of uno.  it was so fun to watch.  we ate strawberry shortcake and just hung out together.  i look forward to this day every year. 

she stayed at school for a little bit while i ran to target.  sue picked her up from school and met me at home for lunch.

i had some huge tasks to get done today. 

i am making flowers or the mother & daughter tea.  sue helped me cut them all out then i heated, stacked and sewed them together.  they will have pearls or buttons in the center.

i also had to bake all of the corn muffins for our dinner saturday night.  sue did that for me.  don't they look yummy and pretty with the brown wrappers.

and then there was time for some catch in the back yard.  grandpa tom took the train from orange county and bobby picked him up at the subway station across from his office.  we are celebrating sue's birthday tonight.

i made three pizzas for dinner; pepperoni, bbq chicken and margarita.

i mean sofia and i made three pizzas.  she loves to help with the pepperoni.

then we went to menchi's for some frozen yogurt.  my favorite topping are those mochi balls, love, love, love.

and a birthday hug.

gratitude: i am so thankful for the most wonderful mother-in-law.  i've told her before that she is the ethel to my lucy.  she is so helpful and understanding and although she may think that i am crazy and hair brained, she never lets me down.   happy birthday mom.  i love you.

thought for today: life is good.  and full.  and happy. 

week in the life- thursday

thursday was a more peaceful day.  i had the day to get things organized and catch up on some things around the house. 

both boys had fieldtrips today.  andrew went to see the movie "oceans".  and jordan had community service.  so it was CHA shirts again.

i spent most of the morning just getting things organized for the tea.  spreadsheets, order forms and LOTS of emailing.  this event comes together fairly easily but there are a lot of components to keep track of.

then i read to sofia.  we stayed in our pajamas until lunchtime.

 lunch was half a pb&j sandwich and some grapes.  then we went to meet with jordan's teacher and pick up the boys.

jord takes fencing on thursdays so we got to capture the group as we went up to class.  he really loves it, his favorite elective so far. 

another quick stop at home for a snack and some play time and then it was off to baseball.  andrew has been struggling a bit at the plate.  he hasn't gotten a hit in the last 3 games, he strikes out watching, not swinging.  we think it's stage fright and are working on getting him to just swing the bat.  who cares if he hits it, just swing.  no luck today, but he'll get there.  i also had to keep score at the game.  a little nerve racking but i got the hang of it.  and we won 2-0.

he was really proud.

i am almost embarrassed to admit that this was dinner.  there is a great mexican place between the baseball field and home and on game nights it where we go.  the nachos are a-ma-zing. 

then it's bath, books and bedtime. 

and someone is getting tired of me pointing the camera in his face.


gratitude: thankful for this day to catch up and ease up a bit. 

thoughts on today: our lives are full.  it's amazing to see that although it seems like our days are all over the place, there is structure and consistency in what we do.  somehow amidst all of this, we find a way to keep it together . . .at least this week.