Today was the AIDS walk Hartford at the Reservoir. The madhatters were back in style. H has made us awesome hats every year that we have walked, this year no less! We all looked grreat and were complimented all along the walk. If it wasn't for this impatient polar bear we might have walked with the rest of the group and not in the opposite direction! heehee But as always we made our mark and cheered as we passed all the groups trying to get them revved up. Fun as always.
Hope you enjoyed today as much as I did.
xo
ciao
S


ps. I had to take this picture at home cuz I forgot the camera. But as a group we looked so awesome. We had a panda bear, monkey, lion, dog, frog, cow and a penguin.

October

is here...
the leaves will start to change and drop from the trees.
I will wear sweat shirts and socks and sneakers with my jeans.
We will celebrate 9 years of marriage.
We will watch the sun set earlier every night.
The pumpkins will come out and dot the night with light.
"The holidays are right around the corner" everyone will say, and they will be right.
Every weekend is busy with friends and family. Apple picking, harvest fest and a wedding to look forward to.
School is well under way, with studying and exams and classes every week.
This is one of my favorite months.
What have you got going on?

ciao
xo
S

Pet Peeve

Lately, and more than ever before I am so annoyed when people run red lights. You know those folks that try to sneak in on the yellow but it has already turned red. This week it felt like every red light I sat through I could have gotten into an accident because when I got the green there were still cars coming through on the other side. The worst was the city bus that made me slam on my brakes because they decided to cut me off to take a left right in front of me. AND THEN she had to stop and back up because she turned too widely. What what!?
Come on people... I know that we are all in a rush and red lights always seem to come at the worst times and yes, when you are running late it feels like every light is red. But, red is red people, and red means stop.

Ciao
S

Final Frontier

I finally went back to the gym yesterday. For those who didn't know I teach water aerobics at a local gym and hadn't been back in 2 months. The doctor had recommended that I don't go swimming for the 6 weeks that I was on leave, so that was my excuse for most of that time. The other two weeks I guess I just wasn't ready to see my water peeps. They are such an amazing group of women. They comforted me the whole time I was laid off, always offering me words of encouragement and in a few cases some leads and recommendations. When they found out I was pregnant they were over the moon and enjoyed hearing the weekly updates and seeing my body transform. They sent cards of condolence when they heard the news (one of the women is the mother of a good friend of mine) and sent word that I was missed. So yesterday I woke up with the express purpose of getting to the gym to see my class. There were only a few people there and it was really nice to be back in the water. If you know me you know that I love love love to swim; I missed it. So now I'm back and hope to get back to teaching in the coming weeks.
The weekend has been really beautiful and I've been getting out as much as possible. Went for a walk with hubby yesterday, met a friend for some shopping and today will clean the house and cook for the coming week.
Hope you had a great weekend too.
xo
Ciao
S

Back to work

I started back at work last week. Not easy, but I work with some pretty great people and that makes it better. I started on a Thursday so that I could have a really short week to start and not be too overwhelmed.
Late last week hubby got a gig on Governors Island near Battery Park in Manhattan. Before we were married (9 years this fall) I joined him at a gig in Bridgeport, hated it and decided that this was something he could do alone. But this time it sounded like fun. It was called Rock the Bells, and was headlining some of my faves from back in the day... Cypress Hill, Erykah Badu and Ms. Lauryn Hill. Needless to say it was also going to include a trip to the city and I rarely wanna miss that. We stayed in a super swanky hotel in SoHo and got to have dinner, together, alone before the madness of the concert began. Madness it was, and fun, and tiring, and dusty. The only thing I will say is that Governors Island is really beautiful and the bells were truly rocked. Before we returned on Sunday we got to have brunch with our fave NY couple Adam and Meredith. Delish and nice to catch up.
Although the trip was short and was mostly spent working, it was nice to have one last jaunt before getting down to real business. We are both back to work and I will start class again next week. It's been a really rainy week and that has been just fine because it matches my and hubby's mood. Looking forward to sunny skies.
Ciao
S

Natural Disasters

The fact that we have had two "natural disasters" in one week feels very natural for my life right now. I am still really raw from losing my daughter but trying to do my best to move on. I have good days and bad days and mostly the good days are winning out.
On Tuesday of last week the East Coast felt the strongest earthquake since 1944. The center was in VA and tremors were felt all over the east coast. My hubby and I were both home and neither one of us felt anything. My mom was at an appointment at the hospital and felt it very strongly and was really nervous when the offices were evacuated.
This weekend was hurricane Irene. They had been talking about this hurricane all week and I was pretty sure that we wouldn't get much. We usually don't and I was hopeful that history would prove me right. My bestie and her hubby live near the shore and were nervous about the thought of an evacuation. Since we had double date plans for Saturday anyway they decided to bring an overnight bag and their dog "just in case." We started the weekend out in our brand new wellies that my bestie bought us to round out our hurricane preparations. Mine are purple and I luv em!
Saturday afternoon we went started out at the local burger joint for some nourishment before the movie. The movie was so supremely not great that I won't even tell you which one we saw. We were there with 2 other people. I was so SURE that the movie theater would be packed considering the rainy day and that Irene wasn't supposed to come for hours yet. The theater was deserted. Mental note for the next hurricane. We all went to bed Saturday night anticipating the worst according to the news.
Sunday we woke up (I was the last to get up) to some heavy rains and winds. We still had power, thank goodness (coffee maker needs power). I made a yummy breakfast of ham and cheesy eggs and my bestie made a super yummy tomatillo salsa. Very tasty. We love to cook when we are together. We spent the rest of the morning watching the weather station and anticipating the storm. The rain was heavy and the winds were strong; just not hurricane strong. For lunch we went all out and made homemade tortillas, steak, baramundi for tacos, couscous and more yummy tomatillo salsa. Yup I said homemade tortillas... DELICIOUS. For dessert I made banana bread from scratch and we topped it with caramel ice cream.
The winds died down, the rain stopped and Irene passed. We never lost power, our property sustained very minimal damage and we were all safe and stuffed.
You definitely want to get stuck with me and my bestie in a storm. Hope you are all safe!
Ciao
S

Journey

I have always believed very strongly in the fact that we all have a story and a journey that we are on. No two stories are alike and everyone has to explore their own journey.
Having said that I have always been obsessed with my own journey and what path to take and what implications that would have. There aren't a lot of decisions at this specific point in my journey, but never before have I been so anxious to see what is next.
I am so grateful for my hubby who lets me be as emotional as I need to be, who understands that every minute is a different obstacle and who pushes me to be as strong as he knows that I can be (even in the moments when I don't feel so).
I am blessed with a mother, mother-in-law and sister that stand by me, cry with me and hold me up. Everyday there is love, courage and strength.
Daily there is a pile of cards that come in the mail to offer hubby and me sympathy and strength in this tough time that we are going through. We are humbled at the love that we have been shown.
I don't know where this journey will lead us but in my heart I know my daughter will light the way.

S