Shower

We threw a bridal shower for our sister this past weekend. She has some wonderful friends. Thanks to all you wonderful women for making this event a success and a celebration of our sister!

Lots of fun all around, but I forgot my camera. Oops.

Here is the list of songs from the awesome Name That Tune game!

1. Wedding Song (There Is Love) - Peter, Paul And Mary
2. Annie's Song - John Denver
3. As Time Goes By - Jimmy Durante
4. Let My Love Open The Door - Pete Townshend
5. Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers
6. Silly Love Songs - Paul McCartney & Wings
7. Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes
8. Heaven - Bryan Adams
9. Open Arms - Journey
10. Through the Eyes of Love (Theme from "Ice Castles") - Melissa Manchester
11. At Last - Etta James
12. Can't Take My Eyes Off You - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
13. Heartbeats - José González
14. The Mating Game - Bitter:Sweet
15. Let's Get It On - Jack Black
16. Throw Your Arms Around Me - Pearl Jam
17. True Companion - Marc Cohn
18. Songbird - Eva Cassidy
19. You're All I Need to Get By - Aretha Franklin
20. When You Say Nothing at All - Alison Krauss & Union Station
21. Celebration - Kool & The Gang

Do you floss?

I finally see the light! I can't believe it took me all these years to get in the daily habit of flossing my teeth. I've been in the healthy habit for over 6 months now, and at today's dental cleaning and check-up they really took notice of how good my gums look. Yeah me!

I've always believed in flossing, sure, but for some reason I only seemed to manage the infrequent tug at my gums. Now, I'm kinda hooked on it. I've even been able to put off some crown work a little longer because I've been taking such good care of my teeth and gums.

After today's checkup I drove straight to Jamba Juice and treated myself to a Peanut Butter - Banana - Chocolate smoothie. I figure, I need to celebrate all that hard work.

Of course, now I need to go brush my teeth... :)

Babysitting the little man

Little Gabriel is getting cuter every day, has more adorable teeth and babysitting him is a huge joy! Here are a couple of camera phone photos from last Saturday. Ahhh.

Snow!

As luck would have it, I had pre-decided to take today off. Yeah for snow! As unluck would have it, I haven't charged my camera battery in a while, so I wait patiently to charge the battery and pray the snow doesn't melt just yet.

Meanwhile, these photos are from my camera phone. fun!

Who do you want to win?!

Every year, no matter how much or how little I watch football during regular season, I get revved up to watch the Super Bowl. This year is no different. I've probably watched more this year than I have since I was a kid (and bugging my dad with questions like, "what's a cornerback?" and "what does PAT mean?" and "why is Jim Zorn so cute?").

Yesterday's game with Green Bay and New York was so great! My only hope is that the Super Bowl can be that exciting.

Bring on the garlic, cheese dip!

Go, Seahawks!!

A few weeks ago we went to a Seahawks game and had these great seats -- thanks to our friend-with-season-tickets Steve! It was something like 7 rows back on the 50-yard line. Niiiiice.

Tomorrow the Seahawks take on Green Bay in their hometown. It's bound to be a nail-biter, but I sure hope our boys in blue and green win!

Go
Seahawks
Go
Seahawks

New Year's Day Traditions

A woman in my book club watches all 3 Godfather films each New Year's Day. Her son is now a teenager and has joined in her tradition to watch them with her. Some people watch football (wait... there is football today, right?) and, apparently, I'm not one of them.

Here's what I do: I find a local coffee house, usually an independent, one-off, and I order a delicious, coffee treat in a ceramic mug. Not one of those paper to-go cups, but a real, ceramic i'm-staying-here-for-a-while mugs. I get comfy, take off my coat, open an envelope marked, "To Naomi, to be read on 1-1-19xx" and I read a letter I wrote to myself a year ago at some other funky, coffee shop.

I always laugh, I often cry, and I'm always entertained at how much I've grown (or how little) in a year. Things that troubled me a year ago have long since been forgotten and it puts those pains into a significant perspective for me. You can get over *anything* in a year, I always say. And I do.

Once I've finished reading my letter, which can range from several pages, to a 12-page book if I was feeling inspired one year, I open a notebook of clean, sparkling white, college-ruled, lined paper and pluck a favorite pen from my bag. The paper has to be in a spiral-bound notebook, and the pen must be a good one. It's very important to have the right pen, for the right pen can invoke magical writing skills while a dud of a pen can halt the process and get me out the door too quickly. I love having the right pen.

I write a new letter, pouring out my thoughts and feelings of the past year, as well as my wonders and hopes for the upcoming year. It's not filled with resolutions, but rather it's a record of my thoughts on my life at the time.

I love this ritual, and I've been doing it every year since 1992.

Only now I drink decaf.