Cheers!

Happy New Year, dear friends.  It's here - almost.  2015.  As with all years, this one has had its ups and downs.  But the highs have definitely overshadowed the lows.  

I have learned that my Grandmother's favorite saying, if you have your health, you have everything, is so true.  This has been a year of teaching me never to take anything for granted.

Last year, my resolutions included losing ten pounds and exercising more.  Instead of losing the pounds I added five to the scale.  The exercising went out the window if the temps were lower than 50 degrees.  Need I say more?

This year's resolutions are simple and yet very difficult to achieve. I am committed to work on my level of patience.  Anyone who knows me, will testify that my patience is limited.  My second resolution for 2015 is to pray more and worry less.  I admit to being a compulsive worry wart.  

I close this year with a heart full of gratitude.  I appreciate everyone of you who take the time to read my blog.  I have been fortunate enough to meet many bloggers and readers in person this year, and I consider them my friends.   I hope to meet many more in the coming year.

So, I raise my glass and toast you, dear friends.     

May the best of this year be the worst of next!

My New Year Resolutions

Hello, dear readers.  Happy Almost New Year!!  Hope you are enjoying the last days of 2014.

I came across this list on PaperMag and have adopted it as my own New Year's resolutions.  Might as well; I've never had any luck with the ones that I came up with in the past. 

to do list

1.  Make vanilla pudding. Put in mayo jar. Eat in public.

2.  Hire two private investigators.  Get them to follow each other.

3.  Wear shirt that says "Life."  Hand out lemons on a street corner.

4.  Get into a crowded elevator and say "I bet you're all wondering why I gathered you here today."

5.  Major in Philosophy.  Ask people WHY they would like fries with that. 

6.  Run into a store.  Ask what year it is.  When someone answers, yell, "It worked!" and run out cheering.

7.  Become a doctor.  Change last name to Acula.

8.  Change name to Simon.  Speak in third person.

9.  Buy a parrot.  Teach the parrot to say "Help!  I've been turned into a parrot!"

10.  Follow joggers around in a car blasting "Eye of the Tiger"  for encouragement. 

~papermag.com

What are your New Year's resolutions?

Happy New Year!

My Holiday In Pictures

Hello dear friends.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We were delighted to have the girls home.  It was also special because it was our first Christmas with Chowdah and Chili.  They had the time of their lives playing ball outside with #1 and #2.

Naturally, we had to have beauty appointments before the holiday.  Chowdah could not take his eyes off the customer on the next table.  And he thought Chili was little...

If you can't tell by her facial expression, Chili is not a fan of hair bows.

# 2 did some baking.

Chow loves balls and ropes.  When you put them together - nothing is better in his world.

Poor Chili tried to pick it up but no - go.

#1 spent more time on the floor than on the couch.

The Mister gets pretty excited around gift time.

Loves his lobster tie from #1.

Chowdah's brand new toy lasted a whole 20 minutes. 

"What's that all about, Dad?  Chili must have gotten to it."

Our sweet neighbors, The Darlings, dropped the most delicious Chai Spice Girls Gingerbread Cookies over to our house.  If you're wondering why there is no picture, we inhaled them as soon as we untied the pretty package.  They also included two toys for Chowdah and Chili - one blue and one green.

 

2015 Resolution #1:  

Working on Chow's sharing skills.

"This Christmas thing is kinda fun!!" whispered Chili.

Chili with her new best friend, lamb chop.  If you suspect that someone's nose is a little out of joint, you are right!!

Tough day!!

Enjoy the last days of 2014!!

Merry Christmas!

Dear friends...

I hope that your Christmas is filled with lots of love, plenty of laughter, and beautiful music.

xxoo,

It's Tree Skirt Day with Meredith Vieira!

Good morning, dear friends.  Hope that you are enjoying a wonderful holiday and that all of your shopping is done.  Here is the second part of Dude and my brush with fame. If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

We were early for our train and had plenty of time to grab a cup of joe before our big day in the city.  Neither one of us slept very well.  We had gotten an email from the producer the evening before telling us to bring all of our extra scapes to the show.  Meredith and some of her producers were going to don the scapes for the segment.  The email also mentioned that Meredith was going to ask us a few questions on camera.

YIKES!!!

IS IT TOO LATE TO BACK OUT?

Dude wore the black one that unfortunately looked great one her.

I wore the skirt from Restoration Hardware.  It was very heavy and warm.  It reminded me of a grizzly bear.  It's not easy being a trend setter. 

Grand Central was fairly calm.

We decided to walk to 30 Rock in order to take in the big city at Christmastime on this beautiful crisp morning.

Dude schlepping the scapes.

I think that may be Savannah and that conceited guy from MTV.  Too much hair to be Matt. 

We met Dude's very handsome son in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center.  I haven't seen him since he was about 6 years old.  He grew about 8 feet since then. 

Before we were famous....

Matt met us at the door when we arrived.

When we arrived, we paged the producer, as instructed.
No lines for us!!

VIP's!!

The producer told us that he would take us to hair and make up.

WHAAAAAAAAATT?!?!  Now we're talking....

This, we could get used to.  The actress, Juliette Lewis, was in the next chair.  Dude, of course, told me to take a pic of her.  She didn't seem to be open to photos or conversation so I didn't take any.  I think she was a little intimidated by our star quality and youth.

Move over, Juliette.  It's Big Mama's turn.

I'm asking the makeup artist if she thinks I look good for 78 years old.  She thought about it for what seemed like a very long time and told me "not bad."

Dude getting "miked" for Meredith's grilling questions.  Can you tell that she's getting nervous?

This is me thinking... it's still not too late to blow this pop stand...

When we sat down in the studio, we noticed the scapes were on the chairs in place.

Cute little producers donning our scapes.

The guests that day were Bobby Flay, Robin Roberts, jealous Juliette Lewis, and some YouTube chick who could have passed for a Kardashian.  She talked about facial contouring with makeup.  They also taped a segment with Sherry whats-her-name from The View for a future show.

Our 15 minutes of fame was short of about 14 and a half minutes.  We both answered our questions without a hitch. After our segment, a photographer took a pic of us with Meredith and all the producers in their scapes.  I don't have the photo yet, but I will post it as soon as I do. 

We had to wear our scapes through the next hour and a half of taping.  Dude's scape was lighter in weight.   
Imagine making your television debut - Sherry what's-her-name staring you down - and you are being smothered by a 10 lb. thermal grizzly bear-esqe scape. And then it hit me.  Our next trend!!  Tell me what you think of this... Lose Weight With Your Scape....  I was so hot I could actually feel the lbs. falling off of me.  Where was the makeup artist when I needed one?

Meredith's staff is very young and extremely warm and professional.  You can tell that they truly love and appreciate their jobs. This lovely lady was the producer who was in charge of the scape segment. 

Meredith oozes warmth and charm.  After the show, we went backstage to pick up the scapes. Meredith was running around with a head full of rollers.  She ran up to us and gave us big hugs and told us that we did a great job. 

No question about it - we had a fabulous day and we were bitten by the show biz bug.  As we were leaving the studio, we passed this sign.  We looked at each other and gave each other a sly smile.  We were thinking the same thing... our next challenge...

Forget the shopping, wrapping, and baking and turn on the Meredith Vieira Show on Tuesday, December 23rd so you can witness television history!  

That is, if we don't end up on the cutting room floor!