Halloween Sunday!

It was a beautiful Halloween afternoon...

Perfect for reading or Hammock napping!

Can you guess which one I did?

It's such a comfy, peaceful spot here by the creek...

 Therefore, I can hardly be blamed for snuggling in, and drifting off to sweet
sounds of birds and the silly squirrels rustling around in the fallen leaves 

 I love this view!

It's a good way to spend an afternoon...

Doin' nothing!

Appears that while I napped, someone changed all

the pathway light bulbs to amber... He's such a kid!

Happy Halloween!

No trick, All treat!

It's that time of year again! It's the afternoon before Halloween, and I've come

home to the most beautiful picture of Autumn imaginable. For the past three

years the afternoon before Halloween has fallen on property-care day!

Which totally works for me! By the way... We've been here before. Just

click here to see Halloween 2009, and here for Halloween 2008! 

Speaking of property-care... Our riding mower dilemma has finally been solved! 

We knew nothing about riding mowers the first time we went shopping for one. Not

too many California homeowners of postage-stamp lots do. All we did know when

we pulled into the driveway of this property we toured for 30 minutes before buying

via wire-transfer from 3,318 miles away, was that the grass was high and his push-

mower, which was four days from catching up, wasn't going to get us very far!

Sitting in the driveway, staring at the tall grass, we decided to turn around... Not back to
California, but to find the nearest place to buy a riding mower. And, since we sold our house

partially furnished and my washer and dryer too, we were also desperate to locate a mattress

and appliance store. Fortunately, our little slice of boondocks is close to major shopping!

For a few years, the ten seconds we invested in our decision about which riding mower

to buy served us well. Then last week, it blew up. Yup... Our decision, and the mower!

So this time we did our homework... Which quickly indicated that
we might need to spend more than my parents did on my first car!

 

But this time... We got it right!

Of course, I'll never touch it. But I will enjoy watching it go back and forth...

Which apparently, it does quite well!

Is it just me?

 Or does the grass look Fluffier?

   I asked him if his new mower made the grass fluffier...  

 And after his eyeballs stopped rolling around...

 He reminded me that this is the benefit of all that aerating,

(I say, hole-poking) and re-seeding he did. However...

 I still think it's his new mower!

Happy Halloween!

One day in New York!

This has been a pretty amazing week at the Dream-job because I've had the opportunity to attend the 3-day Champion sportswear sales meeting and line review with my boss. Now, I've been to many sales meetings over the years, but this one has been extra-super special because I've gotten to meet a whole, new-to-me team of amazing talent I've only spoken with by phone for the last year.

One by one, as mutual name tags were read, connections were made and all those friendly and familiar voices came to life through warm hugs offered by smiling eyes. Add to all that warm-fuzzy, mushy stuff the fact that I've been seated next to an expert in the science of sports bra research, LaJean Lawson and top it off with the excitement of a mind-blowing Champion sportswear line for Fall '11 and well, you understand what I mean by amazing week.

Which leads me to why we're here. You see, so many at the meeting asked about our recent cruise vacation, which I was happy to share - However, when the question was asked by someone from our New York offices, well... I just couldn't wait to share how much I love their fabulous city!

Truthfully, I will never take another cruise... If I revealed everything about how unpleasant the experience truly was, it would make your hair stand on end. About all I have to say about that part of our long-awaited vacation is that while the excursions were fun, beautiful and interesting the next time I flush $4,000.00, I want to be standing in a jewelry store!

However... New York! New York is another story! 

The Thirty-nine hours we spent in that vibrant, pulsating city still has me spinning like a top! And, every time I recount what we managed to pack into those too-few, short hours we spent there, no one listening believes we didn't spend an entire week in New York! Which brings me, (finally!) to my point...

While you've seen much of the best 39-hours I have ever spent on any

vacation, I realized this week that there are a few highlights that I neglected

to share with you. So without further delay, I'm going to catch you up on

what happened the full day after we arrived in the Greatest city on earth! 

It all began at 9AM Friday morning when we hailed a cab

to the Millenium Hilton hotel adjacent to Ground Zero

Sitting at this window table on the third floor, we couldn't

help but feel the horror of that 11th day of September...  

After breakfast we walked towards Wall Street

and stopped to explore this beautiful cemetery...

Which we soon learned belongs to Trinity Church

It is beautiful!

Its bronze doors were a gift by William Waldorf Astor, in

memory of John Jacob Astor III, who in 1859 built a little

house on 5th. Where the Empire State Building now stands!

I wanted to visit this part of New York to be swallowed up by very, very tall buildings...

And, Wall Street was happy to grant my wish!

Because it's all about very Tall buildings!

When I click on, buy Google this is where it happens!

And, right here... This is where I lost the man I love!

For when he realized what happened here... It took a while for him to get moving again

Yup... We took it all in, and we savored it!

Just mark me down as a fan!

So now you know what came before I told you about

our visit to Chelsea Market and Fat Witch Bakery!

Before the Lobster bisque...

And, our stroll along the High Line

Before our 2 o'clock tour of Lady Liberty too!

So... Following our visit to the statue, we

hopped into another cab that took us to

30 Rockefeller Center!

And, while you already know about how we stood on the Top of the Rock...

I didn't tell you that after taking in the view of Central Park from the top of the rock...

We enjoyed the serenity and romance of Central Park by evening carriage ride!

It was from our cozy carriage that we decided on our next adventure...

The tippy-Top of the Empire State Building!

And, it was about midnight, standing at the top of the Empire State building, when

we realized we hadn't eaten since Chelsea Market. So we hopped into another cab

and asked to be taken back to Times Square and our hotel, where we dashed across

the street for a late-late dinner at Schnippers - Only the best burgers in New York!

So now you know all about the one full day we spent in New York before

our cruise! And, I'll close now by saying that the next time I have the idea to

take a cruise from New York, we're stopping at the going to New York part!