Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres

 

Love is a temporary madness,

it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.

And when it subsides you have to make a decision.

You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together

that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness,

it is not excitement,

it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.

That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,

and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,

and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,

they find that they are one tree and not two.

Eight years ago, I married my other half.  He completes me in every way and I will love and adore him for as long as I live.  A thousand times I love you, my tree sidekick.What kind of tree are we?

The Place Where Dreams Come True

What a great slogan, eh?  I felt like my dreams came true just being in the parking lot! Dinosaur 35, thankyouverymuch.

What can I say?  I'm a sucker for Disney.  Not really the current Disney stuff but old school.  Like Cinderella.  Love Lion King. Mickey Mouse Club - original and new.  I grew up on Disney, like most children.  I even remember the day we got cable for the first time and I was glued to the television watching the Disney Channel and wondering why all the times listed for upcoming shows were an hour off.

It has been 16 years since I visited Walt Disney World as a sophomore in high school.  This weekend, my hubby and I got to experience Animal Kingdom - a special, unplanned treat to celebrate our 8th year anniversary.

We BOTH had a blast!

Posin' in front of the Tree of Life - I swear I didn't mean to poke my boobs out.

My Gizmo Man

That's a croc mate!

We only saw this one giraffe and it was munchin on some grub

African elephants. EVERYWHERE.

For the birds

Just chillin right by the safari jeep pathway

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

The most fun coaster ever is in that mountain.  And a Yeti.

Love of my life

Why hello there

Holy bat balls, Batman!

Doesn't this look like we were in another country?  This section of 'Asia' was beautifully done.

Another authentic-ish area

Yah! The parade!  Soooo much fun! And look at our girl Minnie in her little safari outfit!

Rafiki!

 I actually took 178 photos and it was really hard to edit them down to this!

Chad said we should do this more often.  Can't wait to see the rest of the parks in the coming months/years!

Momma's Project

Hola from South Florida! Yo! A1A BEACHFRONT AVENUE!

As you know, I'm constantly crafting.  Well not really constantly.  Maybe constantly THINKING about it but not constantly doing it.  I've had my thoughts on a project I found in a shelter magazine called Cloth Paper Scissors.  This particular issue (from Sept/Oct 2007!) had the absolutely perfect quilting project for me.  I love the idea of quilting and have even started a few of my own but making a quilt is HARD WORK.  LONG HOURS.  DID I MENTION HARD WORK?  If you have a thousand dollars worth of machinery, maybe not so hard but I don't have this.  So in this issue finding an article called 'True Confessions of a Rebellious Quilter' was right up my alley.  Basically, the author loves the idea of quilting too and was taught by her great aunt when she was 12.  But she never finished.  So she decided to come up with a way to make it easier.  Her project involved taking an old photo and transferring it to fabric.  So, I've had several ideas in mind to make a quilt with either one or both of my grandmothers on it...one for Chad and I...for my family...but I would still run into other issues when dreaming up the quilt.

I mention all this to say that I was thinking about this quilt again and decided I should make one for my momma for Christmas and then I immediately thought of two photos I wanted to use of my brother and I for the quilt.  After completely trashing our guest room to find the photos (guess I know what I"ll be doing the rest of my Sunday), I FINALLY FOUND THEM.  Eek! I'm so excited!

Here are the two photos: 

This photo pretty much epitomizes our relationship.
I was around 4.  It was taken
at a photo booth at either Eastwood Mall or
Century Plaza. Love it!

My brother, Mr. Muscle Man, himself. When I see this picture
I just giggle incessantly.

I plan to transfer the photos to black and white for the quilt and design the quilt around the song "You are my sunshine" as inspiration!

Yah!  New project for Jamie!

My Chicken Nuggets!

Stylin...

Wow - had a great Holiday weekend with the family! Our nieces are just two precious and hysterical little babies! Well, they aren't exactly babies anymore!

Mer-Man

Ahhhhhh!!!

Not a huge fan of the sand at first, but eventually it was okay.

You can't see me!

They love their Uncle Chad.

Now this one is a little fishy!

Jazzy took a little bit longer to get acclimated to the water but eventually got the hang of it!

Fun times in South Florida!

And now the best for last....Hugs-N-Punches first video featuring Jazzy J and 'Riyah!

I gotta love and I know that it's all mine oh oh oh ohhhhh

thank you Beth for sending this to me! I think I've watched it 5 times in row in about about 2 minutes and laugh hysterically every time...

Of tables and nieces...

I am super excited about my new table that Chad made for me!

Some of the handy dandy tools required...

Adding some finishing touches prior to the paint

Ta da! New table!

Except I didn't like how I had accessorized it so this is how it looks now!

And yah! I'm also super excited about our family coming down over Labor Day weekend!  We haven't seen our nieces in five whole months!

I can't wait to see their cute wittle faces! And give 'em tons of love and kisses!

Jasmine at her birthday party.

Ariyah loved Chad's hat!

I'm quite sure I'm gonna have some great photos of them to share soon!  I have to document how big they've grown!

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Hello from the land of Oops-I-forgot-I-have-a-blog-and-that-sucker-needs-to-be-updated!  See, I could never be one of those bloggers who actually make a living off of their blog.  This is proof.

So for starters let's talk briefly about what I did over my summer vacation.  First, what summer vacation?  I worked like 40 hours a week.  And by work I mean pretended to look busy for 8 hours a day.  See you can still have an imagination at 32!  Pretend can be for grown-ups it's just more in the form of deception. No really, I worked really hard - mainly on putting budgets together so I can see on paper that yes a department of 3 can raise $1 million this fiscal year!  Oye.

Okay nevermind that stressful stuff.  Let's look back on our summer vacation.  What's that you say? You want to see a summer photo montage?!? Why, of course!

Crocheted my little heart away for my bestie!

new glasses that I have to wear 24/7

friends in town for almost a month! They must come back immediately and STAY.

View of the intercoastal down in Boca Raton where I attended a philanthropy conference

One of my fave pics of the summer!  Chad with Joshie, our friends soon-to-be-official little boy!

A night of painting with Dana AKA 20 year old PBA student

Bailea in her groove.  That girl loves to paint!

Boating with friends - Joshie chillin on the sand bar.

Where else can I put THIS STUFF?

Relaxing on the sand bar.

Lou and Joshie in the 2nd cutest pic of the summer!

The BEST night of the summer...boat trip at dusk!

That's the Huizenga clubhouse behind us.  It was ginormous.

Gorgeous sunset at Sailor's Return.

That seriously was the color of the sky - no photo-shopping here!

Trip to Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach (in the pouring rain)!

Yo!

Cool canopy.

Look at the cool lizard tail!

What would a Japanese Gardens be without koi?

Cute bridge - reminded us of BBG.

Beautiful waterfall at the end of our path.

SAid goodbye to our friends, the Maisons, who decided
to leave the palm trees and blue sky for something called snow in Michigan.  Bless their little 'ole hearts!

Well, that's it - I have a few more things to add but those photos haven't been uploaded yet!  Chad technically started his first day today so it's appropriate that I post this today.  Although, I don't recall ever having to talk/write about what I did on my summer vacation in school.  I only see that on t.v.