If I...

lived in a big city with seasons and had a fancy job, this is how I imagine I would dress:

(kate spade @ bloomingdales.com)

I love Kate Spade. Thankfully she has decided to debut her new line of fab clothing in the fall so I'm not too tempted to buy. I'll apologize to my AmEx in advance for the day when I see the spring line. Till then I will remain the casual sundress/flip flop wearing mommy that I am. Best uniform for this 90 degree inferno paradise. (would someone please tell me how to strikethrough?? i can't figure it out for the life of me).

Finished watching Duplicity last night. Wasn't too impressed. They tried to make it interesting by doing a series of multi city flashbacks but I thought the plot was rather blechk. Opinions??

Best get to the daily routine.

Smiles,

Elle

Edit: Thanks Llama!! Now I know how to strikethrough.

Is it just me

or have you noticed that there is a posting drought every weekend? On Sat am, I check my dashboard and find only a few if any new posts. I guess you all have fabulous social lives on the weekends while my life remains much of the same. Except Sundays when N is home too.

Anyways, it seems that the rest of the family is sleeping - husband [N] included. So I guess I will go and finish watching Duplicity. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie last night. This is no indication of my opinion of any movie. I have been known to fall asleep while others are on the edge of their seats. It's just me - I'm sort of narcoleptic while watching movies, at any time of the day.

Oh, I also made this chicken cacciatore (minus the peppers) tonight for dinner and it was YUM. The kids even ate the chicken and wanted more.

Hope you are having a fab weekend!

Elle

Here, there and everywhere.

That's where my thoughts are so this is going to be a post of random things so I can get a few of the "things to post about" off the list in my head!

First off I want to just send a little love to all you wonderful people that I've discovered through blogs. Thanks for the nice comments and for the fun posts. This little adventure takes up far too much of my time every day but it's so darn fun.

Next is a book review my-style. I'm no English major nor a reader of the classics which will be blatantly obvious once you read my review... I just finished Jennifer Wiener's Certain Girls. This was a fun, entertaining read. At times a page turner but generally just a fun book that I looked forward to reading. And for me that's about as good as it gets. My only requirement really is - please don't bore me. Plus the family in the book is Jewish so several things sparked good memories I have of my dear Jewish friends who introduced me to things like the menorah, dreidel, potato knish, cheese blintzes (YUM - I might have to plan a trip to NYC just to get my blintz fix) and one of my fave holiday songs by Adam Sandler.

Followed by a movie review. Adventureland. This is the best 80's movie I've seen that wasn't made in the 80's. The whole setting, wardrobe, etc... is so spot on. Just seeing the styles was entertaining enough, but the story was good too. Plus this is one of those movies that doesn't employ A-listers. I love seeing the new, young group of actors/actresses that are becoming more popular that haven't made it where they are just bcs they are physically beautiful.

And well I guess that's it for now. It's past my bed time and I was up reeeealy early this morning because my adorable son wanted to play at 5 am. I'm puzzled as to why I'm not tired yet. After all, the super early morning coupled with a day out on the boat would normally have had me nodding off hours ago... And this is another reason I have to stop and count my blessings - a Thursday on the boat, swimming in the beautiful blue sea that is a short drive from my home, with my babies.

Smiles,

Elle

Thanks

Tonight I just want to write a short little post. A few events in my life have reminded me to remain thankful. Sometimes we get so caught up in the trivial that we forget to look at the big picture. When I stop for a moment and look at my big picture, I think "damn, I'm lucky". Today a dear friend of mine underwent surgery to remove his thyroid and some surrounding lymph nodes as they have been invaded by the big C: cancer. He's a 30 something father of 2 and someone I feel blessed to have as a pal. This is one of those things that makes me stop and think about how blessed I am and how thankful I am for so many wonderful things in my life. I've had some tragic days, but through it all I remind myself that things can always be worse, MUCH worse. I've learned to remain thankful for all that I have.

Nighty-night

Elle

Have a cookie...

Had these babies baked by 10:30 this morning. Banana cookies. Not exactly what I wanted but yummy nonetheless. They are very soft and cake-like - I was hoping for a little crispiness but perhaps that's too much to ask of a cookie made with real banana puree.

My brain is so full of post ideas that I'm having trouble posting. I spent a while this morning reading all the new posts my bloglies (it's what I have decided to call the lovely bloggers I follow) have written then commenting. I took me a while and though I was thoroughly enjoying myself - there were several other things of more (?) importance that were not getting done.

August was supposed to be my month of major organizing/clutter removal and I've managed to complete one task - clean my desk. Not very impressive, I know. Well gotta go play :)

Elle

My Colors

I always enjoy seeing other people's homes and the colors they use inside. Today, I thought I'd share my interior color choices with you. What do you think? My camera isn't the greatest for photographing colors inside but these are mostly accurate. Ok the problem is probably me and not my camera but anyway....

Palladian Blue

Tarragon

Toasted Almond

Cream Puff (I didn't prep for these pics - this is real life people!)

Sweet Carolina

Parsley Tint

Bracken Brown

I am most often complimented on the Palladian Blue that is the main color we used in the house. It is a lovely pale aqua and I must say that nearly a year and a half later I'm still loving it.

Elle

Heartbroken

My anthem today was Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart. Here's the story....

Miss S is my 3 1/2 year old girl. Yesterday her Grandmother phoned me in the morning to invite Miss S to join them for the night at a beach house they were renting for a few nights. I spoke with Miss S and attempted to consult my husband [N] as Miss S had not spent the night out without us. N was not available so I decided to go ahead and pack her up and let her try it out. The house was about a 45 minute drive away so worst case I could collect her at bedtime when she decided she was ready to return home to her sweet mother.

So around noon her Grandma arrived to collect her and off they went. I called and called and called again to check on her. She was fine. When N heard she had joined them he thought it wasn't such a great idea and was not keen on the idea of having to drive 45 mins to collect her later that night. Anyways, our last call was at about 10 last night and still the report was that Miss S was perfectly fine playing with her cousins, etc (yes, my baby was still up at 10pm!).. I didn't speak to her because I didn't want to upset her and mess things up. We got off the phone and I had what I can only describe as "mother's pit". It's a feeling you get inside when you miss your babies. I haven't had it for quite a while. And actually I had the feeling for a few hours by then. So off to sleep for me. It was nice, I admit, to have no little visitors to our bed last night. I waited as long as I possibly could this morning to call. I couldn't wait to talk to my sweet angel. Well when I called Miss S had no interest in speaking to her mother. (stab knife in my heart). What? Did I hear you correctly? Did she just say no she didn't want the phone? You heard it right. My little independent girl didn't need to talk to me. I was crushed. She didn't want to speak to me for fear that I'd mention coming back home. I was heartbroken. N's response: "Now you know how I feel". She is a mommy's girl most of the time. "unbreak my heart, say you love me again..."

I felt sorry for myself for a while. Now she's back home and asleep. Exhausted from going to bed at 11 last night and up before 7 this am. I'm glad to have her home. Guess I missed her more than she missed me.

Elle

PS- I'm thrilled to have another follower and have had comments from 3 different commenters! YAY :)

Today's Purchase

(gymboree)

Yes, you read it right. I've already purchased Miss S's halloween costume. It baffles me that halloween costumes are even available for purchase in mid August! But let me tell you about last year (in August).

Perusing my regular sites I happened upon the cutest halloween costumes at gymboree. As you may or may not recall, I live outside the US. So when a family member was traveling stateside, I was ready to place our halloween order for their collection. Well no time to think people, the costumes were selling out at an amazing rate. My little one's obsession at the time was Bee Movie - I thought the bumblebee costume would be perfect. Long-story-short I ordered the $60+ pkg and my dear cousin accidentally tossed the costume in the garbage with the other shopping trash. Oops! Miss S had to be a flower fairy which was super cute. Though the stripy tights were only available on ebay at 3x retail. Silly moms!

Hope I have better luck this year.

ttfn

Elle

blockbuster moment

So this weekend, my husband [N] rented 17 Again and as soon as I saw the DVD, I couldn't get this song out of my head.  That's not a bad thing, I happen to love this song along with a few other Annie Lenox/Eurythmics songs.  I find her voice amazing and emotional.  Back to the story...  This was an odd choice for N, he normally wouldn't touch this genre with a 10 foot pole.  In need of a mindless flick, I requested we watch this one first.  I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised.  Not a thinker by any stretch - but fun, mindless entertainment.  And I was finally convinced that Zac Efron is a hottie.  He's not really my type (he's too clean and pretty and admittedly far too young for me) but he's matured a bit.  Every high school needs a kid like the character he played - if only we knew then.....  N has called the flick stupid, but I think he just doesn't want to admit that he enjoyed it too - after all, I wasn't imagining all those chuckles.

I'm glad the weekend blogging drought is over.  

Happy Monday y'all!

Elle

My brain is overheating

Oh gosh, I'm so confused.  I was trying to get in a little blog time while one kid is out of the house and the other is napping.  My late night blogging is getting more and more difficult with N hogging my computer when he gets home.  He needs a brain break too and we don't have tv.  Well we have a tv but no cable/satellite feeds.  More on that later.... back to my brain.  

Ok, I'm in my 30's so when I was in college email was just starting to infiltrate our lives.  Seriously, like only the super genius kids used email my freshman year.  I didn't know what it was.  The aol explosion followed shortly thereafter.  And post college I had a career that involved computer usage for let's say 10 years.  Bottom line is I'm on the verge of being lost in this cyber world bcs I'm so far behind.  Staying at home with the kiddies does not a computer genius make.  So here I thought that since I was following people on google reader [gr], I would be one of the little squares on their following group.  I think I was wrong.  I need to be following via google friend connect [gfc].  So I'm going to try and regroup and reorganize and see where I get.  And am I right that gfc only works for blogger blogs?  Not wordpress?  Bummer.  Guess I'll have to follow on gfc & gr.  Ok going to go find a picture to use for me.  

Side note:  my mom's brain is overheating too.  She told me it was Friday the 13th this morning.  At least I come by it honest ;)

Happy friday the 14th!

Elle

EDIT:  ok, you can continue to feel sorry for my lame brain, but I am figuring this out.  Its all connected and I can follow non-blogger blogs.  Yay!

Tonight, I need a vacation!

Kiddies were extra whiny tonight which makes mommy a little crazy.  I feel like I need a vacation so I thought I'd reminisce a bit and show you where I was recently and hopefully get all caught up in the feeling and pretend I'm back there.  

Two weeks ago we were here:  

water slide

Not the kiddie pool!  This was taken early in the am.

(This wasn't the order I intended to post but can't bother to fix them now!!)

As a matter of fact, we were having a phenomenal dinner at Nobu.  One of my faves if not my favorite restaurant.  Don't even get me started on the Mochi - if you know how to make it, please share.  

A fun 4 nights with the whole fam damily:  me, husband, kiddies and in-laws.  I begged and pleaded with N (husband) and he finally gave in.  He was convinced he would not like the Bahamas.  The first 18 hours I wondered if I had made a good decision.  The one thing I wasn't expecting:  ALL THE PEOPLE.   Atlantis is kind of a Vegas, Disney mix with water.  

After breakfast our first morning, we prepared for the pool.  All packed up and headed over and spent too much time looking for pool chairs.  Just to lay our stuff on.  Chairs as far as the eye could see, all occupied.  Occupied by towels, beach bags, beach toys and the occasional parent, grandparent or sleeping child.  After we got in the pool and I saw the kids having such a good time, I relaxed - forgot about the hundreds (maybe thousands) of other people around us and the remainder of the vacation was fab.

I would highly recommend it for a family vacation.  Highlights:  Nobu, the aquariums, walking around, Marina village at night (too hot in the day!), drooling over the amazing yachts, Splashers kiddie pool.  Oh and some enjoyed the water slides (I'm not very adventurous).  Lowlights:  mediocre food & service, lotsa people, pretty expensive.

Ok - it's taken me 5 attempts to get this done so I'm going to stop now.  

Where you have been on vacation this summer?  Any upcoming vacation plans?

ttfn

Elle

Today's Miscellany

Ok- just dictionary.com'd that to make sure that was really a word and not just something I imagined was really a word.

Well sorry to say that I've got an unwell baby boy sleeping next to me :(  His big sis brought home a little something late last week and now he's got it.  Poor sweetie.  He's normally full speed ahead for every waking hour.  This afternoon - fever & lethargic.  Geez it breaks your heart.  

Tonight's movie was fun.  Laid a blanket out in the courtyard, got some Haagen Dazs cups  for us and watched 3/4 of Ratatouille.  Then Miss S was tired and it was time to go.  Felt so great to be enjoying the outdoors for a change.  The heat lets up a tad at night.

Happy to report that we tried a recipe last night.  I say "we" bcs I forced N to participate in dinner prep.  I was tired from my day with my 2 kids + one 6 yr old cousin.  Our dinner prep didn't even start till 9ish.  So I requested some assistance and he obliged.  We made Giada's Shrimp Fra Diavolo.  Easy and good.  A little too spicy but that was bcs N was responsible for step one and let's just say that he used a very generous teaspoon of crushed red pepper.

And finally, I'm thrilled to have (insert drumroll) 3 followers and I've gotten my first comment.  Yay!

Till next time-

Elle  

Banoffee, etc..

Just a quickie - I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and trying to get one child out the door for a summer night outdoor movie.  Ratatouille - tres exciting ;-)

What is banoffee pie you ask??  My favorite dessert I believe.  I'm a lover of sweets though so I haven't given it a huge amount of thought...  Think Shortbreadish cookie crust topped with dulce de leche topped with fresh bananas and real whipped cream.  To die for if you ask me.  I begged N to share a piece w me but he wanted his own, I was FORCED to eat an entire piece all by myself.  Totally sabotaging my attempts to get in shape or at least not gain any weight this summer.  

More later - hope your day has been a good one!

My day

First of all I want to say that I'm thrilled to have my first follower!  

Now on to my day - it started with a trip to the library.  I love the library.  We have a nice small library on our little island that is quite sufficient.  We checked out some new bedtime stories and I actually ventured out of the children's section and checked out a cookbook for myself:  Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentiis.  I love Giada.  She is one of my 2 faves on Food Network - Ina Garten is my other.  I find their shows therapeu

tic and they make me want to try out their dishes.  Which I should add - have never disappointed me.  So I'm hoping to try a few recipes out over the next 3 weeks till I have to return the book.  I'll keep you posted.

The next notable event of my day was not so good.  In fact it totally gave me the heebie jeebies.  I had an encounter with a SCORPION.  Well 2 actually.  I had just been out on the back porch with my little guy and I was letting him play outside (even thought it was h-o-t, we stayed in the shade) and I heard someone at the front door (perfect timing) so we came in and when I returned to the porch door I saw a tiny scorpion scampering next to the door mat.  I ran back in to get a hard shoe.  When I got back out he had completely disappeared.  He was right where my little guy had just been playing barefoot.  {Oops dinner has arrived - be back soon... well not so soon, it's morning again}  So I moved a few things around bcs I know they like to hide and I found not the tiny one but a pretty big one ~3-4".  I squished him and screamed.  Never found the tiny one....  It gives me the shivers to know that he is out there somewhere and growing.

Well it's now Sunday and yesterdays events seem so yesterday.  I shouldn't neglect to mention that my dinner was tres fab.  I convinced N (my husband whom I would love to refer to as husby but don't want to copycat someone else's cutely coined nickname) that take-out was what we needed.  He delivered!  Tuna encrusted w sesame seeds cooked just enough with some yummy sauteed spinach that tasted somewhat like a warm wakame salad - some rice and wasabi cream on the side.  Oh and a piece of delicious banoffee pie for dessert.  

Dinner was followed by the movie Gigantic which I found both entertaining and confusing.  Has anyone else seen this?  Can anyone explain the homeless guy to me?  Was it all a trip?

Anyways Happy Sunday everyone.  ttyl

Elle

Today's Photo: my p & j!

little miss s & baby d - my babies!

An introduction

Hi to you!  I'm very excited to be blogging again.  I was a blogger up until fairly recently but was having a hard time finding the time to post so I stopped.  Now my baby's a bit older and I seem to find the time to read blogs so I'm going to try this again.  A fresh new start!  I've chosen to start anonymous this time.  My last blog ended up being most frequented by my mother's friends as a way to keep up with her grandkids.  Not exactly what I intended.  

I have a little voice in my head telling me that this isn't a good idea since I have already spent the majority of my "free" (hahahahaha) time this morning browsing blog designers websites and wondering if I should pay for a cuter blog then finding some cute free backgrounds and changing font colors and sizes, etc. etc.  Now it's the afternoon and the breakfast dishes are still in the sink.  

So my intention is to continue this blog and post a mix of things.  I'm promising myself that this will not become a blog about my kids.  I will be limiting posts mostly about my babies to no more than 2-3 per week.  I want to talk about the books I'm reading (currently Jennifer Weiner's Certain Girls - so far, so good), good food, misc things, and on and on.  I hope that when my travels take me stateside I will be having a few giveaways and perhaps participate in a swap or two.  I should mention, in case you haven't read the tiny sentence on the right about me, that I don't live in the US.  So giveaways are tricky for me.  It's not much fun to receive a package that you have to pay import duties on.  

As you can probably already tell - I tend to ramble.  So before I scare you away with an introductory post that reads like a novel, I will sign off.  I'm going to send some of my fave bloggers an email inviting them to visit me here.  I love comments and I hope to hear from YOU soon!!

Bye for now, 

Elle