That's a lunker of a baby

My friends had a baby today...he is not like a new born though...10lbs 11oz, 22 inches!!!!! OMG! Thankfully she had a planned C-section. I can't imagine carrying that thing around for 9 months and then trying to squeeze it out! She had her section 2 weeks before her due date, had she waited another 2 weeks the kid would have been close to 12 lbs. Holy crap, that is a lunker of a baby.

He has no name yet...She likes one (which I also like) , he doesn't like it (I say too bad!), they are trying to come to a compromise (yeah right), but so far no luck. They have until Thursday to pick the name, otherwise the kid is going home as John Doe **

3rd storm

This one, I am sure is counted as storm #3, although at my house it was mostly sleet. That is global warming for you. Our winters used to be snow, snow, and more snow. But over the past few years it is snow, sleet, and wintry mix. All because of those girls in the 80's with their need for BIG hair!

The Long Ride Home with Me, Myself and I

My trek home from work today took me over 3 hours. I knew it would take me a long time, seeing as though we were heading into the first snow of the season, and well, people tend to "forget" how to drive in the snow. It always takes a couple of storms for people to become re-acquainted with the snow driving methods.

This is the time of the year that I listen to A LOT of books on CD. I take them out of the Library, download them to my Itunes/Ipod and listen to them during my long drives. There are also days that i just drive in silence. No music, no phone, no talking, just plain silence. It is really a great meditation for me. Generally it is the only time that I have for just me, with just me.

Now that I am home, there is a tea kettle on the stove, warm soup about to go into my belly, and a big comfy chair and ottoman with my name all over them.

Stay in, stay warm. Snuggle with your kids, your cat, your loved one, or with a good blanket.

2nd Storm of the season

We are expecting our second snow storm of the winter today....8-12 inches beginning at noon and another 1-3 inches during the night. if it follows suit with the old wives tale then we can expect to have 22 snow storms this season. The tale is told that whatever the date is that the first snow fall occurs (this came on the 22nd), we will have that many storms...we'll see

I'll be sending my staff home early and will plan to leave work today around 11:30 in order to make it home before the roads are filled with traffic, snow and plows. One of the perks of being a manager is that I can make that "authoritative" decision to send them home. I am sure i will have to deal with the repercussions from my direct management, but oh well. My teams safety is MUCH more important that testing out computer systems.

I'll post more later with pics of my first snow in my first house!

The 1st Snow

We had our first snow fall this morning. Well at least the first amount of snow that amounted to anything. I am sure there have been flurries over the past couple of weeks in different parts of the state, but we got about an inch this morning.

The cars are coated, there are accidents on the highways, people are slipping on sidewalks. Ugh.. I hate the winter.

Don't get me wrong, the snow is Beautiful! And the air smells so clean and fresh after a good snow fall.

I would enjoy it so much more if I could just remain at home, bundled in my blanket on the couch, with a big warm mug of hot chocolate, cat on my lap and a hot fire burning in the fireplace.

That's a good snow day.

Things are beginning to come together

We recently bought our first home and the decorating has been a bit of a struggle for me. I went onto HGTV.com and took the What's your style quiz. I am a Classy/Modern style. I suppose that makes sense and it is in line with the items we have chosen thus far.

This past week was our Rug shopping. We bought rugs for the Dinning room:

Living Room:

Den:

All equally funky/modern yet all have classic lines and shapes to them.

Now comes trying to get furniture for the living room and items to hang on the walls! I won't be hanging anything in the Living room or Family room (sun room) until the spring because they both need to be painted first, but the dinning room is done and in serious need of decor!

I do believe I am addicted.....

to Starbucks!

If you need to know where there is a Starbucks in the state of CT, I can tell you.

Pretty much any town from the Western Mass border to the GW bridge, from Providence RI to Upstate NY, I know which exit to get off of, which turns to take, all for a Grande cup of whatever Bold or Full coffee they are serving that day.

I don't drink Lattes, or Cappuccinos. I don't do Iced coffee or Frapappuccinos. Just plain old black coffee with 1 splenda please. It can be 100 degrees out and I will still order a grande coffee. I do enjoy a Vente Unsweetened Black Tea Lemonade in the hot weather as well, but usually will order a grande coffee at the same time! The Iced tea Lemonade is refreshing but there is not nearly enough caffeine to meet my needs.

We brew Starbucks at home as well, generally going through about a pound of whatever variation of Bold my husband picks up. Our favorites tend to be the Sumatra and the Cafe Verona....Mmmm Mmmm It sure is a good thing I have a piping hot grande Christmas blend sitting on my desk as I type this.

Please do your part in supporting the economy, run out to your nearest Starbucks, bring a book or your laptop, order up your favorite drink and treat, sit back and listen tot he music and relax.

Happy Divali

Divali, or Deepavali, is a major Indian festival, significant in Hinduism and Jainism and Sikhism. Celebrated by Hindus,Jains and Sikhs across the globe, as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within.

The celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional dīpa or deeya (earthen lamp), and fireworks. Though colloquially called Divali in North India, in South India it is called Deepavali.

Divali is celebrated for five consecutive days at the end of Hindu month of Ashwayuja (amanta). It usually occurs in October/November, and is one of the most popular and eagerly awaited festivals in India. Divali comes exactly twenty days after Dussehra. Hindus, Jains and Sikhs alike regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen family and social relationships.

The day also commemorated the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya, after a 14-year exile in the forest[1], and thus the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed him back by lighting up rows of lamps (deepa-wali), thus its name, Deepawali, or simply shortened as Divali.

Hindus celebrate Divali to mark the time when Lord Rama achieved victory over Ravana. Some also view it as the day Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura .

In Jainism it marks the nirvana of Lord Mahavira, which occurred on Oct. 15, 527 B.C. It is also a significant festival for the Sikh faith. In India, Divali is now considered to be more of a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith.

Significant mythological events associated with Divali:
Return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya: Divali also celebrates the return of Lord Rama, King of Ayodhya, with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana to Ayodhya after a 14 year exile, and a war in which he killed the demon king Ravana. It is believed that the people of Ayodhya, lit oil lamps along the way to light their path in the darkness. This is the reason, why the festival is celebrated a day earlier in South India since Lord Rama travelled from the south to his kingdom in the north. In North India, the festival is held on the final day of the Vikram calendar. The following day marks the beginning of the North Indian new year, and is called Annakut.
The Killing of Narakasura: Celebrated as Naraka Chaturdasi, two days before Divali day, it commemorates the killing of Narakasura, an evil demon who created havoc, by Lord Krishna's wife Satyabhama. This happened in the Dwapara Yuga during this time of Lord Krishna's avatar. In another version, the demon was killed by Lord Krishna (Lord krishna provokes his wife Satyabhama to kill Narakasura by pretending to be injured by the demon. Narakasura can only be killed by his mother, Satyabhama) himself.[citation needed] Before Narakasura's death, he requested a boon from his mother, Satyabhama (believed to be an Avatar of Bhudevi - Narakasura' mother), that everyone should celebrate his death with colorful light.
Austerities of Shakti: According to the Skanda Purana, the goddess Shakti observed 21 days of austerity starting from ashtami of shukla paksha (eighth day of the waxing period of moon) to get half of the body of Lord Shiva. This vrata (austerity) is known as kedhara vrata. Deepavali is the completion day of this austerity. This is the day Lord Shiva accepted Shakti into the left half of the form and appeared as Ardhanarishvara. The ardent devotees observe this 21 days vrata by making a kalasha with 21 threads on it and 21 types of offerings for 35 days. The final day is celebrated as kedhara gauri vrata.

"C" is for......

Cat, the King of the Castle.

He was in a fight a couple of weeks back and got the Cr@* kicked out of him. He is dealing with the reality that he is no longer the king of neighborhood, only the castle.

He is definitely getting more comfortable with our new environment. We had a party on Sat night, about 20 friends were over and they were spread through out the house and out back having a bon fire. He came and went as normal, never attempting to "prison break" the break yard (it is fenced in). The next morning as myself and a few of the stragglers where sitting in the sun room enjoying the warm rays of light beaming through the doors he got up on the ottoman with my friend and so simply and gently kissed her, letting her know..."yeah that's right, I am the King of this Castle".

Is it Friday Yet?

This has been such a long week, actually a long month. Work has been so awful, just so much has gone wrong. I spend most days spinning in circles and pulling my staff in different directions.
I am in a management position and as the manager when my staff does something that causes problems or is wrong, I stand by them..coach them..train them..support them. That is the right thing to do right??

All you need is love...

The past two weeks have been very busy, but in a really nice way.

My friend and his wife have been here from CA....and I am happy to say that now she is my friend from CA. It's funny, we've met several times before, talked on line and on the phone as well, but this visit was different, we actually hung out, just the two of us and it was nice to get to know her. I look forward to future gatherings.

The wedding we attended this weekend was fantastic! So good to be with friends that I don't get to spend much time with. There were people there that I haven't seen since High School. As per usual at great weddings, I drank a lot, danced a lot and took WAY TOO MANY pictures!! Some odd things occurred during this evening as well.....we saw a real life female Harry Potter....a woman lost her pants and underwear in the woods (**note she was NOT a guest at the wedding)...Harry Potter was drunk......

I spent Sunday nursing a bit of a headache and blowing leaves (not the best hang over cure)....7 long hours of blowing leaves! Home ownership is hard! Mow the lawn..the grass grows back. Blow the leaves...more fall from the trees. Unpack a room...take the empty boxes to the dump. on and on and on! But I like it. It is a nice way to be really busy.

Brrrr.....

It's rather cold today. The knee high boots and fleece tops have made there way onto my body. The heat went on in all the rooms in the house, and we received our first oil delivery of the year.
We're attending a wedding tomorrow for a High School friend of mine, actually all three of the siblings are my High School friends. I am still really close with the eldest (she was the photographer at my wedding), the middle one (brother-we had a imaginary rock band in the 6th grade) lives in CA and is here for the wedding. It has been great getting to catch up with him and his wife, and the youngest is the one getting married.
As I pick out my clothes for the event, I am realizing that I am getting older. I am not reaching for the tight fitting, low cut, short skirted dresses any more...I am going for the boot cut, black pants with the classy (loose fitting) top. More like how my Mom dressed when I was little.
Ughh....getting old is no fun!

The days are getting shorter?

As each day actually is getting shorter and darker and winter is beginning to make his way in (Yes "his" way, a "she" would not put us through this!) the days seem to feel longer and longer and not just by minutes, by hours and hours. I feel like my work days are never ending. I look at the clock as I eat my yogurt and it is 9:05.....what feels like hours later I look at the clock thinking it must be lunch time and it's 10:05am! The next two hours drag by so slow that I feel like days have passed! How many days until Spring??? !!148!! I can not make it!

As the mist falls...the fall rises

The colors of fall can be so drastic....one day everything that surrounds me is green, lush, bright, and healthy.

I go to sleep with the sweet smell of the wild grapes growing in my yard, the humid breeze gently passes the scent across my sleeping nose as I dream of making wine...or maybe I am dreaming of drinking it!

When I wake in the morning the world is dark still, but as I travel into work and the light of the day begins to enter, I notice that trees that line my drive in have lost their greens. They are turning yellow and red and orange.

As I park my car and begin my journey into my office I notice that the green grass that I walk on each morning is covered with leaves that are crinkling beneath my feet.

As I exit from work I am feeling like I need a sweater or even a light jacket. The air is dry and my hands need lotion so badly.

I believe that it is safe to say that as the mist is falling the fall is rising.

The summer is coming to an end as the Fall has found it's way through the door

It will be many months until we see a sunset like this again. One of my favorite things about the season of summer is being out on the water as the sun is just about to set. The water becomes so calm and still.

I especially love when the sky is such vibrant colors like this. When the clouds turn shades of reds, orange, yellow all the way to the magenta and purples that we sometimes get with the reflection of the ocean.

The ocean and the sky are so beautiful together, truly a marriage made to last.