a life beyond running shoes.

for not having done this sooner. we have not had a date since july. that is terrible!!! but last night we hit the town. joe's pub. dinner, drinks, and music. dinner was only decent. my grey goose dirty martini was perfection shaken. the music was phenomenal. laurence juber (fingerstyle acoustic guitar player of the former band wings as in paul mccartney's other known band). he was insanely good.....down right amazing. set list included fav: strawberry fields, live and let die, a spoonful of sugar, little wing. one song he played that i loved was one he wrote: in your arms. we had a great time!!! thanks for the free babysitting, tiff!!! and the tix, mom!!!!

here is the re-cap...... tuesday - botanic gardens. boys love the children's area. sweet pea is learning how to pick flowers. wednesday - coney island. temperature was 90. there was at least a breeze at the beach. thursday - school potluck. peanut with two classmates and his teacher. friday - "mommy school" peanut has figured out basic addition.....by himself. i promise i only erased the problems he got wrong. he did this whole worksheet without assistance! saturday - marine park. deep, deep brooklyn. park, playground, bike riding, picnic. perfect weather!!! happy memorial weekend, friends.

this is just crazy!!! but indeed it is true. he is riding a bike. for daddy's birthday we had steak and roasted beet salad sunday night with flourless chocolate cake (thank you 3 peas) and watched series finale of lost . but monday, we went up to nyack.... rockland state park to try out the boys on their bikes. we tried taking off little bit's training wheels.... and low and behold..... he could do it. peanut finally got the hang of starting by himself last weekend (he learned last summer)..... but little bit's new bike was more comfortable with training wheels. we had to push him to try w/o. this. kid. is. amazing.

sweet pea is a funny little girl. she amuses herself.... and the rest of us as well. she is a joy and delight and makes each day interesting.... so somewhere between a funk and a slump is the possibility of being a little depressed. that is okay.... i still like my kids, love them and want to eat them up.... i still like my husband, adore and enjoy him to pieces. this too shall pass...... now, if i could just get my running shoes back on.....i'm sure it would do wonders.

funk : (noun) a state of cowardly fright; a severe depression. slump : (noun) an extended time of poor performance; a sudden falling off or decline. not sure which better describes my state of being..... but in an attempt to get out of it, i signed-up for a 5K. well..... truth-be-told, i had mentioned that there was a race that had a kid's race on the same day. peanut, who is actually an elephant, didn't forget and reminded me about it about a week ago. (i think i mentioned it a month ago...seriously) it was a great way to spend the day as a family. driving up west side highway and playing in riverside park. there were hills to run down and dogs to run away from. it was a glorious morning! so.... i would have skipped but i did it for the kids.... and i am so glad i did. my race time wasn't too shabby.... it gives me something to beat (30:30). and peanut LOVED it!!!! notice what place he is in? third... that is right. he got third place. on wednesday he did admitted that he ...

for mother's day i went to california to visit my family. i took sweet pea. 16 hours at my mom's. (left sweet peat there) 40 hours at my sister's. 18 hours at my dad's. and got no pictures. here at home the boys were busy, busy, busy, busy. what a mother's day gift! here is the before: and the after: now for some outdoor furniture, a picnic table, and some landscaping... but baby steps.... and seriously, i need to leave more often!

orthodoxy . gh chesteron. this took me a year. perhaps longer; i've lost track of time. but i finished.....and it was a struggle. it tested my mental faculties, my ability to pay attention for much longer than was comfortable.....but every couple of pages, i was struck with lucidity for which i am richer. this one chapter made the struggle of the entirety worth it.... completely: "the paradoxes of christianity." if you have time to read over these quotes, do so..... they are brilliant. he is brilliant, cheeky, and way over my head. "there was never anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. it was sanity: and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad." "and then in a quiet hour a strange thought struck me like a still thunderbolt. . . suppose we heard an unknown man spoken of by many men. suppose we were puzzled to hear that some men said he was too tall and some too short . . . . he might be the right shape. outrageously tall men might feel h...

but i finally finished our latest book club book. albeit, two weeks late..... but the conversation of the book was not really about the book. it was about food. which the book is about. thanks to mary...... for an amazing meal. fresh pasta..... and that is just where my palate memory begins. heat - an amateur's adventure as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a dante-quoting butcher in tuscany. bill buford. how can you not want to read this. well..... mario batali makes more than just a few cameo appearances. buford works in his kitchen. learns what it looks like on that side of the order. fascinating. daunting. intimidating. then he travels to italy to learn pasta and butchering. mario takes a back seat and the book loses its flare. could mario's robust, obnoxious, foul-mouthed presence have made the book more interesting? possibly. i work my way to the end and then in the last section..... nuggets: "it's not in the breed but the breeding" ...

we under charged. didn't make our start up cost back. (sign says "lemonade 25 cents - 5 year old handwriting!!) we learned..... 7 0z of fresh-squeezed should cost 50 cents. not a quarter. but what a fun experience. great way to meet our neighbors on a sunny saturday morning. maybe next time we'll have cookies for sale too. trying to figure out how to teach start up cost, profit margin, etc. peanut (5 year old) loves it. loves learning about change, tips, coins versus paper. it is fun to see.

in an attempt to make the backyard usable space...... we added 700 pounds of sand. there was much rejoicing. found a used box through neighborhood group. the only one that does not love it..... sweet pea. there were many tears. also.... night out with friends. celebrating her 40th. i got to wear a dress and heals. anyone recognize the dress??? (mom?)