I was a bit concerned that I might be sad having Christmas without snow or cold but as we get closer to Florida the weather has changed from 7 degrees when we left to now 72 degrees and I must say it's not at all bad! Our first time out of the car with the warmer weather was wonderful. We are listening to When My Heart Finds Christmas by Harry Connick Jr. and I'm in the front seat hoping my internet connection keeps so I can finish this post. My ds is driving beautifully! Although he's about ready to come up to a very serious decision he is going to have to make. As an early Christmas gift I got some antlers and a big red nose that goes on my car. We haven't put them on yet because we were afraid the excessive highway driving would ruin them but as we get closer to the house we are going to put them on so we can make a grand entrance. The issue is when I got them and initially put them on the car he said he would never drive the car with those on. The decision he is going to have to make is whether or not he will drive the car with them on as we pull up to the house, because he really wants to be the one driving when we arrive. I can't wait to see how this goes. At this point he is saying he is not going to pull over to put them on, but he has another thing coming if he thinks that's not going to happen.

This trip has been so much fun. The 18+ hour drive has been relaxing. I've even pulled out my iPod and been listening to music I haven't heard in a very long time. I've spent a majority of the trip listening to a weird, variety of music; MIKA, Amy Winehouse and Darius Rucker specifically. MIKA is just fun and funny. Amy Winehouse has such a unique voice I really like and Darius Rucker is one of my favorites. I have always liked Hootie and the Blowfish and was very happy to hear he had his own album out now. I made sure I grabbed that before coming on this long trip.

DH has adapted well to the boys and my road rules. He is normally the one "in charge" on these trips because its just easier that way but since the boys and I made this trip without him earlier in the year we are the experts. He wasn't to sure of Mandy (our TomTom GPS) at the beginning of the trip but now he understands how accurate and good (at least for this trip) she really is. We love our Mandy. He's now cat napping - you go DH.

If I don't post before Christmas I hope everyone has a wonderul Christmas no matter where you are. Merry Christmas and looking forward to a very Happy New Year!

I love this photo. This was taken last weekend after all my attempts at getting "proper" photos failed. It was cold outside, the boys were not cooperating and dad was acting crazy at an event being held at the Central West End. We had not planned on attending and the boys were not interested in sitting on Santa's lap or at the very least next to him in his sled. So, this was my attempt at the next best thing and I liked the result. This was a spontaneous photo taken of the boys reacting to their dad's silly antics. It's honest and fun.

Had to share this beauty. Chad made this for a school project out of clay. Go figure a big block of clay could turn into this:

Yeah Chad!

Thank goodness for the internet. I mean, really, years ago, how would one at 9:30 at night, the evening before Thanksgiving, look up how long they must cook their 20 lb turkey. Seriously, I love the internet! Yeah Google and Butterball.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

Ok, so it's been another long spell since I've been blogging. My bad - again. Remember this photo?:

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles, and 2 empty bowls. He then says, "Divide these 100 marbles into these 2 bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You then can choose one bowl and remove ONE marble. If the marble is WHITE you will live, but if the marble is BLACK... you will die."

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a WHITE marble?

The Answer:
Place 1 white marble in one bowl, and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (40 white, and 50 blacks). This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with just one white marble, therefore life! BUT even if you choose the other bowl, you still have ALMOST a 50/50 chance at picking one of the 49 white marbles.

So how did you do? What would you have done? Can you image being in a position to make a choice like this? I stumbled upon this yesterday in the mail from Duke University TIP Program and knew immediately that I wanted to share this with you. It wasn't until I was typing the answer that I realized why this particular brain teaser resonated with me so much. See I was once faced with a 50/50 proposition and I knew the answer to my "teaser" would also change my life significantly. The possibility of an untimely death was also involved.

In December, 1999 I discovered that the breast cancer gene BRCA1 was in my family and that it was probable that my mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 31, had this gene. It was explained to me by a certified genetic counselor that this meant I had a 50/50 chance of having it. If I fell on the good side of 50/50 I would have a normal population of breast cancer risk. But if I fell on the wrong side, I would be at high risk for not only breast cancer but ovarian cancer as well. It was my choice whether or not I wanted to undergo genetic testing to find out which side I fell on. What would you do?

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles, and 2 empty bowls. He then says, "Divide these 100 marbles into these 2 bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You then can choose one bowl and remove ONE marble. If the marble is WHITE you will live, but if the marble is BLACK... you will die."

How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a WHITE marble?

Answer tomorrow.

Too much - that's what! Some of what I've been up to lately includes (but is not limited to):










Off to find pictures of hairstyles!

The lobsters have arrived. That's what Alex told me earlier today. Actually he said something along the lines of, "Come home and eat all your lobsters!" If he only knew. See, DH and I are taking a BIG step and are trying Nutrisystem. So unlike us. So crazy. But necessary. Our lives are too busy and our waist lines keep growing, significantly, so we are going to try this. Both of us, at the same time. The boys, although happy about us trying this and supportive, are worried they will never eat again. When first told what we were going to do Alex made the comment about how they were going to get nothing while we ate nothing but lobsters all the time. LOL! Today, dh's box came but mine has yet to arrive. I peeled open his box and started reading all the food. What was obvious was the portion sizes. DH couldn't wait and tried a bag of honey pretzels. LOL. I had to remind him that we have a lot to learn about portion sizes. A LOT TO LEARN obviously by the size of these portions. But, we (I'm) open minded about this whole new direction. I did have to make the disclaimer that if he ate all of his 28 days of food in 15 days that he was going to starve for the remaining 13 days. And I'm serious about that! We have nothing to lose but weight so we are going for it. I'll post pictures of the boxes soon. Keep your fingers crossed that we become healthy and small!

My bad. Been busy - doing a little bit (or rather a lot of bit) of everything. Going in many different directions at one time and starting to wish this wasn't the case. Doing too many things, means I'm not a master of any! Got to change that!

Getting ready to take a short trip to Chicago for a work conference. Wasn't too excited to go. I've been to Chicago a bunch of times and I'd rather stay home and work some unfinished design projects, like our master bedroom. I'm stuck because I'm trying to find a unique duvet cover so I can finalize my color pallet, but that is easier said then done. I really, really like the bedding shown in the movie P.S. I Love You. (Ignore Hillary Swank in her bra - really just look at the bedding!). Unfortunately I have discovered this bedding was a prior years collection of John Robshaw Textiles and is no longer available. Bad news. As a side note, check out what's on the wall behind her bed. Isn't that cool?! Reminds me of some of Jennifer Bertrand's art on the walls used in some of her designs. I'm loving swirls, in home design and scrapbooking. I'm pretty sure something like this will show up in our master bedroom somewhere. I might have to take out some fabric paint and make my own duvet with these swirls. Hmmmm, that could be interesting!

I also want to finish our kitchen cabinets. Remember they've been painted but I need to finish the top with a build up of crown moulding and then over/under cabinet lighting. Once this is done I can move onto tiling the backsplash. I've resolved I'm not going to be getting a double oven anytime soon so I need to just finish it with the current design. The problem, I can't find the one piece of moulding I need. Here is a picture:

This is a piece I picked up about four years ago at Lowes and of course they no longer carry it. It was just an average in-stock piece! They have apparently changed their distributors (last year) and no one can tell me who carried this piece. I want to use this on the bottom of our cabinets and at the top, upside down. I would then build up the top to add crown moulding (either regular or cove moulding) at the very tip top. I have already spent significant time trying to track down this piece and no such luck, visiting local woodworking companies, other home improvement stores, numerous websites. My next step is to call Lowes headquarters to see if they can provide me any direction what so ever but I'm not holding out much luck. Any suggestions?

I'd also like to design and build a couple pieces for our outdoor living area. I want an island for cooking and a buffet table to put food and utensils on. I have ideas in my head, just need to go gather some of the pieces from a local architectural salvage store and start building.

So, with all of these design things swirling around in my head, I see the time we are going out of town as a great opportunity for uninterrupted design work at home. But, I have to be a good spouse and go on this trip, reluctantly. But then this morning I realized that our hotel is located not too far from the Chicago Merchandise Mart. Be still my foolish heart, a design meca right around the corner. I've always wanted to go there and in looking at our iteniary I should have some significant time to peruse it. And, I should be able to get into the designer only areas. This trip might not be so bad afterall!

First there was this:




And let me tell you, there has been a lot of that over the last few days! My baby is now 15 and driving with a permit. He is offering to go everywhere he knows I like to go, as long as he gets to drive of course. lol. Despite gas prices, we are getting in the car a lot and taking back roads (which means longer drives) so he can get experience. I'm already anxious for him to get good enough to be able to drive on more traveled on roads. He's doing really good, although at times he forgets it's not the same as driving his old kart.

No Alex. You do not accelerate at the apex of a turn! I know you had to do that in your kart so you could get the most from the turn but you do not do it now! It took me several turns to figure out what the heck was happening. LOL.

Alex's hat in the first picture is actually Oscar's birthday hat. We celebrated his birthday a couple days earlier so it was already out. Later that evening Alex had some friends over for a movie on the deck. I think they had a really good time.

And to wrap things up, fireworks just for him.

Ok, not just for him but we like to think so. These are my horrible attempt at photographing fireworks. I need to figure out how to master this skill. Kind of hard when you really only get to practice once a year.

Look how handsome and strong Oscar looks.

I think I must take a closer look...

Oh, he's so smoochable. Maybe just a bit closer so I can really study his handsomeness. Is that a word?

I wonder what he's thinking? I can't get over those crooked teeth. So unique. So him. Very smoochable, and I'm not the only one wanting a closer look as you can plainly see.

I dare you to look this close into his handsome face without feeling the urge to follow it up with one of these.

See, I'm not the only one thinking he's smoochable. Oscars got a face not only a mother should love.

Saved up my pennies (with a little help from an early birthday gift) and got *her*. I stuck with Canon since I already had two other lenses from my 35mm days and I really do *heart* Canon. She is the newest arrival from Canon and is literally the baby of the dslr bunch. She is smallest and lightest of them all, so petite is she! (I should have put a pink bow on her darn-it!) As I did my research I realized that the weight issue ended up being a big deal for me with how I wanted to use the camera. I'm not a professional, although I wouldn't mind being a prosumer someday. I believe this camera will take me to where I need to go even as my needs change. And, to make it even better, she was the least costly model (even though this newest arrival apparently has significant upgrades from the previous one). Yeah!

I'm having fun trying new things and looking forward to taking a couple classes on how to use it from Creve Coeur Camera. I decided to go to the pro's when getting this baby so I would have more support and direction then I've ever gotten before. Best Buy, although a great store, just doesn't care too much once you've left the premises.

Just as with any new baby you have to buy cute clothes. So, I'm looking closely at one of these:



and also this:



The strap I can swing now, but the uber cool camera bag will have to wait. So, which strap do you think?

This truck makes me happy. Someday I will have something like this. Although I'd love to have the wooden rails on the back. So who's truck is this? No idea. I did meet the man that restored it but we didn't swap names. He came out of Lowes when my family was admiring it. From his reaction I don't think it was the first time something like this had happened. I like this truck because it has character, it has history... it's simple.

The past couple of weeks I've been spending a lot of time with my grandfather-in-law. I have learned a lot from him. Do you know how to cook soft-boiled eggs? I do now, thanks to him. (And they are good!) And, did you know that you can buy from the post office envelopes that have your return address already printed on them with pre-printed postage? And, did you know you can buy "forever" stamps that can always be used no matter if the postage changes? I've also learned a lot about organization and have a solid understanding of the phrase - a place for everything, and everything in it's place. Grandpa's house is amazing. Grandpa has character. Grandpa has history. Grandpa is simply amazing.

Bloggers, meet Annabelle. Annabelle, meet bloggers.

Photo courtesy of Alex (14)

Photo courtesy of Chad (13)

You see those white circles? Look hard, move your monitor around so you can get a clear shot. Yep those. Well that's Annabelle, or rather the orb of Annabelle, or Annabelle's orb. You get the picture. I hope you can see them. I didn't want to lighten up the pictures at all at the risk of messing with the Orb, so this is sooc (straight out of the camera).

This is a picture of the back courtyard of the Crescent Hotel, taken from the Lounge balcony (about 4 stories up) around 11:00 pm the second night we were there. You can see the walking (white) path and the green grass. Our family was on the lounge balcony hanging out talking, laughing, enjoying each others company and my boys were shooting away. (Incase the Crescent Hotel is reading this, food was still being served so it was ok our boys were hanging out with us!). Out of about 500+ photos that we took [of the wedding, the hotel and the entire weekend], these are the only two photos that have an orb in them. We were so excited! This is really the only *experience* we had the entire time we were there.

A few nights after these photos were taken, Alex and I went on the Ghost Tour and this is when we learned that Annabelle was one of the many ghosts that stay there and she insisits that she been *pushed* off her balcony to her death in this courtyard around 10:30 pm one evening. And yes I did say *insists*. Apparently some ghosts are very picky about the stories that are being told about them! This is the reason we believe this is Annabelle. Now whether it's her spirit or an energy transfer of some sort that is to be debated. Some believe orbs are not actual spirits, instead they believe they are the energy that is being transferred from a source (ie: power lines, people, batteries...) to the spirit so they can manifest. Since no one was down there at this time, I *believe* (if I were to believe) it is Annabelle. Plus, it made it a whole lot more fun!

We do have two more photos that have significant streaks in them and a shadow in one of them, which as our tour guide told us could be something. I'm not convinced it is anything more than Alex moving the camera on a slower shutter speed with the shadow of the guy standing next to the door he was shooting. But, then again it could be! Alex was taking photos of a door to the room where a lot of activity happens. Two out of the three photos he took, while standing right next to me, were streaky. Very interesting! There is a definately shadow of someone there.

The boys acted tough but I'm not sure they got much sleep while we were there. Today they slept until 11:00, which is rare for them! I let them sleep late since I'm the one that made them stay in a haunted place for the last three nights. They are such troopers. Plus, they let me take some more photos of them. Check this one out!:

Notice Chad isn't especially happy here. He had a rough night. He wasn't too happy after hearing all the ghost stories Alex and I had to share when we returned after the tour. No matter, I love the photo and them there boys. This was the last photo taken as we left out of town. Once we got to the outskirts of town we said, "If there are any ghosts with us we want to thank them for the fun time but they are not to travel home with us. So, go home ghosts, go home." Our tour guide told us to do this because they can travel with us, and that would be something we wouldn't want. Whether one believes or not, it sure doesn't hurt to be on the safe side!