Here are the better pictures. Celebrated my birthday on the actual day, June 25th with Anita, Melissa, Linda and Laura at Pasta Piatti. Very yummy!

Well we finally celebrated my birthday! We met Mike and Mary and their buddies for breakfast at one of my faves, Morning Glory. They were all heading back up to Springfield after breakfast. We went home and vegged for a little while since we met them for breakfast at 8am! We went to the movies to see "The Hulk", yes I know it was my birthday but I didn't think the guys would want to see "Sex In The City!" I will tell you what I can't wait to see and it's the "X Files" movies that will be coming out soon! So get ready you Scully and Moulder fans.

We went home and Pete cooked dinner and prepared the dinner table, as you can see. It was a very yummy salmon salad and of course for dessert my other fave, the black and white cake from Market of Choice. Sorry, but every picture Pete took was fuzzy as are all my other birthday pictures every year (the cake and table pics were mine)! TG for my personal photographer, Laura Plunk. I can always get a good pic from her! I will post Laura's pics later.

A few gifts (it was a very good year). Gf's I finally got an IPOD Deck - whippee, and yes it has a remote! P.S. I Love You DVD, one of my faves and a beautiful white orchid (hope it survives). All in all it was a very good year and how can you complain when you're around to enjoy it! La Chaim!

Who's a cute puppy? Cleo...........doesn't anyone remember Cleo the bassett hound from the old Jackie Cooper TV "People's Choice" show back in the stone age (late 50's)? Well, Mary did and so did I and that's how this pup got her name (although the original Cleo was brown and white). She is a CUTIE! 3 months old and sadly is not ours, she belongs to Mary and Mike Hill, our friends from the Springfield area. Pete and I have known Mike for over 20 years, we all met in Vegas. Mike worked on a job with Pete out in Moapa, Nevada (might be more like 24 years). Mike moved a couple of years earlier than us to the Springfield area where he met and married Mary. It took us a few years to locate Mike (we'd get the occassional Christmas card with a PO Box) but our friendship has been renewed. Mike and Mary are meeting other friends here in Ashland and will see Comedy of Errors with us tomorrow night. They came up this a.m. for a quick breakfast and left to do a wine tour with the others. Pete being a sucker for a baby said he would take care of Cleo (she has a kennel and we had lots of toys). We're all going toDragonfly for dinner tonight and back at our house for dessert. I made a couple of yummy desserts!

Kinda blurry but.........you get the picture. I purchased the Lisa and Becky Rail System and Pete put it up for me. Trying to organize my workspace. I have room for one more and will put one more up but the darn things are hard to find. I finally found a place on-line that had re-stocked, everyone has been out of the rails for months. I'll wait for Scrappycraft to get the rails back in. I ended up finding some of the other parts there. When I ordered the rails I combined my order with many page protector refills that I desperately needed. Here's some pearls of wisdom from moi.........when you buy your albums buy your extra page protectors at the same time! I have bought many albums and not the page protectors, when you finally need them you can't find them!!!!

The wall has come a long way..................now Pete is leveling the back to put in the flagstone. We are doing the whole back yard with flagstone, no grass, and a couple of planters here and there. Pete is finishing up behind the garage and then he will have to backfill the wall. Well, one good thing is that manual labor certainly has trimmed him down.

It's the big one Elizabeth...........I'm coming...........yes, it's a big one but not as big as the one in 5 years! Today, little Janie Pagan La Pierre is turning a year older and wiser (I hope). The guys want to celebrate it on Sunday since we will have company in town starting Thursday so I'm going out with the girls tonight. If you want stop by Pasta Piatti that's where I'll be.

It was Comp +2 last night at the Festival and you know what that means.........3 lucky people get to see a play. My first email is usually to Laura Plunk and I give her an extra because I know she likes to bring mom, Phyllis (if my mom was here she'd be coming with me). Melissa Katsikis joined us and Linda Fern also got a comp. There were 5 great seats together and that's where we sat. The picture above is Anthony Heald, who plays the Stage Manager. Many of you might recognize him from a few movies and many television shows.

I stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got us a few goodies to enjoy during the show. It was pretty good. Not too crazy about the person who played Emily and the person they picked to play George against her. They are both good little actors but not for those roles. Otherwise it was a great production, costumes were gorgeous as usual and a fun night for us.

Comp + 2 are pretty rare during the Summer and I think the only reason it happened is that Midsummer Night's Dream was also on last night. Comp +2 usually comes around during the Fall so watch out I might be calling you, if you're interested?

WOOF! Today is "National Take Your Dog To Work Day". So here I am hanging out with mom under her desk. So far I've gone to the Administration building to do the mail and I've gone for a walk to Starbucks to get a free venti iced coffee. Did you know if you have a Starbucks gift card and you register it on their website that you can get free shots of syrup, different milk options (like soy), and free coffee refills (brewed), well, ya, try it.

It's not too bad here except I can't seem to find any squirrels lurking about, but that's okay because I know when I get home they'll be plenty!

Right now mom and I just polished off a bag of popcorn and she's finishing up so we can head home. Can't wait to get home and chase those critters!

These are the back porch baby swallows. There are 4 of them in that little nest and they should be flying away pretty soon because they are getting so big! A little bit of the nest was torn off (and is hanging down) by the Wild Blue installation but that didnt' stop them. We've had the nest for 3 years, they just keep coming back!

When I was in high school I really was into old musicals; anything with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, all those MGM people. There was a 4:30 pm movie everyday and of course "The Late Show", which was better because they didn't try to squeeze a movie into an hour and a half. I would watch a lot of those movies over and over again. I couldn't get enough.........yes I'm old! Of course back in those days there was no cable, no reality shows, and TALK shows.

Today Cyd Charisse passed away at the age of 86. Boy did that woman have legs, she and Anne Miller. She is most known for "Singin In The Rain", "The Band Wagon" and "Brigadoon". Her 2 partners were Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

It's sad that most people don't remember her and know who she is and that news about Paris Hilton or Britney Spears would probably be more important than the passing of her death.

May god bless all those special talented "stars" up there!

On the bricks..........as they like to say here at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, yesterday we celebrated Juneteenth starting at 4:30pm. June 19th is the African American Emancipation Day, the day slavery ended in the U.S. It is celebrated here at the Festival and a little funding raising is done for a scholarship fund. There was a little show on the Green Show Stage and then food in the Elizabethan. The employees bought in food, I bought in a potato salad. The picture is of me and Marylee Oddo who works in the Development office with me. The legs: mine, Marylee's and Amy Richards who works in Marketing and Communications. The weather was beautiful and definitely a day to celebrate.

Well we did it.......Anita and I went to a crop at "Scrapbook King", Lisa and Laura also joined us. There we were 4 of us displaced, No Bare Pages groupies trying to find our way. Here's what we liked or didn't like.

1) They have 2 store Cricuts and a huge library of cartridges that you can use providing you have your own mats.

2) They have a ton of product so you are not wandering aimlessly turning to find something.

3) They have scraps (a ton) that you are welcomed to use.

4) Everyone was very nice to us (poor lost lambs).

What we didn't like or maybe we have to get used to:

1) No drive through coffee places close by.

( There is a Mellello coffee shop 2 blocks away but they close at 4pm)

2) Not too many options as far as food and if they're close they are closed or close early so you may have to drive for food. Found out later Grilla Bites stays open until 7 or 8pm, they are a short walk away.

3) They do provide some snacks and drinks (baked Lays, vegies and dip, brownies)

All in all it was a good experience just something new and something we have to adjust to. We would go again.

Today's blog is dedicated to the Biggar - Briscoe family. Laura, Scott, Ethyn, Annie and Lucy are moving on to a new adventure, they're moving to Seattle today. They treated us to dinner on Wednesday evening at Great American Pizza Company. We had a great dinner and said our goodbyes. We hope to see them when we go to Seattle this Summer.

I met the Briscoes when I was doing a home visit for their adoption of Annie, a beautiful golden retriever with a couple of issues. We hit it off and during the course of the interview found out they had also lived in Henderson, and not too far from where I lived. Also, found out that Laura knew our friend and my ex-boss at IBM, Dennis Morgan (who has also moved here to the Valley), small world - huh? It was a pretty shaky time in the beginning with Annie but it all worked out. They put in a lot of time training and it paid off.

Rocky's friends are far and few between and I don't know why, I think he's a great kid but I'm his mother. He's always been cautious about his friendships but he and Ethyn hit it off. They were both in the same grade and had some classes together. Ethyn has been a good friend for Rocky and we will really miss him.

We'll also miss our yearly Halloween dinnner! We know and understand that this will be a great move for you and wish you the best of luck. We'll see you soon!

20-20-20-20-20-20-20-20! I've finally reached my second goal, 20 lbs.!!!!! Now I am on to the next goal. I feel so much better. I had a great workout today. I am able to go a little faster on the treadmill now and boy, oh boy, it makes a difference. Hopefully I will be done by the end of the Summer and I can get my new Winter wardrobe (doesn't make Pete too happy). This worked out so great for me. I was able to loose enough to get some Summer stuff and by the end of Summer I'll be ready to buy my Winter stuff! After all is said and done the big challenge will come - maintenance!
So excited, hey did I mention I just lost 20 lbs............

Don't ask me why but I have been saving these shorts for years! I liked them and had dreams of fitting into them again some day.........well guess what..............some day is here! They fit but the butt is sooooo big. I keep losing in my rear, and my waist and stomach haven't caught up yet. They're good house shorts now since these ole legs are not going out in public anymore.

Laura Plunk, this picture is for you since the last time I talked about fitting into something I wasn't in the picture.

Finally caught the peacock in action! Wish there wasn't a fence in the way!

It's hard to believe but there are NEW eggs in the nest by the door. Boy those birds have been busy!

Shadow and dad working on the rock walls............or Pete loading rocks and Shadow hunting lizards..............

I'm tired! I needed a couple of extra days this weekend so I could veg! I have started a project that I thought would take one weekend, but alas it will take many more weekends - ugh! I asked the Chief if we could buy vinyl porch railings but he said "not this year"! I assured him that in 3 years time this ole gal will not be up to taking this job on again!

another fun job...................collecting dog hair! LOL. If you have a hairy dog and you haven't bought a "furminator" you must buy one! It will take out so much hair you never imagined your dog could grow. I bagged most of it but a lot of it got away with the wind and of course I was wearing a lot of it! After the hair, came the bath.
He's a clean boy now!

My cousin Ruben lost his battle with liver cancer today, his brother Bob just called. The plumbers were done and so was Rube. He hung on long enough to see the plumbing done in the bathroom remodel.
Ruben moved to Vermont to get a fresh start before I moved to Vegas. He was a troubled teen but he got himself turned around and made himself a great life in Burlington. I was lucky enough to see him when Pete and I did New England in the fall of October 2003. He is survived by his wife Dawn and daughter Sara, his brothers Ricardo and Roberto Loranca.

An update on Eileen's walk............first it was the Avon Walk and second.... she walked 40 miles (in 2 days)! She did 26 miles in one day. She said the first 20 were fine, it was that extra 6 that really tired her out. Only 2 blisters. The opening ceremony was fabulous but the closing was the most spectacular. The walk raised 9.1 MILLION!



An update on my cousin Ruben. He is hanging on. His brothers are there and a couple of cousins that lived close to him in Jersey are there. Believe it or not he is laying in a hospital bed in the middle of his living room with a morphine drip while a construction crew is walking around him. Apparently he told Dawn (his wife) that he wanted the bathroom re-modeled now because he knew she wouldn't do it after he was gone. The crew said they would come back later because he had family in and he said no way, no how, he didn't have time, he needed them to finish it now no matter what. What can I say. (1st photo, Ruben and baby brother Bob, 2nd with wife Dawn and daughter Sara)

Well, everyone loved the new place and we're going back in October. I've already decided on my meal and the little gifts. Now I need to contact Padme and see if they want us back! We were a tad noisy........... I got a lot accomplished and will post some of my stuff later in the week. The food was great, everyone did such an awesome job. We could have stayed a couple of extra days with all the food we had. Yes, the 3rd picture is of Marna and Carma beading, they strayed from the scrapbooking.......a little. The last picture is Laura with "some" of her stuff. Only hitch when we got there was that their interpretation of tables was not the same as ours; one large table and 2 very small card tables! Yikes! I had to call Laura and Linda, thank godness they hadn't left and they were able to bring tables. We are now prepared for the next one.

I know you've been wondering "what's going on with the babies?" Well, they are growing! I've been trying to get a good picture since last week and I finally got a couple this morning. We also have a nest in one of our hanging pots off the porch (new nest). The swallows are back in the back porch nest that we have had since the first year we moved in. Pete thinks it's the same family, could it be the next generation? Enjoy!