Happy Birthday Marah!

This is my college roomy. I only get to see her once a year, if I'm lucky, but she is so much of what I equate special college memories with. I can summon the sound of her laughter at the drop of a hat. Besides my family, she believed in me the earliest and now the longest...You are a treasure! Hope its wonderful...

Second Interview

Scott has a second interview with MIT's Science Library this morning! It is supposed to be three hours long!! We are trying not to get our hopes up, but that is surely a good sign...

Moving In...

I am so excited to be able to unpack after two months of being in limbo. I LOVE my new kitchen. We finally have room for a table. No more meals at the coffee table in the living room. There is plenty of cupboard space and I even have a linen closet. Today and tomorrow, I am not working at Starbucks, so the plan is to try to clean the new apartment and paint the front room before we haul everything down. But I don't know how much I can get done with these allergies...

Allergies

I haven't experienced severe allergies like this for probably five or six years. Every day, I have a new demonstration of my body "fighting for my survival."

This morning, I woke up with this. What is it??? My right eye is itchy and swollen half shut. It may be time to visit the doctor, but who has time for that?

A Bike for Scott

Sunday, Scott got on Craig's List and made it his purpose for the afternoon to find a bike and go buy it, since his has been gone for a month now. He found a beautiful new-used Trek, with a bell ;o) and a bike stand (so that you can ride stationary in a basement during the winter) from a girl near Cambridge for a great deal. I'm so happy for him. Sometimes, blessings are red with wheels on them.

Update: And sometimes setbacks are merely flat tires...but oh, the timing. That great deal just got a little more costly.

Revere

One more thing about Saturday night's Feast of St. Anthony. When we were headed to the Green Line on our way home that night, we were looking at this cobbled street and commenting that it is probably original--from three hundred years ago or more. Then we looked up, sucked in our breath and said at the same time without reading the sign, "That's Paul Revere's House!!" And so it was. What a cool thing to stumble across unexpectedly at night in downtown Boston.

Coffee anyone?

My sister had this fun post, so I decided to take the quiz, even though I already knew the answer...Actually, I don't agree with these results. Whereas 50% usually means Take It or Leave It, I leave it much more often than I take it...and I work at Starbucks! Ever since my Seattle's Best Coffee days (which is still the best, if you ask me), I have insisted on not getting dependent on the caffeine. Who needs it? I do NOT like the pounding of my heart when I accidentally drink one shot of espresso, instead of decaf espresso. Imagine. And when my customers order 6 shot americanos and five shot caramel macchiatos, sometimes twice in one day, I cringe inside.

I am 48% Addicted to Coffee

And just for entertainment's sake, my answers were that I 1.) usually drink lattes (as opposed to drip coffee) 2.) at work 3.) in the morning 4.) 3-4 days a week 5.) I'm to the point where I feel fine in the morning if I don't have any; I'm not a monster, like some of our ungrateful, spoiled regulars 7-8.) I grind but don't roast 9.) I can taste the difference betweeen blends and 10.) I usually have one very small, half decaf cup a day. There should be another coffee quiz for people who think they know their coffee, with questions like, what are the three coffee bean processing methods and what growing regions offer a bolder, lower acidic yield....huh? Yeah.

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite...

I have a recurring problem. No, we don't have bedbugs, although I've heard that they are an epidemic in ancient and transient Boston. I keep waking up with fresh bugbites (and hope they are not spiders.) I am having extreme reactions to mosquito bites. Several weeks ago, I got one on the bottom of my foot that turned hot, hard and purple so that I couldn't walk on it for a week! This is my latest jewel--plump and ruby, and if you look close, you can trace the outline and see that it is the size of a small, pear-shaped pancake (hmmm, pear pancakes....interesting)

St. Anthony's Feast

Last night, as an extension of our anniversary celebration, Scott and I went back down to the North End to go to the 88th annual Feast of St. Anthony, in what is most definitely a Little Italy, although I'm not sure if that is what they call it....This is reportedly the biggest festival of the summer in the North End, anyway.

Being that I have seen three major US cities' Little Italies, (not to mention Italy itself), I think I can credibly say that this is the most authentic one. It was full of Bakeries, Cafes, Trattorias, Ristorantes and Pasterias. The shops sell cannolis, cappuccinos, stromboli, ravioli, biscotti, gelato...you name it, and all run by 100% Italianos. They even weigh up the food, instead of having a set price for like items.

But back to St. Anthony. I couldn't help but get the overwhelming feeling of being in the middle of paganism, even if the participants were completely ignorant to it. They actually held a parade that processed down Endicott Street for ten hours, carrying a statue of St. Anthony. "Starting on Friday night, the Statue of St. Anthony of Padova is taken from his permanent Chapel at 201 Endicott Street and escorted by marching bands to a temporary chapel where it remains under guard for 29 hours before it is paraded back to its permanent home."While it blesses the festival with its presence, people are free to go up to it, light a candle and pin a dollar bill to the statue's streamers. I truly felt a little out of place, since my purpose was not to venerate a dead man, but to get some awesome food. It reminded me of the Children of Israel who lifted up a golden cafe and threw a drunken celebration in the streets. How absurd. How human. This is what we do. We dance for rain, we self-mutilate for the gods, we chant and meditate, we jump up and down with thousands of other people in an arena over a pig-skin ball, we watch a flickering box for hours on end to gain quasi experiences...all because we innately long to be connected. We are born to worship something; it's in our nature.

Good News!

I just thought I'd let everyone know, who is aware of our tricky moving situation on September 1st, that the occupant of our soon-to-be apartment, left a whole week early because he couldn't find a UHAUL for next weekend so he had to rent one this weekend. This is such good news because it means we can take our stuff downstairs all week and will easily be out by next Saturday in time for the guy taking our summer sublet to move in! Thank you, God! I am so excited to start moving...

Gene...

If he were still with us today, Gene Kelly, my teen idol, would be 95! It is hard to fathom. August 23rd used to mean SO VERY MUCH to me. It's funny how time changes things. I sure expected to meet him one day. Maybe I will yet... He is still very much my hero, as I embark on this long awaited Master of Music in Musical Theatre next week at Boston Conservatory!

Darleen

This is my life long buddy Dar buying me lunch at the Emporium before I hit the road for Boston. Happy Birthday, Old Lady! Enjoy the last of your twenties...

Our Anniversary

Today was our third year anniversary! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Scott and I dated for three years and now we have been married for three years! I took the day off, but Scott had landscaping opportunities until noon. I took the chance to give the house a good clean for our company, Trish and Ryan from Seattle! We went out to eat in the North End at an Italian restaurant called Express. They got on the road by seven so Scott and I walked around and found a gelato stand, then walked through Quincy Market. It was beautiful outside.


We found a shop that was selling a garment made of Indian silk that can be worn 100 different ways! After being a live model while the pretty Israeli girl showed me different ways to wear it with one that had my favorite colors, Scott bought it for me to commemorate the occasion. This is one of the ways to wear it as a shirt...

I wanted to do a slideshow of a bunch of pictures over the last six years, but we haven't unpacked everything during this summer sublet. After we move downstairs, I'll pull them out and will feel so much more settled and comfortable with everything...

Also, a big 22nd BIRTHDAY GREETING to Britters, who brings youth and vitality to this old family! I love you like a sister and hope it is one you won't soon forget.

Happy Birthday Carl!

I was a stricken deer that left the herd

Long since; with many an arrow deep infixed

My panting side was charged, when I withdrew

To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.

There was I found by One Who had Himself

Been hurt by the archers. In His side He bore,

And in His hands and feet, the cruel scars.

With gentle force soliciting the darts,

He drew them forth, and healed, and bade me live.

~William Cowper, The Task, Book III

Thank you for your love and for your spirited testimony, Dad!

Celebration of Life

Man is not a balloon going up into the sky, nor a mole burrowing merely in the earth; but rather a thing like a tree, whose roots are fed from the earth, while its highest branches seem to rise almost to the stars.

~G.K. Chesterton

This is my cousin Angel. She is one of the most giving, caring people I know. Watch her close, because she is about to blossom and her brilliance will dazzle your eyes...Happy Birthday, make it your best one yet...

Johnny Came Marching Home...and he's still marching

Happy 91st Birthday Grandpa!!!

John Mester was born in South Bend, Indiana on August 11, 1916... or so we think. His birth certificate is either unclear or missing because his family never could never remember if he was born on the 10th or the 11th!
He married Martha Nygrin in 1942 at 26 years old, when he was in the National Guard before the war started. She was working at a drug store called The Philadelphia and he came in to have a soda fountain. They flirted and decided to get married the next day, because he had to go down south from some kind of training camp! After going to the Justice of the Peace, they were married for just over a year before Grandpa had to leave for more duties with the National Guard overseas.

Grandma went to join the Navy after he left because she decided she didn't like living alone. (Incidentally, she was stationed at Navy Pier in Chicago!) They were apart when the war started--my dad has Grandpa's diary and there is an entry from December 7, 1941, talking about the shock of Pearl Harbor hitting US soil... The national guard got mobilized and he was sent to Burma and was part of the Engineers of the Army laying pipelines. They were apart for two years (a long time for newlyweds!) when they got discharged. After arriving home safely and on the very same day, they realized that they had come home on the very same South Shore commuter passenger train--in different cars...They started their little family soon after and had their first born on Christmas Eve 1947! What a perfectly romantic World War II love story!

I love you very much Grandpa and am so proud of your accomplishments, life and legacy...You are a gem and I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Not just any birthday...

Happy 30th Birthday, Heidi!!! I can hardly believe we are through our twenties....they weren't THAT great, were they, that we are hanging on to them for dear life?? I've been thinking about you all day and hoping that you are enjoying being back in Indiana and around your family and friends who love you! And I love you too...

Happy Birthday Lori Mom!

There's a tear in your eye
and I'm wondering why
for it never should be there at all.
With such pow'r in your smile
sure a stone you'd beguile
so there's never a teardrop should fall.
When your sweet lilting laughter
like some fairy song
and your eyes twinkle bright as can be
You should laugh all the while
and all other times smile
and now *smile* a smile for me.

~Chauncey Olcott and George Graff Jr.

We love you and miss you! We can't wait to see you in two months! Hope you had a wonderful, memorable day...

In this next year of life...
May the road rise to greet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields. And, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

~Irish Blessing

Happy Birthday Mom!

She...

Thank you Harriett, because of your labor of love, she was born...


She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

~Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)

Happy Birthday Mom! I can't imagine a dearer mother than you. With every year that passes, nay, every mundane day and sometimes hour, I am overwrought with feelings of gratitude, abounding love, and such kindredness of spirit! The adage is wrong--it is time that makes the heart grow fonder. You are my healing balm, my laughing elixir, my greatest confidante. I long to share my every life's experience with you, so that yours may double in wonder and fulfillment and so that you can see firsthand, the blossom of your offspring. But if I want to be with you, all I have to do is summon you in heart and you are there, because I am so many pieces of you, we cannot truly be parted. Yet how can I ever be quite like you, to echo my sister, when you are God's definitive servant? His most innocent child? His ever willing student? I love who you are. You are my gold standard. "Teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart to wisdom." You are 56, you blessed daughter of Zion!

With tuppence you can do anything....

Scott and I watched Mary Poppins tonight. Can you believe, he had NEVER seen it? I'd like to know how someone from our generation escaped childhood without seeing it. Wasn't it on every year like Wizard of Oz and It's a Wonderful Life?? I was so excited that I took pictures of the TV during the movie. I was singing along with all of the songs and felt the same thrill as I did way back when...





Why Mary Poppins? We were enjoying a good laugh, as we so often do, and I started to sing the song "I Love to Laugh" as sung by Uncle Albert. I remembered all the different versions of laughter that Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke perform and Scott wanted to know what it was from...I said "Mary Poppins, for the 15th time." Then Scott said with genuine enthusiasm, "Let's rent it for Wednesday night!" After all, I feel it is imperative that he is familiar with all of the classics that I draw from and quote from and sing from, don't you agree?

So we used this bit of nostalgia to celebrate Scott's first interview today, at the University of Massachusetts Boston, after two long months of submitting his resume without a bite. We studied and coached and role-played for days and he feels it went brilliantly! We really need him to get a job soon because just like the song, "with tuppence you can do anything, if you have your own set of wings...." Scott called as a follow up and found out that the hiring manager is on vacation and a decision won't be made until the 15th or 16th...ARG! The hiring manager is ALWAYS on vacation in these situations :o) We're going to have to shake some chimney sweeps hands on this one..."or blow us a kiss, and that's lucky too!"

A special thanks goes out to my cousin Brittani who helped me figure out how to post a slideshow. Thanks ;o)