this is....

a notepad of dreams. i bought this notepad several years ago just because i thought it looked cool. then about a year later, it stll lingering in my handbag, Bill & I had 'a night'. a "Han's Night". if you know us well, you know what that is, or i should say was. it was something very special in our life that we miss dearly. i can say, "Han's nights were FILLED with great food, good friends and fine wine". i can never thank our waiter Tim enough, for teaching Bill to enjoy wine beyond Pinot Gris.

on this particular night, after more of the fine wine than usual we decided we wanted to write down 20 dreams we have for our life together. 20 turned into 30 turned into... there are 56 total that were written that night. the ones toward the end are a bit illegible... thankfully it is Bill's writing and he is so good at bullet points, he & i can make them out quite clearly.

this is the back of it. although this was NEVER Laura's pad, it shows her endless desire in junior high to WRITE ON EVERYTHING! the furniture in her bedroom is proof of this as is our pad of dreams. (o: cute


we decided that night to reach one of the goals/dreams. it was so fun. it was to leave our favorite waiter at Han's $100 tip. that was years ago... it is such a blessing and a true blast to just give. try it. your heart will soar!

as i am packing tonight. i came across the pad. (it lives in a safe place in my closet). i had to thumb through it, like i do every now and then. to date we have been able to do 18 of the things written down! in the next 10 days we will be knocking off 3 more. so cool!

you know, you never know where your life may lead and it certainly does not hurt to dream. God is so good. we are blessed.

found

i admit FOUND to be a guilty pleasure of mine. i think it is very ingenious idea for a website. i find it alluring and addicting.

i found something today, worthy of a post here, in my simple opinion. i need to preempt by saying. Bill has often said to people when they compliment him on his talent, "well thanks but someday it's just going to end up in the garbage".

several months ago there was a SISTERS AREA CHAMBER DINNER. one of the main focuses of the dinner was the impact if the new SISTERS AREA LOGO and the hopes they had for it! it is a wonderful logo that you can read all about HERE on my humble yet amazingly talented husband's blog. the night of the dinner they had the LOGO everywhere. it was quite coveted. women were running around getting as many of the coasters as they could off the tables. they were excited to take them home for their own use so they could feel a part of "THE PIONEERING SPIRIT" it was quite complimentary to Bill's gift of Branding.

alas... the reason my my post. i found this today on the ground in a dirty parking lot. it has proved Bill's statement somewhat true. what was once a sought after piece of art, a community, a vision...

is a trampled piece of.... art, a community, a vision.

honey, whether a gold medal or the ground, your talent is impressive. i am honored to be your wife!
the rustic look has just been 'enhanced'.

love
l
xo

bad burn

laura came home for the weekend, which is really nice. it's always a warm filling to have the house filled a bit more with our family. it was fun for me to surprise her with fresh flowers in her room and a festive stack of birthday presents. she will turn 19 when we are in Italy!

she got up this a.m. and informed me that she had a bad sunburn that she had gotten on thursday watching a sporting event at school. my response was, "oh, ouch... i will get you some aloe vera." she said, "i think it may be worse than that."

i admit i have not seen a sunburn like this ever, i tan easily and can not relate at all. when she says this hurts, i believe her. it is just THIS BAD on one of her shoulders, the other is close.. the rest of her body is just red everywhere.

OUCH!

we spent the afternoon in urgent care. she has been lanced, treated and dressed. it is surprising how little can be done for a burn. they treat it with internal pain medicine basically. so she has a 2nd degree burn and 30 vicodin to help her through it! uck! i feel bad, i know it hurts, a lot.

happy early birthday to our beautiful girl. you are so lovely and wonderful. i am so sorry it hurts so bad! it will get better. in a few days (o:

signs of Italy...

well we have studied the history, (it is quite amazing... i never knew how hugely influential the Medici were. i am quite excited to actually see the art that they are responsible for being created) i have studied maps, options of things to see, places to go, outlets to shop and i feel pretty well prepared. i am so nervous to be so far away at the same time i have a feeling i will fall in love with tuscany.

yesterday a GPS arrived on my doorstep, not any GPS. this one if specifically programed for Italy! i am doing everything i can think of to keep us from getting lost in the tuscan countryside. i can only imagine. the thought of Bill driving in Italy (they drive crazy fast there and the roads are so narrow) not knowing his way around... i can just hear the italian obscenities being shouted our way! so not only have i printed out every single route we could possibly need, i took the plunge and rented an Italy GPS. i just really hope it speaks english!

as you can see my binder is quite well organized and filled to the brim with information! now i just have to convince Bill he needs to read it on the flight over! (*.*)

our euros came in today. Bill was excited, he thinks they are a much better design than the American dollar! i was excited but a little bummed... there were so few! they are very pretty and look and feel like really nice play money. but for $1500 you only get 920 euros )o:. oh the dwindling american dollar....


one more week. time to start packing so i can unpack and then repack! i ALWAYS over pack! so i am going to try this method.. take half out before i repack the second time (o: yeah... right... i am a confessed clothes hound.

here is the villa we are staying at, wow! just click villa. i think it looks absolutely lovely there!

ArrivederLa
Leila

mother's day!

Mother's Day has always been a little difficult in this family. Bill has always tried so hard to make it special but the kids were never really very into it. They never owned it, so it never meant much to them. It's always been a bit depressing...

I think maybe it's because when you are raising a family, really, every day is Mother's Day. That's what mothering is about. The day to day. That is where one of the greatest blessings come from, doing exactly what you are made/meant to do. It is just a rich and rewarding experience being a mother. Nothing extra is desired at all.... So Mother's Day always seemed a bit contrived in our family... A struggle for ALL involved!

Then you go and get slapped in the face with an empty nest on Mother's Day and it's more like "OUCH"! Maybe the forced Mother's Days were not so bad. Today is going to be SO SAD! Seeing all those young mothers at church finding meaning and purpose in their lives... When I, now, almost 47, four wonderful children later, two blessed with spouses, the other two doing well at finding their own path in life.... I am faced with, "Oh my, who am I?"

I often wonder if the young mothers at our church look at me and think...., "She knows nothing, she has no children..." Since we are at a new church this last year, no one knows me, at all." or "How sad, look at that couple, they have no family." I am just saying, "I wonder what goes through their young minds when the see Bill & I all alone, but together...."

I have come to the realization that my life and identity has been in the raising of my family. In which I am almost done. (Well in a way) Of course we are never done.... It's just less than the day to day it has been for so very long. I am at a season of change, a change that I do not know or foresee. Because of that, Mother's Day can be a frightening thing!

Heh, but then I was surprised ( a surprise is very hard to pull off with me) by my lovely daughter Heidi, flying up to spend the day just to be with me. A blessing beyond words! So my Mother's Day was the real deal. It was just so kind and nice of her and so fun and encouraging for me! I am still a Mom and always will be, my kids are just all grown. Yet so wonderfully grown, they are the BEST of the BEST!

Heidi, I and Bill spent the day together and it was a blast. Once we picked her up from MY SURPRISE we promptly phoned Bill's mom (who's birthday it happened to be also) and asked her to meet us for lunch. The four of us had a lovely and delicious lunch together and talked of mothering (thank you Bill for ALWAYS bringing meaningful conversation to the table). We then spent the day just hanging out at home and then walked to the 'Movie House' for dinner and a Flick! We saw Ironman, it was GREAT! See it!

I did get a NEW CAMERA, YAY! For Mother's Day, so more posts' with photos to come! I was trying to figure it out so I kept taking shots of Heidi at the Gas Station. I think it's quite funny how she knows just how to pose! Both of my girls do that, they are so photogenic, it is quite impressive. I just had to put the whole series of shots since they are so cute!






Of course, me being me... We spent the next day taking Heidi shopping! That girl's shoes were literally falling apart, she needed some shopping, BAD! All of my kids know... Get Mom with time... Go shopping get some needed STUFF.
Four great pairs of shoes (we are girls you know) later and some quite fetching dresses! We had a blast, she is a doll and easy to find fun outfits for!


I am SO thankful that I have been blessed to be a wife and mother. There is nothing on this earth that means more to me. I love all of you. I THANK YOU ALL for your calls. Really there is nothing more a women would ever want in her children and children in law, all of you are so wonderful in your own unique ways. I love all 6 of you so very much. Thank you.

Even though every day does not 'feel' like Mother's Day any longer. In my heart in a way it does, because of each of you!

Heid's goal was to CHANGE the course of Mother's Day in our family. She did, it was so fun and not depressing or contrived at all!

Thanks Heidi for taking the time and effort to remind me. I love you so much!


xo
mum

mom's weekend!

i had the wonderful privledge of spending my weekend in corvallis at OSU for mom's weekend. just let me say this for starters. whoever plans mom's weekend needs to give some council to those who plan dad's weekend.
mom's weekend is WAY better!

first off, it was just great to see laura. she is so wonderfully real and true. what a blessing to have her for my daughter. i adore her heart and soul!
our first stop was the ever popular OSU bookstore. you really have not seen a campus bookstore until you visit OSU. it is a a small Target! i had to get an appropriate 'mom's weekend' tee and a few other items..... you know...

we then attended the 'sing' which i now know what that is. it was a show comprised of the fraternities and sororities ( a world i don't really relate to) competeing against one another in song and dance. it was very entertaining with very fun costumes, average dancing and even more average singing. but it was delightful! really! laura, david ( laura's very nice bf) and i were very happy that our favorite won, with very amusing renditions of dr. suess songs!

the next day was so filled. laura and david were troupers and got up quite early to see the tsunami model in the a.m. (just ask us, we now can teach you on all we learned) the fashion show in the afternoon (which Bill was able to join us for. although he was SUPER embarassed and confused on where to look during the lingerie portion)... it was really good though, local stores and then students. it was quite impressive and i again felt my Heidi Klum coming out. of course we had to run into town and get Laura SOMETHING from the show! we found a cute summer dress at one of the boutiqiues featured in the show. then we went to the comedy show at night. SO FUNNY! comedians crack me up, it is amazing how they make fruit funny! we had a fantastic late night dinner at Big River. yummy!

we had such a good time with the kids. they are so nice and so fun to be around. we drilled them with so many questions on, "what is college REALLY like"..... type stuff. actually it's kind of boring, can be lonely, at the same time a great time to find yourself and be streached beyond your imagination. oh yeah... and to learn and study! it was such a nice weekend, just to be with our beautiful daughter and her very nice boyfriend. also the weather and blooming flowers in corvallis are quite inviting!

my camera decided to die, after many faithful years.... i did snap these two pictures before it left me though.

i think they are a very handsome couple. both 1/2 italian! both have full blooded italian grandfathers if you can believe that!?!


beautiful magnolias! flowers were everywhere. so pretty!

i love you my laura. i miss you already. i am proud and honored to be your mom

xo