heyMamas

Double Digits

My Dearest Belle:

I can hardly believe that you are ten years old today. I have loved and adored you every day for the last ten years.  You are sweet, loving, nurturing, loyal, the first one to ask someone if they are okay or if they need help, generous in spirit, and last but never least, crazy amounts of fun. 

{Belle at four....}

When I tucked you in last night, I told you the story of the first few moments after I gave birth to you when they laid you on my chest for the first time.  We stared straight into each others eyes which felt like we were staring into each others souls. 

That was it for me.  I was completely and totally in love, forever connected to you, very much the way we still are today. 

For the rest of my life, I will never forget that moment.  You had the biggest, bluest eyes I had ever seen and there you were.  Finally....after so many ups and downs, there you were, staring back at me.  Just as I had imagined so many times during my pregnancy, only the actual moment was so much sweeter.

One thing that I love about you is that no matter how old you get, and no matter where we are or what we are doing, you always check in on me.  It's like a toddler when they first gain independence and they start to leave their Mom.  They tread lightly and constantly look back to make sure she is still there.  Or if they take steps away from her, as soon as they get too far, they turn and immediately run back into her waiting arms. 

You always know where I am and if we are home or out together, no more than thirty minutes will ever pass without you coming to make sure I am still there. 

I am not sure if this will always be the case with you, but one thing I know for sure, is that my arms will always be waiting for you whenever you may need them.

You are beautiful inside and out, and no matter how many birthday's pass, you will always be my sweet, sweet little Belle. 

Love always,

Mama

Thanksgiving 2010

We had an amazingly mellow Thanksgiving dinner with just the four of us, filled with great food, yummy desserts and lots of love {and the slightest bit of bickering between the girls}. 

This year is an off holiday for us family wise, so we decided to stay home and make all of our favorite vegetarian holiday dishes.  Well Drew made them all, but I cleaned up like a champ. 

We were thinking of heading into the city to do some ice skating in Central Park, but we have that same idea every year and same as we do every year, we never seem to get around to it.

So here is a pictorial of our beautiful Thanksgiving 2010.....which by the way, after all of this consumption there seems to be nothing left to do but drink and be forced to watch Charlie St. Cloud....

{Pumpkin Muffins that I made for breakfast.}

{And some Cinnamon Bread that I think is actually upside down in this picture.}

And it was just okay, I mean I only ate half the loaf in the first sitting so it wasn't like spectacular or anything.

And then for our vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner, Drew cooked us up a lovely meal with all of my favorites.

{Sweet Potato and Yams}

{Stuffing}

{Cranberries and Squash}

 {String Beans and Fried Onions} 

 {Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms}

{Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella}

We had a wonderful day and I am so lucky and so loved. I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving!

The Pink Reindeer

Every day when I walk to get my lunch, I pass this men's shop called Pink. The outside design of the store always catches my eye, but when I walked by the other day I saw this.... 

 

How awesome is that?  And it's even more magical up close. 

I wanted to share it with you since it seems every radio station I turn on is already playing Christmas music and we haven't even sliced the bird yet.  I say that theoretically of course since there is no bird slicing in my household,maybe some tofurkey slicing, but no actual bird slicing. 

Happy Holidays!

 

 

Old Friends In New York

I literally just ran from the Cornell Club in midtown, where I had the best calamari I have ever had, and that's saying alot, to catch my train home to see my girls before they went to bed.

Tonight I met up with some old colleagues and had a surprisingly wonderful time. Although I don't usually hang around to see it that often, New York City is such a magical place at night, especially at this time of year.

One of the guys I was with at dinner told us a story about how he had just checked into his hotel and stood next to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Now that's cool and so New York. 

Friday at work, Jennifer Aniston was outside my building shooting a movie and most people could not have cared less, they sped right past her without even so much as a backwards glance.  Also, so New York.

New York City is like no place on earth and when I actually get a chance to stop and take it all in, I know exactly why it is that I could never live anywhere else. 

So often the effort to go out seems so daunting, especially after a twelve hour work day.  But today I pushed through that feeling and as I sit here on the train sweating my ass off and nauseous from making my body do terrible things so that I could make my train, not to mention the giant glass of cabernet and the plate of calamari I had just consumed, I am really happy that I did.

And I am going to try to do it more often because it is usually well worth the effort.

Travel as a Life Lesson

Before I had kids, I use to daydream about the beautiful places we would take them on vacation.  At the time, I wasn't working and Drew had a flexible work schedule, so one month every year in another country, didn't seem all that far fetched. 

A flat in Paris, a villa in Tuscany, an apartment overlooking the Danube, it didn't matter.  My goal was to spend one month living as the locals do, immersing ourselves in their daily life.  I couldn't even conceive of any other method that would deliver that type of educational and life experience to my girls. 

Then came 9/11 and the world changed, and really who am I kidding, then came the kids.  And the change in time zones, and the cost of the four plane tickets, and lugging car seats on the plane, and the lack of sleep that all of this would be accompanied by, and slowly the appeal of traveling to another country with kids, lost some of its lustre.

Although now, the girls are coming to an age where we could probably take them abroad and have a fantastic time.  Ever since Lily heard that I climbed the Eiffel Tower she is obsessed with doing the same, plus throw in the burning desire to don a real French Beret, an image that has haunted her since her friend got one when her parents returned from France, and she will hear of nothing other than Paris.

My eagerness to take the girls to other countries is the belief that traveling is the most fascinating way to learn.  Who wants to lean about Paris from the pages of a text book when you could be sitting in a quaint french cafe in the 6th arrondissement sipping on a latte, wearing a genuine french beret?

Traveling opens your mind and adds layers of sophistication that you could never get any other way.  Nothing else in the world offers what travel offers. 

I am also a firm believer in that sometimes, kids need to miss school to participate in life.  And that participation could come as travel, or spending a day at work with a parent, or let's say going to the premiere of the latest Harry Potter film in Times Square.

So tomorrow night when I should be at the girls parent teacher conferences, I have opted to be in Times Square at the premiere of the latest installment in the Harry Potter series. 

Besides, one could argue that traveling to Times Square, especially when I already work in Times Square, could possibly hold more value than a trip to the 6th arrondissement donning a French Beret.