Started the day with a doctors appointment. Just a follow up with the Gastro to go over his findings from the colonoscopy/endoscopy. All good. Then off to work. OMG. I can't even believe how busy we are at work. Going a little nuts, but it's all good. After work Hubs and I were invited to Sissy and BIL's Club for dinner. What a perfect way to end a rough day. Family, friends and food! My three favorite things!!!

Steve and Rebecca

She's 6 months pregnant. How gorgeous does she look? OMG. The cutest!

Hubs and me.

Sissy and her oldest friend Eric. Love him.

BIL Little and Steve.

What a trio.

Big and Eric. The best.

Middle didn't feel very photogenic.

Thanks for another great night guys. We love love love you!

Tough day at the office.

Home to Hubs.

Shells and Raos.

Couch and pups.

NCIS and Criminal Minds.

<---Here's DiNozzo and Me.

<--- Here's Gibbs and Me.

Worked. Brought lunch. Nothing much new.

Bossman was back today! Yay. He had a great time school shopping with Maxman. So glad for them.

Worked 'til 7:30pm. Then home to Hubs for soup, salad and TV.

Spoke to Sissy, Mom, Dad and Mr G.

Here'a some photos of Johnny and me.

Have a great night.

Hubby and I met Sissy and Big and Little.

Had Lunch. Went house hunting. Saw some great things.

Then we left and Hubs and I went to Fox's. Got the cutest pants!

Went to Publix. Got food for the week. Came home.

Watching DUE DATE. Not the greatest. Slightly enjoyable though.

That's it. Gotta get ready for the week. xoxo

DON'T READ IF YOU GET QUEASY...

Beautiful Saturday. Got up. Had coffee with Hubs. He left for work. Cleaned out the linen closet. Showered. Dressed. Went to Sissy and BIL's. Today was "drive around and look for a place for Mom and Dad" day. We saw many nice places. Gonna go tomorrow too. Then a decision will have to be made. After some house hunting, Sissy and I went to the club for lunch. Had salad bar and butternut squash soup. Delish!!! Then off to more house hunting. It was hard, but I enjoyed spending the day with my sistah. Nice lady. After lunch we drove out of the club, back towards her house.

She saw the bloodmobile and pulled in. She gave blood! What a good girl. First she filled out forms. One of the questions on the form was "Are you a prostitute?" Oh my. Then we heard some guy say..."Oh! Blood Bank! I thought this was the Sperm Bank!" Ha! What a day. Sissy was brave. Took her needle and gave her blood. I was just moral support. While I was watching Sissy, I noticed the other couple there who were also giving blood had filled their bags less than half way. Sissy's blood bag was fat and filling up quickly. I was whispering to Sissy and making her laugh. We made it a secret competition. I was cheering her on. "Faster!" I would tell her...

"You're almost there!" I kept noticing the lady's bag behind Sissy was not getting any bigger. Then I noticed a tag on it. You know when you go to the airport with a huge bag and they put the big orange tag on it that says "Heavy"? Well, this little lady's blood bag had a big grey tag on it that said, "100 pound donor." Hey lady!!! How 'bout a sandwich??? Oy. We were cracking up. They gave Sis a T-shirt too!

But it doesn't end there...Sissy and BIL went to a fundraiser tonight. After about 20 minutes or so, they were introduced to a couple. Yup. The blood donors! Small world right? :) But wait, there's more!!! A few minutes after meeting the couple, Sissy and BIL wandered away and were mulling around. All of a sudden they heard a commotion. They walked over to see what was up. Guess what? The blood donor lady had passed out at the party!!! Way to screw up a nice fundraiser lady! OMG. I'm sure it was scary. The Paramedics had to come take her away. She was up and talking by then, but still scary. Hey! I told you to eat something!!! After more house shopping we went back to their house. Kissed the puppy's lips and hung out. Hubs got home from work so I went home. We had pizza, and watched "America's Most Wanted".

Now we're gonna watch "Due Date" or "The Life of David Gale". Will let you know if either are good. Hope you guys loved your Saturday too. Hugs and peace signs. Kisses and Puppy lips.

Usually Fridays I stay late at the office and check and then double check my desk. I work hard to make sure I have finished everything I set out to accomplish for the week. Not today. Today, while working, I got a surprise around 2:30pm. My friend Jenn and her baby Hudson came to the office and surprised me. She and I had been great friends since 1997, but about 8 months ago things changed. She had her 2nd baby and ...well, she went a little nuts. Anyway, I haven't seen her for about 8 months now. And out of the blue, she showed up at the office today. I guess it was probably her way of breaking the ice. We'll see what happens. After my visit with Jenn and the baby, I got back to work.

Then, about 3:30pm I got a text from BIL. He wanted know how he could get into my house. Huh? What? I told him he had my key. Confused. I tried to work but couldn't concentrate. Then about 4:30pm Sissy called. Asked when I was gonna be home. Said the key wasn't working. I left the office and rushed home. I couldn't imagine what was going on. ...then I saw it. As I drove up to our house there was quite a sight to behold on the driveway. Sissy, Big, Middle and Little, along with Middle's best bud Nick, were all hanging out on furniture. It looked like a country club. Well, a country club in a mobile home park maybe. Anyway, Sissy and BIL were cleaning out their place, and making room for new stuff, so Hubs and I are getting 'new to us ' stuff! :) Yay. We love stuff. Thanks Sissy and BIL. ...and thank you Nick, Middle, Little and Big, for ALWAYS helping your old Auntie out. Lu you so much!!!

For the next four hours I paced around, moved around and rearranged furniture. The armoire didn't fit in the bedroom, there are five couches are all over the den and I am overwhelmed...I'll figure it out. I always do.

Hubs and I are one the many sofas, watching Criminal Minds and eating pizza.

Here's a shot of the moving crew.

And here's Big Neph sitting in sofa heaven.

Spent a lot of the day organizing our dinner event. Opened some new accounts. Breakfasted (new word) and lunched with Tracey. Katie had conferences all day. No play time. Spoke to Bossman and Maxman a few times from the road. They are on the College Tour trip: with an added twist. Maxman is playing ball in an invitational seen by coaches from all around the country. They are not only meeting College Deans, they are meeting College Basketball Coaches!!! So far they've visited Columbia, Amherst, and NYU. Tomorrow Harvard! Go Maxman! Stopped at the stores after work. Two office birthdays this week. Also, I need to get LBM a gift. His birthday was Monday, but he's been on my nerves. Hard to pick out a good gift when you're just not feelin' it, ya know? I'll figure something out over the weekend. Hubs and I had Chinese and now home with Pups watching Idol. Hope you all had terrific days too! Love and sweet wishes.

photo stolen from:

http://www.thefieldhouse-indy.com/

Felt like a Realtor today. Did some work for Bossman, but mainly was online looking up places for my parents. They live in Jersey and we miss them! Sissy and I are working to get them down here asap! She was driving around town today and I was online pricing. Very modern all this technology. After work, Hubs and I had our friend Steve over. Steve used to be an Optician and now he's a licensed security guard. He works in my office building, however

his passion lies in creating art. Steve made these beautiful sailboat hulls. He carves the wood by hand. He sands, shapes, shellacs, sculpts, paints and creates. They go on the wall and like little shelves. They are used to hold keys, outgoing mail, cell phones etc. They are going to be featured in Coastal Living Magazine! He came over tonight to have Hubs take photos of these beautiful creations for the magazine. Remember Hubs used to work at a deli? Well he met Steve at my building while on deliveries. Hubs also used to have his own eBay business, so he's taken many pictures in his day. Steve approached him to do the photography and tonight was the night! It was an honor to have these in our home. I hope this endeavor takes off and Steve makes zillions. These are labors of love, every piece hand carved, and it shows. One of a kind beauties.

Gorgeous.

On the couch now eating rugelah and watching American Idol. Like most of them this season. Love Pia and Scotty the best! Haley should go.

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."

-Charles Dickens

Crazy day at the office. (I think I say that a lot, don't I?) Anyway, I had a salad for lunch with Diane from Rotellis. Spent a big part of the day working on our dinner event for April 4th. Had a conference call with a new prospect at 3:00pm with Bossman. All in all, had a very nice day. Got a call at 5:15pm from BIL. He left a message inviting us to dinner. Such a sweet guy. Also got a call from Sissy at 5:20pm inviting us too. Once they make their minds up, they are very persistent. Love

them. Hubs and I both went over after work. I got there at 6:30pm. Hubs around 7:30pm. BIL, the restaurateur, BBQ'd up a storm. He made chicken and burgers and dogs. We had balsamic portabellos and cole slaw. Sissy whipped up yummy grilled asparagus with shaved parmigiano reggiano and spaetzle. Delectable. Big was out with his best bud from NJ, Steven. Middle and Little were home with us. Cozi was cute as pie. After dinner, Sissy and I played in her closet. Tried on

outfits and talked and laughed. Hubs, Little and BIL headed to the media room. They started

watching "COP OUT" with Bruce Willis. About a half hour into the movie, Sage came over. He shut off the movie, pulled out some wires, hooked up a black box, changed channels, and before they knew it the guys were watching "BIG MOMMAS HOUSE 2" ...with German subtitles. Bless his heart. Got a care package of leftovers and Hubs and I got home about 11:30pm. Tired now. Need my rest. Thank you Sissy and Bro. We love you guys. Night.

Nice Monday. Bossman and LBM not in. Katie and Tracey back. What's better than that? :) Had breakfast for lunch. Worked 'til 7:00pm. Came home. Spoke to Mr. Gorgeous on the phone. Spoke to Ma and Pa. MIL and Bossman. Hubs and I had soup and frozen pizza for dinner. Now watching our shows. It is what it is. Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting. How 'bout tonight's sunset? Gorgeous right? Love and hugs to you all.

Hubs and I got up around 11:00am. Had some coffee and then did Spring cleaning. Pulled the sofas out and vacuumed behind. Washed moldings and door jambs. Windows and sheets. Nice and fresh. Then Hubby took me on a road trip. We drove up the beach to the Lantana-Lake Worth area. Beautiful sleepy beach town. Went to the pier. Had lunch at John G's. A wood paneled dive with yummy food! Est. 1973. We had a blast. Hubs and I were talking. Sooooooo many people in Florida go on vacation to the Bahamas or to Puerto Rico etc. and we keep asking ourselves why? Why go away when we have everything right here? It's so silly. South Florida is the best. Beautiful beaches. Great restaurants. Theater. Art Fairs. Concerts. Shops. Movies.

So many wonderful things here.

So many beautiful things.

...and a couple of things not so pretty.

Tourists!

Went to Suzanne. Had my hair did. Color, cut, highlights. It's a beautiful thing. Sissy got home from her vacation last night and came by the salon to say heddo. After my hair, Sis and I went to Queen Nails for mani/pedis. They had a flood, so they were closed. :( Went to Lilly's nails. Blech. Ugly. Ended up at V & Mi Nail Spa. Very nice! Had Sissy beauty afternoon, then home. Had a real bad headache all day. I was told "No more Advil" since my endoscopy revealed some stomach irritation, but a day of Tylenol did not get rid of my headache so...I took some Advil and a nap. Then Hubs and I went to Sushi Yama for dinner. Had yummy delicious food and then walked around looking at tonight's Super Moon. Huge full moon. It's a super "perigee moon". The biggest in almost 20 years. Gorgeous. Hubs said my headache is prolly due to the fact that I am part vampire and all the crazy warlock people go mad during the full moon. I say feh. Now in position on the couch and watching "The Fighter". Heard it was awesome. Will let you know. Peace, love and Haagen Dazs.

Tallulah Belle

This morning began like any other day. Reluctantly awoke, made coffee, showered, dressed, got ready to leave for work. Put the two boy dogs in their crates. Turned on the lamps for evening. Kissed Unno. And then it began. I couldn't find Lala. I ran all around the house yelling. "Lalalalalalala!!! Where are you???" I loooked under the beds, and in the closets, and in the garage, and in the bathtub. She was nowhere to be found. My Poppy George used to tell us a story about how a bear came into the house while the Mama was out and the bear ate all the children. When the Mom came home she looked all over for her babies. She looked im dem bett and unter dem bett, and im dem stove and unter dem stove and in dem couch and under dem couch, uber dem table and unter dem table. (in the bed, under the bed, in the stove, under the stove, on the couch and under the couch, above the table and nder the table) She looked everywhere and couldn't find her children. She thought maybe a bear had eaten them! Then she saw a bear lying in the corner of the room. He was tired from eating so much. So the Mom sat next to him and rubbed his belly 'til he fell asleep. She recited the following words..."Bayer, bayer kinder kommen. Bayer, bayer kinder kommen". (Bear. Bear. Children come!) When the bear finally passed out, she cut open his belly and her children came out safely. Yay! ...Who doesn't like a happy ending? :) (It didn't sound quite so horrible when we were little.) ...but I digress. It was now 9:45am and I still hadn't found Tallulah. I ventured outside. Thought maybe she got out when hubs left. I recruited the help of my neighbor Gary and together we searched for Lala. Nothing. I came in, distraught. Didn't know what to do! I stood in my bedroom and cried. Then screamed at the top of my lungs..."Tallulah Belle, where are you?????" I waited a minute and then to my excitement I heard the jingle jangle of her little collar. I turned around and there she was. Her hair was sticking up and her face was slightly cocked to one side. I could swear she was saying..."Ma, did you just call me?" OMG. There she was. I think she was sleeping in a closet. She's 18 years old. 126 in people years. Maybe her hearing is going just a little. At least she's ok. Bless her little heart. My little beauty.

The psychos take on psychology

Almost 30 years ago I graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology. (Go Gators!) Why do I bring this up you might ask? Well, someone very close to me is currently battling a bout with depression and I have been trying to pull out all my mostly forgotten knowledge of the craft so I thought I'd share. Many of us may have, at one time or another said "I am so depressed"but really, what is depression?

The clinical definition is that depression is a disturbance in mood characterized by varying degrees of sadness, disappointment and loneliness. It has been described as "feeling blue" or "being in a bad mood". You get to the next level of depression when you take that feeling up ten notches, and add feelings of hopelessness, self-doubt and guilt. Severe depression is all this plus a complete desire to withdraw from daily routine and/or the outside world.

There are many schools of thought on where depression comes from. Some beliefs are scientific. Some people believe depression comes from external stimuli, like a loss of a loved one, medications or even some diseases. Others believe depression begins within, like ill thoughts, insecurities and the like.

In college I studied Freud and his theory of Psychoanalysis. Without getting too deep, Freud believed that most of what we say and do, feel and believe, comes from our unconscious. His theory of psychoanalysis deals with the three parts of the self. The id, the ego and the superego. During therapy, the psychoanalytic therapist assists the client to make unconscious thoughts conscious, and to develop strength in the ego to ensure behavior is based on reality rather than instinctual impulses arising from the id.

Have I lost you yet?

Let's try Behavioral Therapy, it's more concrete. Behavioral Therapists, like Skinner, believe only in things they can see. Words like "soul" or "consciousness" are without meaning to the Behavioral Therapist. Think of it as Scully to the Psychoanalytical Mulder. With Behavioral Therapy the client learns a form of associative learning. This occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned stimulus to bring about a conditioned response. Anyone ever hear of Pavlov's Dog? Ivan Pavlov is best known for his work with dogs. He rang a bell, and then fed the dogs. After enough times, Pavlov found that the dogs salivated when they heard the bell ring. While we know that ringing a bell won't make you salivate, if you are conditioned to associate the bell with food, after enough times, the bell will trigger the salivation rather than the presence of food.

So let's recap.

Illness: Depression.

Cause: Internal or external factors.

Treatment: Psychoanalysis or Behavioral Therapy (...or a host of others I didn't discuss)

So what's your take? As we know, all situations are not black and white. You have to take each person as an individual and each situation as new. While both theories of therapy have their good qualities, I haven't decided which I agree with more. I think they both have basic ideas I agree with. Neither one 100%. In my friends case, I don't really know which would better help her. I can't just tell her to feel better and think she will be better. I can't shake her and tell her to think happy thoughts and expect that she will be happy. I can't prescribe her a pill to make her pain go away.

So I guess I'm shooting for my own theory of "Love Therapy". I believe love really does conquer all. So I will continue to love her. I will pray for her health. I will listen to her with an open heart and care about her wholeheartedly. If my love were the medicine, she would be fine. I know there are many others that love her too. We all have enough love for her to fill her broken heart. I hope she can feel us. For now, we must take one day at a time and hope each day she gets stronger. I just hope she knows, whether she is happy or sad, sunny or blue, upbeat or down, I love her. I wish her only happy days. She is a great person and deserves only good things, always. I hope she finds her way back to her happy place. ...and I hope she knows I will be beside her every step of her journey, no matter where it takes us.

I love you. G-d blessed me with you in my life.

Wednesday

Weird day at the office. I had words with the coach. I always feel like he's "judging" us. I assumed he was there to introduce us to new products and help create better procedures, and to a certain degree, I understand that he has to get into our heads and try to understand us as individuals so he can better suggest ways for our team to flourish, but enough is enough. I think I'm done. There' s no way I will allow him to change me. I admit. I'm a handful. But I am me. I am a loyal, hardworking, capable person. I may have unorthodox ways of achieving my goals, and possibly, I would be better suited for a more creative, artsy job instead of dealing with numbers all day, but this is the career path I have chosen. This is my job. These are my numbers. Bossman depends on me and I will continue taking care of him and his business. ...but I will do it in my own way. I will not change to become some corporate lackey who follows the rules, dresses the part and speaks corporate-ease. I am me. I have always been me and I will never change. ...and there's nothing wrong with that. To know me is to love me. Just sayin'.

Tuesday

Worked. Had a tuna wrap. Busy day today. Meetings. Got home. Spoke on the phone to my Mom, Gma and Mr. Gorgeous...three times. Watched Glee. Puttered around. Forgot to blog...so here it is. Hope everyone had a good Tuesday. It was mentioned to me today that my blog seems to be lacking the old spunk it used to have, and possibly I was "running out of steam." So I thought about it a bit, and even considered throwing in the towel. Maybe in fact I didn't have much to say and possibly I had written my last blog post...Then Hubs called me with a story. He called our insurance company today and Holly, the lovely young lady that helps us with our questions said, "Oh Hi! I haven't heard from you in so long, but I know all is well because I read your wife's blog! You sure do eat a lot of Chinese food!" :) So I know you guys are still out there, and still reading, and for that I thank you. I will continue to write, and I promise to try to be more interesting. Let's see where I can take us... You never know what you'll get here. Will it be cooking tips and recipes? Dog stories? Movie reviews? ...just a beautiful photo each day? Whatever it is, just know I'll keep writing! Tune in to see what it's about. xoxo Thanks Holly! (I have no pics of Holly, and Facebook won't let me steal 'em anymore...so here's a pic of Sissy and me.)

Busy at work. Had Jimmy Johns with Russell. The rest of my lunch buddies are out this week. Bossman had a lunch appointment. LBM was out today. Katie had to go to manage the Palm Beach office this week and Tracy is still out on maternity leave. So I ordered with Russ. Worked 'til 7pm. Then home to warm up leftover pasta. :) Now on the couch with Hubs and the pups. It's movie time. Apparently, it's horror week at our place. Another scary movie tonight. Hubs and I are watching "The Crazies". It's weird. So far the only thing good is Timothy Olyphant. HOT. This weekend we enjoyed "Last House on the Left". Creepy but good. "Charlie St Cloud" was a good one too. Not a horror flick. Just a good movie. ...and speaking of movies, since we've been watching a lot lately, I thought I'd give you a short list of our faves. We loved "Temple Grandin", "My Sister's Keeper", "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas", "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", "The Green Mile", and "Shutter Island". My two cents. Just sayin'. That's it for now.

Peace, love, movies and good food to all a yas!

Hubs and I spent the day together. We lounged around a bit, then went out to do errands. Dunkin' Donuts. Pet Supermarket. Publix.

When we got home, I cooked and Hubs puttered in the yard and in the garage. Guy stuff.

OK. I just have to tell you.. yesterday while Hubs was at work, I was watching Ina Garten on the Food Network. While the Barefoot Contessa is known for her baking

skills, yesterday's show was all

about Italian food. She had guest Chef Joe Realmuto of Nick and Toni's in East Hampton, NY on the show.

They made this unbelievable pasta that I kept dreaming about, so when we were at the supermarket today, I tried to remember the recipe. I bought all yummy things and ...viola! I made the dish! It was sooooooo delicious.

I also "threw together" a caprese salad. Buffalo mozzarella, vine ripe tomatoes, basil, EVOO and some pesto.

Kiss my little fingers.

This was a fabulous dinner.

Since tonight was the first night of daylight savings time, Hubs and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. So we took our dinner plates and ate outside. Al fresco dining.

Awesome!

Even had a glass of wine.

This is the life!

http://www.nickandtonis.com/

http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=57&S=0