A tough week for the USA.....A Red White & Blue Rememberence

 This has been a very sad week and a week of awakening....I am so heartbroken and troubled by the events in Boston....how so many people were just going about their day to day life and enjoying the marathon and family and in just a few minutes some very selfish terrorists changed many many lives forever....it reminds me that life is fragile, unpredictable and to be treasured....

It is hard for me to understand and comprehend how someone would want to harm someone else, especially people you have no personal relationship or agenda with, people that are valued by their family and friends and mean no harm.....

I am humbled and amazed at the brilliance of Boston's finest and the FBI...and equally sickened at how politicians attempt to politicize these events for their personal agendas....

So in memory to those who did not get to say their final goodbyes or tell their loved ones one more time that they mattered and were loved....we planted our spring flowers all in Red, White and Blue (or as Brody points out, Purple) to dedicate to them that they matter, that they are beautiful and their spirit lives on and on and on.....

How I experience what is around me is a reflection of what is in me.....Peace be with you all this week and always....

Murder, Floods, Thrifting, Cooking, Downtown Happy Hour, Swap Meets, Feeling Cukoo - This week had it all

We started our week being witnesses to a murder!  Murder in the Cathedral Opera I should add...it was amazing and reminded me of when we were in Italy on a gondola sailing by the Opera and hearing it all in Italian....incredible....and a very good story about how history is not always reality....like most of our history books describe.....

 Monday we had to go to La Jolla for a meeting with the doctor....the ride back was bumper to bumper.....because of this little disruption......but it was fun watching it soar 50 ft in the air!

 Steve and I got a tour of Dylans gardening progress....his apricots are growing!

 Zucchini coming right along!

 A little Cactus action!

 Baby snap peas....GiGi - so good to eat them right off the vine!

 Pumpkins!

 Steve and I delighted in this yummy lunch time getaway!

 Got to go Thrifting...this week toys were the big score!

 ....and I wanted a broken cukoo clock to paint all white and I scored this one for $25.00, german made and numbered and works but just needs a pendulum.  Rocky barks at it and they boys and I say cuckoo cuckoo all day when we hear it....I just don't think I have the heart to paint it as it is so close to perfect.....I am bidding on the pendulum to complete it.....my MaMa Auten had a cuckoo clock and I loved listening to it.   Years ago when we went to Germany I wanted to get one for my parents and with the language barrier the shopkeepers could not understand what I wanted....finally one very lovely German man said to me...Oh!  Der Cukoo!  and I said yes, yes! Do I drug it back across the Atlantic for my parents to enjoy.  I paid a fortune for it $$$$ and I have to say this one was a super bargain!

 I actually cooked this week!!!!!  Enchiladas for everyone!

 We went to a lovely dinner at my niece Amy's who lives in a downtown condo that Adam used to live it....oh, if they only lived there at the same time!!!  We had yummy and delish Bloody Marys...

 Didn't she make the most amazing stirrers!  Hello!

 ....and then we went rooftop and grilled....so so good...after our fun dinner they headed to the Padre game and we headed home...poor Steve just can't sit or stand for very long!

Sadly, a good friend of ours father passed away and we drove to Huntington Beach for the service....this is only a portion of all the wreaths and flowers that were present...

Our friends dad started a trucking business back in the 50's and grew it into a huge business....a true American Success Story....it was so humbling that many of the trucks drove to the grave site and had black ribbons and wreaths to pay their respect....there were hundreds and hundreds of people there and we were honored to pay our respects. Note to be gory by it was a military funeral the the folding of the flag, taps being paid and the casket was stainless steel and adorned with the stations of the cross....it was truly amazing...a very Italian family and steeped in tradition and family.....me familia for sure....

And because I love my girl.....only I would help her at her semi annual toy swap meet....she is one amazing girl and such a trooper.

The week flew by.....but it was all good!

The highlights.....to catch up.....

The past 2 weeks have flown by!  Each and every day filled with  a lot of stuff we have to do (dr appts for Steve, finishing the condo project, tax appts, etc.) and too little of stuff we want to do....(spending fun time with the boys, friends, shopping, dining, hanging out).....always looking for that balance!

Brody and I embraced our inner 70's self at lunch the other day....hey, I think I had those pants in 1971!

 The Easter Bunny came and hid the boys eggs in the strangest places!

 Look high, look low.....look where you think he won't go!

 How does a little bunny jump so high?

 Little Bro on the hunt....

 Goodies for the Adult hunters!

 Baskets for the little guys....

 Thanks Easter Bunny!

 An orange egg in an orange flower?

 A green egg on a green swing?

 Purple eggs in GiGi's blooming Wisteria????

 A tablescape for an Easter Bunny Brunch

Lots and lots of yummy goodies for brunch!

 Nice enough to eat outside!

 Out of order but too sweet not to post:

A quick trip to the Thrift store on half price day and I scored all this!

Love the 12 pcs Silver Set....($40.00)....it motivated me to polish it up and drag out my other 3 (yes I have a problem) silver sets and polish them up....then showed my bestie, Annette....

And she drug hers out so we have been having fun finding the patterns, polishing them up and finding replacement pieces if we need.....I love to polish silver - I could do it for hours....I love researching the maker, the pattern and the history....

 She has some incredible pieces.....so many from the 1800's.....we are enjoying working on her treasurers and will do some more this week!

And because we want to escape from all the stuff we don't want to do we are planning a summer road trip through the Mid-West, South, Southwest and back to SD......so ready!

I promise you blog I will do better on trying to balance it all.  Now, off to Dr. for Steve and by the condo to check on repairs....try is the key word here, peeps!