Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Ultimate Gift



One of my cousin's children was in a tragic car accident.  After the accident Shauna's brain stem had massive swelling and my cousin (Heidi) made the difficult decision to take sweet Shauna off of life support and donate her organs.  Heidi said that she felt that the donation of Shauna's heart was the ultimate Christmas gift.  Heidi has been amazing and the epitome of grace through out this terrible experience.  Shauna was 16 years old, an ice skater, a gifted violinist and wanted to go to Stanford.  This video was of her skating when she was younger.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas Catch Up

I tried to take some pictures of the amazing Christmas lights at Highland Park Village but I realized that I really needed my tripod. We went to a self serve dog bath place and got Luna spruced up for the holidays-K and her friend really had fun. And now we are in Atlanta-going to lots of parties and really enjoying being home!





Saturday, December 15, 2012

Tubing Texas Style

Until this past Monday (when we had a dusting of snow) the weather had been crazy warm here.  We were still able to get some tubing in.  Indoor tubing.  What a concept!  The hotel that had the indoor tubing also had a amazing ice sculptures.  They bring sculptors from China and this year there was a Merry Madagascar theme.  They provide coats for the ice sculpture area.  It was really cold!



Notice K's red nose and coat provided by the hotel.




Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Christmas Bert

I hadn't planned to get a tree this year since we are going to be in Atlanta for Christmas but I saw this cute little tree at Whole Foods and decided that our grim little town home needed some cheer.  Bert is happy because he can drink the water from the tree.  And I am happy because there is not a tree skirt that he can use as his liter box.  Love the little nativity set on our mantle that I bought when we were in San Miguel.




Saturday, December 1, 2012

SMA

I had planned to stay in Dallas for Thanksgiving but in early November my sweet friend Kathryn called from the Dallas airport on her way to San Miguel de Allende and suggested we visit SMA over Thanksgiving.   I thought it over for a couple of minutes after we got off the phone and jumped on the internet and was able to get reservations.  Sometime I think that the most fun thing about a trip is planning the trip.  However,  I always love a spur of the moment trip.  It was a perfect Thanksgiving and birthday.

K settled right into our hotel room
These treats greeted us upon arrival
The light in the morning was amazing
K and John at the pool-K is the most sensible of the group, staying out of the sun
Kathryn
Our group before Thanksgiving dinner
View from Luna, the rooftop restaurant

K having roomservice instead of going out to eat with the adults
These guys rode by while I was waiting for Kathryn to answer her door
Beautiful views

Beautiful, hidden courtyards all over the city



I loved the architecture of our hotel




Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween

The pets are ready. K is going to be her usual witch.







Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Blessing of the Animals

Luna was a little miffed that the priest at our new church does not do the blessing of the animals.  Instead it was done by a deacon.  But she was quickly mollified by the St Francis medal that she received that she now wears proudly on her collar.

The highpoint of the blessing was an escaped rabbit.  Everyone was chasing the rabbit, including the deacon with his alb (good Word for Words with Friends) flying behind him.



Saturday, October 27, 2012

Ubiquitious

People ask me how we are adjusting to our move.  Overall it has been relatively simple.  It had been a long time since I had made a major move.  I was transferred to Atlanta 14 years ago by Cisco Systems. I remember something as simple at that time as transferring my Junior League membership was a nightmare.  I cannot remember the exact details but a stack of cards has to be sent from Orange County to Atlanta and it kept getting misplaced, lost, etc,,,,  With this move everything has been so easy.   I was able to change the addresses of everything on the internet.  I sill use the same monster mega banks, prescriptions were transferred by our pharmacy.  There is an incredible Whole Foods here.  We still get the same pizza on Fridays nights that we got in Atlanta.  We frequent the same places we did in Atlanta-Target, CVS, Paper Affair, Neiman's, J Crew, Starbucks, etc.  Things have been made easier because I lived here in my 20's and still know a lot of people.  We do love the culture here, the food and the people.  Texas people are so friendly and so nice.  I am missing the beauty of Atlanta, especially fall right now.  I miss the architecture, beautiful landscaping and great design stores.   

The school K is attending is very large but the children are in "pods".  The same group of children rotate between 4 classrooms that are in a U shape around their lockers so it has not been as intimidating as I thought it might be.  The teachers are excellent.  Homework is manageable and meaningful.  So far I think this school is much better for K than her previous school.

And there are sidewalks here.  Love that!  And they just opened a FlyWheel.  I have everything that I need.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Gobsmacked!

Last night we went to the Chihuly exhibit at the Dallas Botanical Garden. My photos do not do the artist's magnificently lit sculptures justice. There was also a clever village made entirely of pumpkins and pumpkins and gourds throughout the gardens.  I felt like I had been transported to another world.