St. pAtRiCKs dAY TraDiTIoNs

The Irish eyes were smiling at our house yesterday as the girls and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day. The girls woke up to a trail of gold coins that led to a green treat for them to put in their lunches. Paige was a little disappointed to learn that her mom left the treats, not a real Leprechaun.

Fortunately, since green happens to be one of Mom's favorite colors, there was no problem finding green clothes to wear to school--no one wanted to get pinched!

After a busy afternoon/evening of post-school activities, we sat down to our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner--corned beef and cabbage. Oddly enough, the girls like the cabbage more than the corned beef, but I do have to say that this year's corned beef was the best I ever made.

And of course, no holiday is complete without a great dessert, the best part.

Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Pie.

Ashley was in heaven

Bus Ride

Yesterday, Ashley had an after-school activity so Paige had to ride the bus home alone. On days like this, I go outside to wait for the bus to drop Paige off. Yesterday, as the bus pulled up I noticed Paige was sitting in the back by the window. I smiled to myself because those are the seats the "big kids" or fifth graders usually reserve for themselves. I wondered how Paige managed to sit there without Ashley. I figured she must be an assertive Kindergartner.

When she got off the bus, I asked her about where she was sitting and she told me she sat next to Ryan. I asked her if she meant Ryan as in "the coolest boy in the 5th grade" Ryan. She said yes. Then I asked her how she ended up sitting by him, to which she replied with a smile, "I was on the bus and didn't want to sit by myself, so I asked Ryan if he would sit by me, and he said, 'yes.'"

Well okay then, just as I thought, she is ASSERTIVE.

Gametime

I am so lucky to have such a fun husband. If the opportunity presents itself, he is always up for a good time (I mean that in the most wholesome way possible.) On Tuesday, he got tickets from work to the Bulls game. So at the last minute, we dropped everything and headed to the United Center. The Bulls happened to be playing the Utah Jazz. Now, we like Chicago sport teams, but when it comes to basketball we are true Jazz fans. Did I mention that our seats were on ROW 4, right behind the Bulls bench. Yeah we were close and on TV if you were watching. And the Jazz won! Fun. Fun. Fun.


Paige is wearing the free Bulls t-shirt they were handing out at the door. We let her wear it, figuring she could distract from us cheering for the Jazz.


Ashley being a true fan and sports fanatic, didn't want to wear her shirt.

Okay, I had to include this picture of the half-time show. These are strength acrobats that have a show in Las Vegas and lets just say they do things that I didn't even know were humanly possible.

A Philadelphia Story

This weekend I went to Philadelphia to visit my sister Debby. I went all by myself, no kids.
Dave worked from home and took care of the girls, so I could enjoy a "girls' weekend" with my sister. Debby's significant other was on a trip to Japan so it was just the two of us and we had so much fun.

This was my first visit to Philadelphia and Debby was so generous and kind. She took me all over the city. We did tons of sightseeing and ate so much good food it's going to be with me for a long time!

Okay, if you would like to stop reading right here, go ahead, because the following is long, wordy and full of details. It's really more for my own record, so I understand if you get bored and it's not like I am going to know you chose not to read about every detail of my trip.

Okay, if you are still with me, I just have to put in this disclaimer before you start looking at pictures: I don't look good in any of these pictures. There are two reasons: 1)I'm next to my gorgeous, beautiful, skinny sister in many of them--I don't have much of chance in that situation. 2)A tradition between us is that Debby who loves big hair and make-up always styles me once when we are together. Well, this time didn't go so well. I had an allergic reaction to her make-up. My face, eyes, cheeks swelled up and I got an accompanying itchy, burning rash. Even now four days later, the swelling has subsided but my face still feels and looks like I got a chemical peel. Okay end of excuses, here we go....

PHILADELPHIA - SIGHTSEEING

We did our first day of sightseeing on foot. Here we are at Love Park in front of the famous sculpture.

We walked from the park through the heart of the city to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, not really for the purpose of seeing art, but to pay tribute to the fictional guy on the left. Yep. I had to do it.

Watch out Rocky! Here I come. Getting ready to make my run up the steps.

That little blurry person at the top with arms in the air is me...I made it


And here I come, down the steps

Now, I just have to say a word about this whole experience. No disrespect to Rocky, but those steps are easy!

On day two, sightseeing was by double decker open air bus. A little chilly in 45 degree weather but having a tour guide give us all the history of the city was so worth it.

The highlight of the bus tour was the stop at the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall

Our sightseeing wasn't all historical, we also went to a hockey game to watch the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was my first NHL game. Debby's boyfriend, Sameer, arranged the tickets for us. We sat very close to the ice on row 11. It was a lot of fun, I have to say live professional hockey is very exciting.




PHILADELPHIA - THE FOOD

Downtown Philly has a pretty significant amount of residential space, so besides office buildings, there are lots of shops and restaurants around. In fact, everytime you go outside, the smell of food cooking wafts all around you. No wonder, I ate so much.

One of our first stops was Reading Terminal Market. One of the largest and oldest public markets in the country. Inside is filled with hundreds of vendors and thousands of people. It was very, very crowded. I literally could have spent days in there, but the crowds are a bit prohibitive. We did manage to enjoy Ruben and Pastrami sandwiches from a New York-style deli, homemade chocolates, and some hot German pretzels.

I also couldn't leave without making a visit to another famous Philly landmark---Geno's for a cheesesteak. I don't know what it is, but the Cheese Whiz on a steak sandwich in Philadelphia is better than any Cheese Whiz I can buy at the store. It's also really good on the fries.

Now I know I might be getting into trouble here, but I just have to say it--my cheesesteak was delicious, but I don't think it beats a Chicago Italian beef sandwich.

We ate at so many great restaurants. We had Brazilian churrascaria, sushi, and the best Mexican food I have had in a while. Here is Debby at the at the Mexican restaurant:

PHILADELPHIA - THE ACCOMMODATIONS

This weekend I stayed with Debby in her apartment which is right downtown across from City Hall. In fact, below is the view from her building, which happens to be called the Ritz-Carlton Residences.

The residences are adjacent to the Ritz-Carlton hotel and you can enjoy the amenities of the hotel such as room service, etc. but you really don't need to because the residences also have their own separate amenities. I was very happy to make use of the gym, pool, concierge, and car service. Talk about fancy.
Here we are with the Doorman and the Concierge in the lobby of her building. They were so nice and friendly, even if it was their job to be so.

Okay, so that is it. Are you exhausted from reading that? I am exhausted from doing it. And honestly, there was even more, but these are the highlights. I did miss my family and was happy to come home to my cute little girls and my slower-paced lifestyle. I certainly realize what a charmed life I lead to have a sweet husband who makes it a priority for me to have personal time. I am also so grateful for wonderful sister who is a great friend.

My Dear Dyson

It's almost been two years since you came into my home, sufficient enough time for me to give a credible review.

I just finished using you to vacuum the main floor and I would like to say thank you. Even after a couple of years, you haven't lost your lustre. I love your rotating ball, easy empty canister, and powerful suction. I don't even mind washing your filters every three months. Every time I use you, which is often, I think, "I love this machine."

Thanks, you've been worth every penny. (I hope I'm not jinxing a good thing--don't you go and breakdown now!)

Poor Child?

Mmmh? I wonder if she wrote this when no one was paying her any attention or maybe when she had been sent to her room to "cool off" (we had a few of those moments last week.) Well, at least she loves us.

Cooking Class

Saturday afternoon, Dave's at work, household chores are finished, what to do? How about cooking class? Featuring SOFT PRETZELS!

They turned out great. The girls liked them so much, they ate them all and didn't even save one for their Dad:)