Monday, April 1, 2013

A is for Assorted Stuff

Yeah, not very original, but I have to start somewhere, and that somewhere has to start with letter A.

Today marks the beginning of the April A-Z challenge. You'll find details here, but essentially participants post every day (except Sundays) during the month of April, using the alphabet as their guide. If you're visiting from the challenge today, thanks so much for stopping by! Let me know you were here, and I'll come say hello. Also, a great big thank you to the originator of the April challenge, Arlee Bird...our amazingly, awesome A-Z anchorman!

I've played along the past two years and enjoyed the discipline of writing every day, and also the idea of working a theme around each letter. You don't have to have a theme, but I know me and I need the jumping off point a theme provides.

So I have a theme.
Sort of.

I'll share more about that tomorrow (Letter B), but for today I'm going to recap my Easter weekend.  There are a lot of reasons why I blog, but first and foremost is to have a record in words and pictures of life as it happens. Or happened. If you're new here you should know this blog tends to wander wherever it wants.

Where was I going today? Oh yeah, Easter! See why I need a theme?

First of all, may I just say the weather was glorious on Friday and Saturday both, and sunshine and blue skies definitely make a good weekend great.


I trekked to the airport to collect Daugther2 at noon on Friday. Then we all trekked back out in that direction early evening to collect Daughter1 from Amtrak before heading into 'the city'.  Whenever I say 'the city' I mean NYC because it's 'the city'.


Traffic at rush hour was an absolute nightmare, and we literally inched our way to the tunnel and across the river. It was worth it though, to spend the evening catching up with old friends from England.  The  couple we lived beside the entire six years we were there happened to be in town, so we heard news of our village, our neighborhood, and our house. sniff, sniff.

They said the new owners have taken out some of the original features to give it a more modern feel (the house oozed charm!) and they filled in the koi pond, and don't really care about the garden other than to keep it neat.


How could you not care about this garden?

In spite of that sad news we had a wonderful evening and they have the loveliest accents which we could listen to all day long. The four of us are in serious need of a trip back so I've put that on my to-do list.

Once something goes on your to-do list it has to get done, right?


Saturday was too pretty not to get outside so we spent a couple of hours walking around a local nature preserve.  


Somebody had a birthday this weekend, and she needed to chase squirrels and stalk birds to mark the occasion.  


She also needed a Ritas ice cream because everybody does when its their birthday.


Sunshine, old dogs who think they're not, and daughters in the house....I honestly can't think of anything nicer. Except maybe cupcakes. Sunshine, sweet pups, daughters and cupcakes.


Daughter2 baked these for Easter dessert...chocolate pound cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing topped with toasted coconut. So good!

My girls might be in their 20's, but we also dyed eggs because there are some traditions you just don't mess with.


Daughter2 informed us Disney was playing some of their classics this weekend, so after dinner we piled on the couch to watch The Lion King.

Did you know that film was released in 1994?
Did you know googling that made us all feel a little bit old?


You were sweet 1994.

Easter.
Not snowing and only a lot little bit breezy.


Things I love about Easter-I love my whole family on the same pew, the Hallelujah chorus, and the message of hope we are reminded of on Easter Sunday.

I also love being in the kitchen with my girls. They both love to cook, and we always have fun making holiday meals together. I find cooking with children, no matter their age, to be a bonding experience. The conversations we have in the kitchen are similar to the kind we had back in the day of school runs and many minutes a day spent in the car as we drove to dance or music lessons.

Words happen.

They flow in an easy way when you're together in the kitchen, and you get a little glimpse inside their head. I still have good talks with my own mom in her kitchen.


Daughter1 had to catch the train back to DC Sunday evening, and it's always hard to bring the weekend to a close. Daughter2 is home for a few more days so we have plans for gabbing, shopping, lunching, and more gabbing.  We gab.

I hope you had a happy Easter weekend too, and now that I'm caught up it's time to dive into the A-Z for reals. Tomorrow I'll reveal my theme.

Today I'll work on coming up with one.  Ha-just kidding.
But only sort of.

25 comments:

  1. DD2 LOVES NYC. She goes as often as she can. She wants to live there at some point. I'd rather she live here. So glad y'all had your girls home this weekend. Mine will be here in less than two weeks for the big wedding. And now, I have to run and try to come up with my 'B' post...I'm blank. Will that work? LOL

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  2. Oooooh . . . you could leave for England TODAY and make that your theme! Hubs would be totally on board with an impromptu international flight in the name of blogging, right?

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  3. Did I tell you I was going to London in May? first time. Looks like a lovely Easter with your lovely family. Happy Birthday to your pooch!!

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  4. My daughter told me about the Disney marathon. She actually left the house early to go back to school so she wouldn't miss any of it by driving.

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  5. Great post, I love hearing about your family and the precious time you spend together. That traffic does look a nightmare.

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  6. As a San Franciscan, we tend to refer to it as "the city" as well. Even now, that I live 250 miles to the north of SF, people will still refer to it as "the city."

    I guess all surrounding areas near a big city does that. and of course, NYC being the MOTHER of all cities. :-)

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  7. Day 1 done! So glad I got to be home for the weekend even though it was much too short. I enjoy those kitchen conversations as well! So excited to read along this month. xo

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  8. Those cupcakes ... YUM!

    Sounds like you had a simply wonderful weekend.

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  9. I love how close you are to your girls!
    We've been talking lately about going back to England...or visiting Ireland. Personally, I think we could do both! :)

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  10. Glad you had a great weekend. It amazes me how similar we think - we also love to cook together and you do get the chatter that reminds you of those carpool days. I love my girls sitting on a stool at the kitchen island, relaxed and telling me stories about their life :-)

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  11. Lovely pictures, lovely cupcakes...lovely post! Good luck with the challenge! I participated last year and had a blast!

    Donna L Martin
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

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  12. Sounds like a perfect weekend. I happened to catch the last part of Lion King that night too.

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  13. So happy you enjoyed time with your beautiful family, Joyce...just always goes by much too fast, doesn't it?

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  14. Off to a good start with an assortment! Glad you had a great Easter with your girls! And your dog is too funny! He was really enjoying that icecream.
    until next time...nel

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  15. So happy you had a wonderful weekend with your girls.

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  16. Assortment was a fun post. Whenever we think of moving we think about how hard it would be to visit our friends on the street and see our "old" house. We've decided we would all need to move at the same time!

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  17. Glad you were able to meet up with your friends from England. Why would anyone try to update charm? Sounds like a perfect weekend. We didn't do eggs this year because no one was here although I did boil some eggs to eat in my salads.
    Wow, it's been a number of years since I've watched Lion King. Enjoy the rest of your week.

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  18. Perfect weekend with your family.....you ladies look so pretty! Happy AtoZ

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  19. Disney movies make me happy. I realized I missed The Lion King on TV and I got incredibly disappointed because its my favorite movie. Then I remembered, I own it. Then I remembered, they were going to play Mulan, which I didn't own, but I had missed it.............. I found it at the store today and everything was better. haha

    I'm glad you had a happy Easter weekend.

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  20. i always love reading about your beautiful life and lovely family--so happy you had such a nice Easter :)

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  21. It sounds like a great weekend. Due to a new job, I worked through all of it. It'll be better next year.

    Dropping by from A to Z. First year participating and very excited.

    Brett Minor
    Transformed Nonconformist

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  22. Great post. I too love NYC. Thank you for sharing your assorted stuff.

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  23. Enjoyed the photos and look forward to your April theme.

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

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  24. Beautiful blog...beautiful family....love the cupcakes! Cute dog too! I enjoyed stopping by and will be back often. Cool idea for the April theme. Carol

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