The good mood started on Saturday and went all the way through today!

First…I was in the kitchen juicing my veggies on Saturday when I heard DCM talking to someone, telling them I was making a lot of noise, guess who! LB! Granddaughter extraordinaire! She was excited to talk to Grandpa and JJ and show us her room, read us a story and talk to the cats, sounds like a good start to the weekend!

Today…I reached out to GES today to see about chatting with the girls. Dinner was over, it was a little before bath time, still a little odd as I’m two hours behind, haven’t quite had dinner and they are getting ready for bed, but you know me, I’ll take any moment I can get!

Here they come onscreen all talk, talk, talk, over each other. MGS wants to know when I’m coming to visit, more importantly, how many minutes until my visit! Just like when I left a few weeks ago, she’s asking again, looks like we might need to plan a visit in the next few months, hmmm, twist my arm?

I had very important business to discuss with EJS. She is starting FIRST GRADE in a few weeks! What? I still remember meeting her when she was just two weeks old! Her daddy works at Staples, he is very excited to get her school supplies, but I wanted to get her something for her book bag, something special.

She discussed it with her mom and we decided on a pencil case and some colored pencils that she can keep as most of the school supplies are communal. I asked if there was anything special on the pencil case, its pink, maybe Cinderella or Ariel. I am on the case!

We chatted about camp, which she loves until she found something more interesting and moved on and it was me and MGS. She talked to me for a long time, from the kitchen to the bath to getting ready for bed and then…”I’m done with you now”, well, alrighty then!

I talked to EJS for another minute and then she was ready to move on so I said ‘night ‘night, I love you and blew kisses, then it was over.

A few minutes later guess who was free! Miss A! We connected and she was sitting there posed just like Rodin’s “The Thinker”! Big difference, she was giggling, giggling, giggling! What a great sight and sound!

We chatted a bit about school and how she was liking it and then I got the entire scoop from SDL, Miss A is a woman of few words, more giggling, sometimes hard to get a word in edgewise! We talked about her new school, riding the bus, aftercare, her appointments and the rain, rain, rain that won’t go away!

I’m excited that I will get to see my munchkin in a few weeks when I’m Atlanta for a race, how lucky am I!

Then it was time to get her ready for night night, so I blew kiss and accepted the ones I got, said I love you and see you soon and signed off with a smile on my face, almost as good as the giggles and smile coming from hers!

So, who’s next? Night night!

Good morning dad/papa! Happy birthday!

The day started with a sleep in, 8am, wow! I walked upstairs to hear happy birthday singing to my dad, terrific. While GES was making breakfast, I did a quick walk down to CVS, I needed some green juice! Then back for a delicious breakfast of eggs and cheese, sausage and eggs, bagels and blintz souffle, Y.U.M.! I’m going to get the recipe and share it with you!

After breakfast, get readying its time to go to the pool! Wow, EJS’ swimming has improved so much over the year, swim lessons are just the trick! Molly is improving lesson by lesson as well. We swam and splashed and played with noodles, and lunch and snacks and it was time to leave.

GES, EJS and I all went to the grocery store while AS, dad and MGS went for a drive, guess who they were trying to get to fall asleep? At the grocery store, we picked up a few needs things and a Carvel ice cream birthday cake. For those of you who don’t know Carvel, it’s a great ice cream store that’s been around for over 75 years. Growing up in NYC, there were Carvel’s everywhere I still remember when they opened one in Georgia, too awesome! I haven’t found one in Colorado, but I’m looking. http://www.carvel.com/

The story behind our getting a Carvel cake…in the summer, we always had a Carvel ice cream cake, vanilla on the top, chocolate on the bottom and chocolate crunchies in the middle, yum! A tradition was born a very long time ago! Last year, we were I the Birkshires for day’s birthday, we found a Carvel cake at the grocery store, tradition was not lost and this year the tradition continued!

The cake was to celebrate day’s birthday, the reason we needed a sheet cake, we threw him a surprise birthday BBQ! All the wonderful “usual suspects” were there, the friends and extended family. There were adults and kids of all ages, there to celebrate papa’s special day! We had burgers, dogs, veggie burgers, turkey burgers, salads, (I need to give you the recipes) chips, drinks and cake, sounds perfect!

We played, we swung, we ran, we sang, we shouted, we caught up, we laughed, we smiled and we ate, sounds perfect, right!

Almost as soon as it started it was over and we were out the door, it was the perfect afternoon! But the day wasn’t over! We piled into the cars and headed to the Gillett Stadium, Home of the New England Patriots! We were going to see a New England Revolutions game! They are the professional futbal team (soccer for those of us on this “side of the pond”). They were playing Toronto! It was a great game, we lost, but what a great evening, a lot of fun! I got the girls some cute Patriots jerseys, so cute!

There was pizza, popcorn, cotton candy, water and beer for the grown ups. We all and a great time!

http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/

After the game, it was to go home. Here I am to tell you about my day say goodnight!

Happy birthday daddy!

Today was a whirlwind! Ok, the weekend was a whirlwind!

I got in to Atlanta yesterday afternoon. I know you’re saying, “What? JJ, you were just there last week” and to you I would say, “You are correct! Quite observant I might add! I have really smart friends!”

So, the whirlwind really started yesterday afternoon when I got to Atlanta. After renting a car, I called JCT to see when we were getting together and decided to go to Ikea, since I hadn’t been since it opened. After a while, we connected and there was a mis-communication so we didn’t get together, we were still going to see each other at brunch Sunday.

CKM and I were calling each other at the same time and it just worked out that we were both hungry and we decided to go to Farm Burger http://www.farmburger.net/ in Decatur, great burgers, fantastic veggie [quinoa] burgers, fresh cut friends and onion rings, great options for toppings. AL was able to join us, it was a nice relaxing evening, but by 9:30, I was done for, ready to get home and get into bed and away I went. I got to the house, registered for the Dirty Girl Atlanta for next year, Saturday, April 19th, to be exact if you want to join our team! Blogged, then lights out!

Today started at 10am, out the door at 10:30 to head down to Sun in My Belly, http://suninmybelly.com/, in Kirkwood for brunch. It was divine! I had a MLT! [Mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, basil and basil pesto panini Y U M!] I was fortunate enough to be joined by RS, CKM, SDL and her sister DJL and of course, wait for it, Miss A! [the fashionista was in top form! from the top of her head with a silver sparkly bow to her tank top [pink and orange butterfly with silver sparkly spots], jeans with a, wait for it…pink and orange belt down to her pink and orange sneakers!

We had fun at brunch, laughing, talking, catching up. It’s like no time has passed, love that!

JCT was on her way to join us and got a flat tire, had to wait for AAA, so she wasn’t able to join us, bummer! Unfortunately, she was heading back to Boston this afternoon, so I will have to wait until the next trip to Atlanta to see her or, maybe in Boston!

The best part…Miss A walked to me! she took about 6 steps from SDL to me, but she did it on her own! How proud am I? Can you feel it all the way through your pc?

Next, I headed to Smyrna to meet my dear friends, KH and JV and KH’s new baby girl, JH! What a DOLL BABY! cute face, big expressive eyes and wonderfully fat arms and legs, dimples everywhere! So squeezable and scrumptious! I got to feed her and hold and rock her. The rocking and patting finally worked and some of what had gone in came out, it was all good, no worries at all!

While I was feeding her we had a nice long chat, about all the things we would do together when she got older, games we would play, visits she would make, races we would run together [we’ll start off with a 100 yard run, then move to a kids 1 miler, then to the 5k, who knows where next!]

What a treat to see these two women, I haven’t seen JV in a few months and KH in over a year, both looking fantastic and KH, so happy and well in her new role as a mom, what a joy. The only person missing, TS! We all used to work together, JV and KH left on their own, TS and I, they said bye-bye. Looking forward to seeing them again, maybe our little foursome will be able to get together sometime when I’m back in town, only this time, it might be a 4.5!

After we parted, I went to see my friends and their new home, BG, CA and their son J. I’d seen pictures and heard stories when they were home shopping, always better to see in person! It’s a charming house, but you need a map to find your way! J helped give the tour, but you had to be careful! The hardwood floors were lava, you had to jump to the carpet and area rugs, then the kitchen tiles were ice, what were we to do! A few of the coolest features, besides the screened in porch, big back yard, great closets were the attic with a net up, almost like a batting cage, J and his friends and cousins love it! He has a bonus play room, which doubles as a guest room and the extra garage was fantastic! The previous owners had Harley’s and created this work space, it was a mechanic’s dream! I know that would have been my playroom!

After the tour, we sat down to chat, they realized what time it was, fed me some great salads left over from their family reunion and CA’s birthday [Happy Happy] and peach pie. Apparently it’s pie week at Whole Foods! All I can say is, who cares, it was yummy!

So happy for them that they found a house that they love, in a neighborhood they like and near schools that are great for their son, it’s been terrific so far and it’s only been a month!

All of a sudden, I realized it was after 10pm, BG had a 6:30am flight and had to pack, I had an hour drive home, so off I went.

Now, I’m at the house, writing to you and about to nod off, have to work in a few hours! G’night!