Lunch at my desk. Meeting at 2:00pm LBM stayed til 4:00pm. Bossman 'til almost 6:00pm. I stayed til 8:00pm. (They got in earlier! :) ) Finished up most of my stuff at the office so I'm taking off the next few days! Missed yoga. Then went to Sissy's to help set up for Thursday. She's having 17 people over and we have lots to prepare! Cooking and parties and family, food and friends! It should be awesome. Tired now. Watching Glee and crying. Love this campy fun show with all its lovable characters. After it's over, I'm off to night night land.

I'm gonna try to make it to 9:00am yoga, but hopefully I'll make the 11:00 class. Then home to cook. Then off to Sissy's to do more preparations. Then to Shmell's for a pre-Thanksgiving holiday dinner. Another busy few days! Can't wait!!!

Quick shout out to Maxman. (Bossman's big man) He broke his nose playing baskets the other day. Prayers for a quick (and straight) healing and recovery.

Peace.

Got to work at 10:00am. Made coffee. Ran out for a meeting at noon. Had to do switchboard today when I got back at 1:00pm. Ate lunch at my desk at 2:00pm when switchboard duty ended. Katie's on a cruise. Played with Tracey and Tracy though! Worked til 7:00pm. Ran to hot yoga. Home watching "House" and eating a turkey & hummus on an Arnolds sandwich thin now. Little neph got hurt at soccer. He needed some stitches under his nose. Poor thing. He's gonna be fine! Please send good healing thoughts his way so he's perfectly handsome again for his Bar Mitzvah pictures in 26 days! xoxo Peace.

Lazy Sunday again. Had coffee with Hubs, then he left for work. I did some dishes, and then ran out to the stores. Spent most of the day at Nordstrom. I think it's a disease. I'm going on a cruise in the not so distant future and I was trying to find a little black cocktail dress. I must have tried on 60 dresses. I threw the things in my cart, then I went to shoes. Soon after I was matching things in jewelry. I was confusing myself to no end. I almost walked out and left my whole cart when, like a gift from above...my cell phone rang and it was my sister! When I told her of my traumatic day dress shopping, she ran right over to the store to help me. She liked everything in my cart except a pair of boots. We went to the dressing room and I started fashion show. :( Nothing good. Shopping has become so hard since Sissy moved here. She's from the fashion industry. She has a clothing store. She goes to the fashion shows and jeans shows and knows all about the latest trends. She reads all the fashion magazines and really knows her stuff. Knowing all this, these days I find it hard making decisions regarding my wardrobe without her. Once in a while I try on something I absolutely adore, and buy it without her, but I refer to those pieces as "unapproved items". :) Oh well. At least she's here to help me when I need her! Lu you Sissy. Thanks for coming to my rescue today. As for the rest of the day, I went to Publix and bought the goodies I need to create the deliciousness for Thanksgiving. I also made three NY strip steaks that are to die for. I rubbed them with a chile brown sugar rub and cooked them in the convection oven. So moist and delish! Clothes shopping not my thing. Cooking...much better. Now on the couch with the pups watching "Letters to Juliet". Sweet movie.

Quiet day. Hung out with Hubs. This was actually our first Saturday together in a long time. He quit the deli. No more brisket surprises waiting after work, but he wants to concentrate on building his produce business, so bye bye deli.

We had theater tonight! Hubs and I went to Broward Center of the Performing Arts in Ft Lauderdale to see the show "Burn the Floor". There were some contestants from American Idol and some from "So you Think you can Dance"!!! It was great fun! Singing and fabulous dancing! Another great night! This has been some weekend!!!

No pictures in the theater please! :) Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

After the show, we went to Yokihama Sushi, in Boca, for a late night snack.

2 Spicy girl rolls, a birthday roll, and a fish teriyaki roll. Delish!

...and some sake.

What a wonderful weekend! We are so blessed! Hope you all are enjoying your weekends too! Love and hugs.

Mazel tov to our oldest friends, Donna and Cliff, whose daughter, Erin Beth, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy today! Maddox Liam. Welcome to the world little man.

Love and hugs to my Dad, who is still on the road to recovery, but doing very well.

Love you Daddy.

An Evening of Hope

Tonight was an amazing evening of drinks, dinner, dancing, donations and devotion. Hubs and I were guests of Sissy and BIL's at a New Orleans style, jazzy fundraising event to benefit CCFA. (Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America) We spent the evening at a beautiful hotel on Hollywood Beach. The festivities began with a cocktail reception featuring some of the most delicious Hors D'Oeuvres ever! There were rice balls, and meatballs with ricotta cheese, rosemary chicken skewers, shrimp cocktail, mufellettas, oysters and more! There was a live orchestra, the boys orchestra from Broward County's University School, (the high school that Bossman attended), from the Nova Campus, (Mr. Gorgeous' school) and there were photographers galore!

At about 8:30 we ventured to the grand ballroom. The evening was transformed into a Big Easy extravaganza. A New Orleans themed affair to the nth degree. A beautiful black and gold room with about 20 tables, each flanked with huge lighted white vases filled with plumes, feathers, sparkles and masquerade masks. We feasted on filet mignon and had handmade decadent desserts from Cloud Nine Cupcakes. OMG. So delicious! Then there was a live auction. Guests bid on a Cartier watch, a David Yurman diamond bracelet, a signed Miami Heat Basketball, Barry Manilow tickets, and various trips, Key West, Aspen, South Beach and more...

After all the delicacies and auction fun, there were awards given and two very special speakers. My BIL and my big neph! BIL did a great job. Said he was getting old and shoulda used a bigger font, cause he couldn't read his notes! But his appeal came from the heart and he did a fabulous job. By far the most amazing address was made by my beautiful nephew. As all my avid blog readers know, my big neph has Crohn's disease. He was diagnosed 8 years ago, when he was only 10. Last night he spoke to the room. His words captured every person' s heart. Not a peep was heard. Nothing but the sound of his beautiful voice echoing throughout the room. Big Neph spoke of his life living with Crohn's. He told us all about his surgeries and his challenges, but the overall sound of his speech was positive and uplifting. He told us he was speaking out on living with Crohn's disease to give hope and promise to others that have been affected with this disease. He shared with us that although he couldn't start college in August as planned, and even though for the most part his "summer was a bummer", he stood before us this evening 30 pounds heavier than only 3 months ago!!! The room was on their feet. He received a standing ovation. He had a positive outlook, as always, and I was never prouder to be related to someone. What a fabulous role model. What a wonderful young man. What a super duper nephew! I love you Bran. I was bursting with pride and love tonight.

It was an elegant, fun, fabulous night!

Here are our generous hosts. Thank you both so much for inviting us to share this wonderful evening with you. Hubs and I had the most fun ever!!!

Here is a centerpiece.

Big Neph speaking

BIL speaking

Here's BIL, Middle and Hubs

Middle's friend Nick and Little

Rebecca and Steve

Debbie and Rick

Hubs and Me

Thursday

Busy at work. Still have lots to file. Went to "Chipotle" with Katie. So full. OMG. Another not good food week already. Oy. Tonight was my first haircut in 11 months! Got to the salon and MIL was there. She had a 5:30 appointment. Mine was at 6:00pm. As I was getting my hair cut Sissy and Little neph walked in. Little had a 7:00pm appt. It was a family affair today! So much fun!!!! After we had our hair did, I went to Sissy's house for fashion show. We are attending a CCFA event tomorrow night, and we were picking out outfits. She also had made delicious chicken and fingerling potatoes that she fed me, and we made the food list for Thanksgiving. What else is there in life?

Worked. Bossman, LBM and Tracey were all out. It was quiet in my area but I got A LOT done! It was nice. After work went to Weight Watchers. Hubs did great! Lost another pound and 1/4. Down 7 1/2! So proud! me. Failure. Up another 1/2. My almost 30 pounds down is now only 23 1/2 down. We're going on a cruise in a month. I need to be extra skinny, 'cause everyone gains on cruises. Maybe this week I can do it. I'm gonna try harder. After weigh-in Hubs and I met Sissy, BIL, Big, Middle and Little at Duffy's. Spoke to my Daddy for like an hour today. Love him. So glad he's doing well. That's it. Colored my hair. Have a haircut appointment tomorrow after work. Had do the color before Suz does the cut and blow dry. Nothing else to report. A little boring lately, I know. So, in an effort to make today's blog more fun, here's my most favorite picture of Mr. Gorgeous. This was taken at Sissy and BIL's wedding, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when. Love you boy. Miss you. xoxo