Photo Booth
Irony
LittleZabba and I spent some time at the park this afternoon. While there we saw a man attempt to talk with his son about some improper behavior. The son stopped to listen, but had a smirk on his face while his father was talking. Dad didn’t like that and started to yell at his son. The son started to walk away. As the Dad stepped forward to get closer to his son the son ran away. We then watched as the Dad chased his son around the park. When he finally caught his son he slapped him across the face. They finished their talk and then play time resumed like nothing happened. The Dad then walked back to continue talking to his friend. He began to rationalize his behavior to his friend. He said, “I didn’t pop him very hard.”
Fast forward 20 minutes.
Same Dad is cautioning a parent about having their son join a football team. Why?
“Because there is a lot of yelling and they aren’t very nice.”
Under 2
Back in May I posted that I had a goal of completing a half marathon in under 2 hours. This last weekend I did it!
I ran with two of of my gal pals. They were so encouraging through the whole process of training and up to race day. We had so much fun. We started out strong and ran well. My confidence started to crumble at mile 11. I was tired and there were more hills than I was prepared for. I saw the 2 hour mark coming fast and I knew I had to dig deep or quit. At that point I decided that I didn’t work this hard to come in at 2:01. With every last ounce of strength I had left I ran for the finish line. We crossed together at 1:58:53.
I love my “fast girls”! I will never forget how we rock and rolled through Los Angeles! Thank you for helping me achieve my goal.
Change of Plans
BigZabba has been saving her money for months now. She has been trying to earn enough money to buy an American Girl doll. Those are pretty expensive, so she was going to be saving for quite some time. Yesterday she and her friend were discussing their money saving plans and what they were saving for. At that moment she decided that she no longer wanted to buy an American Girl doll. She said,
I think I should start saving for a car.
Her friend agreed that that was a good plan. Her response was, “Yes a car is very important.”
So now we have changed the plan from a $100 doll to something much more expensive. I think she is going to need a bigger piggy bank.
Heimlich
Growing up in a home with an RN as a mother you learn lots of little tid bits about medicine, health and life saving. One of the things that stayed in the back of my brain all these years is how to perform the Heimlich maneuver. I never had the chance to do it so I never had the chance to actually practice. However I can now say that I have had to save my husband’s life twice now with the help of Mr. Heimlich. The first time was maybe one year ago with a stubborn piece of steak and the second time was just the other day with an un-coated pill that was entirely too big to be considered one pill. The look of panic in his eyes was enough to get the adrenaline flowing. So consider this a friendly reminder that if you need to brush up on your skills or have never learned how to do the Heimlich maneuver take one minute twenty three seconds and watch this little video. (the music choice for the video is a bit odd, but the content is good)
Now get out there and save a life or two!
Sassy
My sister has joined forces with The Sassy Cupcake, originally based in Oregon. Now the yummy treats are available in Southern California. If you are looking for some amazing cupcakes look no further. Some of their flavors are cannoli, smores, pink lemonade, pink champagne, & raspberry lemonade.
Right now The Sassy Cupcake is having a special on their cupcake of the month, the original Sassy Cupcake. You can order 1 box (1 doz) for $20. They will be delivered (5 mile delivery radius from her home) on Saturday Sept 25 or you can arrange pickup! Place your order by Wednesday September 22. To place your order, please email amy at amyv at mac dot com.
Keep them in mind for class parties, birthdays, any special event, or just because! They really are delicious.
And no I wasn’t asked to write this post, but I am hoping that it will get me some free cupcakes. =)
Subliminal
Last night LittleZabba said this prayer before bedtime,
Dear Jesus, Thank you for our fun day. Help us to sleep well. Please help us to do something fun tomorrow, like go to the zoo. Amen.
BFF
I am so thankful that BZ has found a close friend, a bosom friend, a kindred spirit. (yes i have been watching Anne of Green Gables lately). BZ and her friend have been buddies since they were about 2 years old. They are attached at the hip. They love each other fiercely, meaning they fight like sisters and defend each other with a vengeance.
While looking through BZ’s writing portfolio I came across this. (It has been edited for typos, and so you can read it a bit easier.)
Friends are important to me. My best friend is E. She is my best friend because she does not ignore me. One other reason she is my best friend is because she does not tease me or make fun of me. The last reason is she is very nice. I never let go of her hand when E falls. E never lets go of my hand when I fall. E makes sure that we are doing the game together. E is just a nice, caring, loving and sharing young girl. With E’s love and care I feel that she completely thinks I’m special and she just loves me more every second. It makes me so happy to feel that she really loves me.
E is a true friend to BigZabba. We are so thankful for her. We hope and pray that they stay BFF’s forever.
Potsdam
On our last day in Germany we decided to take the train to the neighboring city, Potsdam. When we left the train station it was clear that we were tourists as we had our guide book out trying to figure out which way to go. So, the tour bus guy came to us and ended up convincing us to take the tour. Overall I think it was a good decision. The English audio tour didn’t have the personality that the German tour guide did, but we were able to see much more than had we walked around on our own.
The first stop on our tour was the Cecilienhof Palace. It was built to look like an English tudor home. It was a beautiful palace. It is now a museum and a hotel. For 400 euros per night you can stay in the hotel. Cecilienhof Palace was the location of the Potsdam Conference with Winston Churchill, later Clement Attlee, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman. (this is the palace where I broke the fountain.)
The second palace on our tour was Sanssouci, which means “without care”. It is the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. This was a place of rest for the King so even his wife was not allowed to go with him to Sanssouci.
The third palace was Neues Palais, the New Palace. This palace was the work of Frederick the Great and was built after the Seven Years War. The guide said that this palace was meant more as a show of splendor than anything else. Even the servants quarters were made to be elaborate, almost like a mini-palace.
After our tour of the palaces and driving through the city we had dinner at a small French restaurant. It was a fantastic meal. It was so good we didn’t take pictures of our food, we just ate it! The girls were thrilled with their dinner, caramel crepes. It was really more like dessert than a dinner. They didn’t mind.
It was a great way to end our stay in Germany. We had a fantastic trip!
Oops. Sorry.
We took a tour of Potsdam today. It is a lovely little town which I will write more about later. I wanted to give you a taste of what we saw. We went to 3 different palaces throughout the town. Each one had beautiful gardens and fountains. We stopped to take a photo in this pretty garden.
It looks like a nice photo. Zoom in some. Why do I look like that?
Oh that is just me breaking the fountain at the exact moment DZ snapped our cute photo. Hope no one notices that the fountain is now a bit wobbly.