HoliDaze

Hope everyone had a wonderful, happy, safe holiday spent with loved ones!  We had such a great time in PA and NY and although I love to travel and be with my family, it's kind of nice to sleep in my own bed. 

We took our time driving up to my brother's last Saturday and woke up early Sunday to go to church w/ them.  My parents came down and we all got to see Mr. B and my cousins John and Rachel in their Christmas performance.  Afterward we had my mom's side of the family Christmas gathering and it ended up being a really nice day so the kids broke out the lax sticks and had a throw around.  After lunch and presents we went back to my parent's house but stopped at Candy Cane Lane on the way. We were absolutely exhausted so we slept in a little bit on Monday and the girls went sledding during the day.  At night we played a fun game of Mexican Train and my aunt and uncle came over for a bit.

Christmas morning was low-key until the kids came over.  Miss C got an American Girl doll and lots of fun accessories.  Mr. B was really into his Lego's this year.  T got lots of monogrammed stuff and lots of AOPi things and a Tory Burch bag, KJ definately had a Hello Kitty Christmas.  Cosmo and the girls took great care of me and bought me the big lens for my camera.  I was THRILLED and couldn't wait to try it out!  After lunch the kids (and Uncle Cosmo) went sledding again and we shot off some guns (Mr. B got a .22 for Christmas and let everyone shoot off a couple of rounds).  Pop got out the pistol too.  KJ was very, very accurate with the .22 and T did better with the pistol.  As girly-girly as my girls can be, they also like getting down and dirty.  It's so funny.  I swear, KJ looked like Miranda Lambert with the .22 in her hands. 

We headed out to NY bright and early Wednesday morning and ended up spending the night at my mother-in-laws because the weather had gotten pretty bad.  We also did a trip down memory lane and showed the girls our first apartment, our first house, my parents old house and our high school.  Thursday we made our way into Mid-town and spent a wonderful, wonderful day doing the touristy thing.  KJ made us all go into Chanel, Dior and Michael Kors and was dying to go into Tiffany.  Cosmo ended up buying his girls trinkets at Tiffany -- hey!  It's all about that blue box!  We did Rockefeller Center, Times Square, FAO Schwarz, a little walk through the Park, the windows on 5th Ave, Bryant Park.  You name it, we did it.  Friday morning we went to The Cake Boss's bakery in Hoboken and the original plan was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and have pizza at Grimaldi's.  It was a little colder than we thought and spent more time than we had anticipated at the Freedom Tower.  On our way home we stopped to take some pics in Battery Park and got some gorgeous shots of the Statue of Liberty at sunset.  No matter how many times you see Lady Liberty, it's still a thrilling sight.  You can't NOT take a picture.  Gets me every time. 

 

 

Emo's

It's been an emotional week -- still cry like a baby every time I see something about Newtown, CT (and I'm proud to say I did two of #26Acts so far).  I get frustrated like everyone else i.e., "Why?" being the obvious question but I also question why a CT soccer-mom needs a couple of assault rifles laying around her house?  Listen, I grew up in a family of hunters.  I grew up with our family vacations planned around deer season (and yes, I do know the difference between bow season, doe season and buck season).  Fortunately my dad wasn't a big turkey hunter.  I've shot guns (in a completely controlled environment), both of my girls have had pistol practice (again, on hundreds of acres of private family property).  My brother and I knew where my dad's guns were and we had absolutely no desire to "play" with them, show them off to friends or even touch them.  When I married, my hubby was invited to get his license and hunt with his new family.  He politely declined.  Just not his thing.  No big deal.  His choice was respected and honored.  Hunting is taken seriously in my family and gun ownership is no joke.  I'm also very frustrated that the shooter (can't even say his name) was such a freaking coward and took his own life.  When I heard the coroner speak about the victims and said that they had been shot multiple times each, I looked at my husband and said, "That MotherF**ker."  That was the first thing that popped into my head and it was the only response I could get out of my mouth. 

And now comes the great gun debate.  I do not think that armed officers at school are the answer.  We need to stop this behavior, this mind-set before we get to this point.  We need to do better as a nation in the way we help those with mental health issues.  We need to stop bullying.  We need to get our children involved in sports or healthy hobbies.  We need to teach our young children the joy of charity.  Get them out from in front of the XBox and violent video games.  And we need to stop the sale of assault rifles.  They are not manufactured for target practice.  They are manufactured for killing. 

One of the first things I did after the events in Newtown was put out a general post on FB thanking each of the amazing teachers my daughters have had over the years.  I have always felt blessed to be in this school district and have always been secure in the knowledge that my girls were safe and protected while they were in the classroom.  That FB post isn't enough.  In addition to #26Acts, my early New Year's resolution to myself is to be kinder to and to be more patient with people . . . .  People I don't know, people I do know, people I do know and don't particularly like. Might even forgive a few people who weren't particularly kind to me or my family.  I will be more understanding, more supportive and will encourage and praise people for their accomplishments.  I will be more giving of my time. 

On Monday we had a girls night out party at my house for a friend who won full custody of her children and is moving to Switzerland.  While I will miss her terribly, I am so very excited for her and this wonderful adventure she's about to embark on.  I also very proud of her.   She maintained her cool during the entire grueling process and never spoke poorly of her ex.  I also feel that her victory in the courtroom is a victory for all single mothers.  Without her ever having to say an unkind word about him, he got the middle finger in the end and I think it's awesome!

Then, on Tuesday I had lunch w/ a dear sweet friend who has serious health problems and had to take a medical leave from his job.  Tore my heart in two to see how fast he has deteriorated.  His body has completely failed him but his mind is sharp as a tack. 

So, I've basically been crying since last Friday when I first heard the news about Newton. 

And I think we've got it!

My home is officially decorated for the holidays.  I promised myself I wasn't going to do to much this year and keep things simple.  Yeah right.  The only thing I didn't do was my second tree.  Everything else was status quo -- dining room decorated to the hilt, living room, mantel, kitchen, etc.   

I always try to mix things up whenever I decorate and this year I was really into red, silver, white and snowflakes.  And glitter.  Lots and lots of glitter.  You can never have too much glitter! 

Living Room: 



Please notice whose stocking is going in the wrong direction

Sofa Table near French doors

Coffee table in Living Room -- love guests that leave their flower arrangements behind!

 

Dining Room: 

 

Buffet ready for this year's Christmas party with friends!

Foyer:  

Cosmo & The girls bought me the Snowmen painting years ago and it is one of my most favorite Christmas decorations! 

Love my Santas!

 

 

Kitchen:

 

I have no idea why this photo of the baker's rack won't rotate.  You may need to tilt your head or spin your computer around  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

No Media Day

Trying to stay busy today and not put on the news or read the paper.  Like everyone else, I'm trying to understand what happened in CT yesterday.  I don't know if we'll ever know.  I couldn't stop crying at work and when I got home the floodgates opened up.  My two girls are older and of course this type of thing can happen any time, any where.  However, yesterday my thoughts kept going to my sweet niece and nephew.  They are far, far too young for my brother and SIL to have to talk to about this.  I kept thinking about C mostly.  I kept thinking how could anyone want to hurt that beautiful little angel (and yes, I jokingly refer to her as WitchFace but she and everyone else knows it's said with nothing but pure love).  I called B and C on my way home from work yesterday and just really needed to hear their voices.  They are super excited about Christmas, singing in their church's Christmas choir performance, about seeing Grammie and Pop and seeing us and candy canes and everything else that little kids should be exited about.

And I think we're done!

House looks great!  Tree is up and totally decorated!  Whoop!  Whoop!  Although, I do think it's time to invest in a new tree.  When we lived in NY, MD and OH we always had real trees.  However, the year after my grandfther passed away, we decided we needed to go artificial (my grandfather passed away in mid-December.  We left Cincy and drove to PA for the funeral and on to NY for the holidays and came home after New Years.  When we got home, every single pine needle had fallen off, the tree was basically a stick and all of my ornaments slid off the bare branches and crashed on the ground).  So, we've had this tree for about 15 years now and it's started to get a little wonky looking. 

It's not this bad looking (see photo below) but it is starting to look a little Charlie-Brownish.  There seems to be some big spaces in between the branches and I try to fill the void.  Martha Stewart said to hang ornaments farther back on the branches to "create depth" so that's what I did with plain silver, red and green glass ball ornaments. 

Still have to finish setting the dining room table.  I can do that this weekend, no worries.  I'm having some friends over Monday night and haven't planned my menu yet so I'll do that this weekend, too.  I'm thinking fondue! 

Growing Old . . . Gracefully

“Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.” ~ Robert Browning

According to my husband and children, there is nothing less attractive or more pathetic than someone trying to hold on to those last vestiges of youth.  

ves·tige/ˈvɛs tɪdʒ/

noun
1. a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence: A few columns were the last vestiges of a Greek temple.
2. a surviving evidence or remainder of some condition, practice, etc.: These superstitions are vestiges of an ancient religion.
3. a very slight trace or amount of something: Not a vestige remains of the former elegance of the house.
4. Biology . a degenerate or imperfectly developed organ or structure that has little or no utility, but that in an earlier stage of the individual or in preceding evolutionary forms of the organism performed a useful function.
5. Archaic. a footprint; track.

Enter Demi Moore.  Man, she's looking more and more like a hot mess and really just needs to get a grip.  She's a beautiful woman with an incredible body.  But somebody needs to slap her with a dose of reality and remind her she's not 25 anymore.  She needs to dress and act a little more appropriately.  I'm not saying she needs to lay down and die but what happened to growing old gracefully?  Hello?  Can anyone say Sophia Lauren?  Michelle Pfieffer?  Julianne Moore?  Sela Ward?  Brooke Shields?  Sandra Bullock?  Elisabeth Shue?  Sharon Stone?  Lauren Hutton?  Candice Bergen?  Laura Linney?  Marg Helgenberger?  Jodi Foster?  Robin Wright (AKA Princess Buttercup)? 

“And the beauty of a woman, with passing years only grows!”  -- Audrey Hepburn

“It`s not how old you are, it`s how you are old.” -- Jules Renard

“You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.” -- George Bernard Shaw

"It is a rare and difficult attainment to grow old gracefully and happily."  ~ Arnold Palmer

"The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully."  ~ Eric Hoffer

And finally, this gem from Roger Moore (this is probably the one I most identify with!).  I've accepted the fact that I'm getting older, I've accepted the fact that I can't turn back time and I've accepted that there have been and will continue to be changes to my face and body.  However, I also accept age is just a number and it's what I feel on the inside.  What's most important is how I deal with it.  And everyone deals with it differently.  I plan to stay RELEVANT. 

"You can either grow old gracefully or begrudgingly. I chose both." ~ Roger Moore

It's beginning

to look a lot like Christmas in the Cos Casa!  Got the tree up late yesterday afternoon.  Lights and the angel are on but no ornaments yet.  We had such a busy weekend we just ran out of decorating time!  Dining room is 90% decorated and I'm tweaking the living room.  This year I've decided to go with a Red, Silver & White theme throughout the entire house.  One of the problems of having lived in several different homes (including a couple of transitional, short-term rentals along the journey) is that what looked good in one house, doesn't look good in another.  Our house in NY was the most contemporary house we had lived in -- a lot of glass and brass (don't judge!  It was 20 years ago!).  The house in Cincinnati was a little more rustic (not "country" but definately the most "homey" house we've had -- stone fireplace, wood mantel, medium wood cabinets in the kitchen and all the baths, parquet floor in the foyer, wood trim everywhere, etc.).  This house is what they call "traditional" -- white mantel w/ marble surround, white cabinetry, light baseboards and moulding, etc. 

So, I've decided to streamline and just go with a theme that looks good in each room.  My dining room linens are red with white snowflakes.  I have silver placemats and other than my Christmas china, all of the accent pieces in the room are red, white or silver with a snowflake motif. 

My mantel this year is kind of sparse (I prefer the term "simple elegance) but KJ isn't a fan.  I've got a lot of white taper candles, red glass and mercury glass.  KJ said it looks like a menorah. 

While the these are not photos of my house, below is some of my inspiration for this year's decor: